Chefs reveal the 7 best and 5 worst foods to buy frozen

Alexander told Insider that frozen sliders and burgers with pre-attached buns are often loaded with low-quality ingredients and have little to offer in terms of taste.

Instead, she said, you're better off buying ground beef and buns to make high-quality burgers yourself and freeze them for later.

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At first glance, many frozen smoothie mixes seem like a healthy choice — but if you read the labels closely you may find they're loaded with added sugar, Alexander told Insider.

"You're much better off buying frozen fruit and veggies and creating an easy [smoothie] on your own," she said.

"The texture and flavor of precooked rice will never be the same as home-cooked, and it's almost four times as expensive than cooking it yourself," Lomeli told Insider.

Instead, he said, you should cook, portion, and freeze your own rice since it'll taste better and save you money.

Delicate vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots aren't the best produce items to buy frozen, according to Lomeli.

"I believe the fact that they're precooked before freezing completely affects the flavor and texture of these vegetables resulting in a bland, mushy product," he told Insider.

Frozen pasta dishes can also have an odd texture from being cooked and reheated, said Liberato.

Lomeli added that these frozen dishes are often high in sodium and fat, so you're better off cooking them yourself so you can control which ingredients go into your meal.

Although fresh herbs provide the most flavor, they tend to spoil quickly, Alexander said, so if you're avoiding frequent grocery trips, stock up on the frozen varieties.

"Though frozen herbs have been around for a pretty long time, I've found that most people don't know about them," she told Insider.

It's a wise idea to stock your freezer with mealy or fibrous vegetables, like peas and okra, according to Lomeli, because they hold up and cook well after thawing.

"I always have frozen peas on hand to feed to my daughter right from the freezer," Alexander told Insider. "I also have spinach to make lasagna and other spinach dishes."

Whether raw or partially cooked, many types of dough — like puff pastry, phyllo, and pie crust — have a high fat content because they contain butter or shortening. This allows them to thaw and freeze well, said Lomeli.

Plus, dough can be really versatile and easy to work with for savory or sweet dishes. Mini phyllo shells, in particular, have a number of great uses, according to Alexander.

"These little guys are adorable and great for portion control … I've made spanakopita bites in them, pumpkin pie tartlets, lemon blueberry tartlets, peach 'pie-lets,' and more," she told Insider.

Frozen fruit can be tasty on its own and it's useful in a number of recipes including healthy pancakes, smoothies, and crumbles, said Alexander.

She said the key to buying high-quality frozen fruit is looking for pure fruit that doesn't have any additives.

Soup is great to buy frozen, Liberato said, because its quality is typically maintained after it is reheated.

Plus, it's easy to prepare, doesn't take up a lot of space, and can feed a family with minimal effort, he added.

Wild frozen seafood and frozen shrimp are also good buys, according to Devin Alexander, celebrity chef and bestselling cookbook author.

"Cod is great because you can make so many quick dishes with it …We've already made fish tacos, fish 'sticks,' crispy topped cod, etc," Alexander told Insider.

Raw shrimp also freezes and thaws well, Lomeli explained, because it doesn't hold a lot of water after thawing so it can cook properly and get color when it is seared or grilled.

One thing you definitely want to grab from the freezer aisle is meat, said Nick Liberato, chef and star of Netflix's "Restaurants on the Edge."

In particular, chicken freezes well since it's usually quite small and gets cold quickly, added Robert Lomeli, executive chef of Top of the World at The Strat in Las Vegas.

Lomeli said that frozen pork and beef ribs also hold up and defrost quite well.