Frozen fruits and vegetables may be higher in vitamins and minerals. They're plucked at full ripeness and frozen promptly.
What about protein from animals, though? If a chicken breast has no ripeness scale, can freezing it improve or diminish its nutritional value?
When and where chicken is frozen determines the response. It depends on whether it was frozen commercially or you just threw it in your freezer.
Consider on-site to be its zenith. When packed expertly and frozen at a very low temperature and speed, chicken normally retains all of its nutrients.
Professional equipment and processing can rapidly chill a space to a far lower temperature than your home freezer can.
Therefore, when chicken is transferred from the refrigerator to the freezer at home, some of its fluids (and consequently nutrients) are lost due to the slower freezing process.
As the meat thaws, its texture and flavor will be affected (via Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science).
The industrial freezing method prevents this from happening, so the chicken's nutritional profile is mostly unaffected.
If you are storing up on chicken that you will not devour immediately, buy it already frozen from a professional.
And if you have a pack of fresh produce that is about to spoil, don't worry about storing it in the freezer; the nutrient loss is small and you will save food waste.