A local Iraqi woman made several pounds of potato chop and put them in her freezer for her family to eat over the next few months.

DETROIT — It is common for many Arab and Chaldeans to have two or three freezers at home. In addition to the freezer in their kitchen, some keep one in both the garage and basement.  Multiple freezers are needed to store large quantities of meat and home-made Arabic and Chaldean food. 

Chaldean Americans make various types of Iraqi foods in bulk that are then frozen for months, because preparing certain dishes can be very timely and require a tremendous amount of work. 

Chaldean women often get together to help family members make several pounds of a certain dish, which shortens the preparation time. 

Some of the most common Arabic and Chaldean foods that are made in large quantities and stored are potato chop, cream chop, meat and cheese pies, various types of “kubbah,” which consists of meat, cracked wheat and Middle Eastern spices; and “kalacha,” which are served with tea  and made of dough and stuffed with dates and walnuts. 

Making large quantities of these dishes ensures their families always have traditional Chaldean and Arabic food at their homes, and are prepared when company comes over. 

Mary Azer, an Iraqi American, said the families in her community are so big that having meat and various types of Iraqi dishes in the freezer is important.

“One freezer is not enough, because we make several pounds of different types of dishes and freeze them,” she said. “It is important to always have Arabic and Chaldean food ready for your kids to just take out, heat up and eat.”

She is careful about freezing raw meat and prepared food for too long because it can be unhealthy. “We freeze so many things, we might not realize something has been in our freezer for longer than it should, and we don’t want to feed it too our families.” 

Meat pies.

Meat is taken out of the freezer the day before it is cooked and used for various types of dishes, including stews that are served with rice. 

Livia Marques, who works for the Kellogg Foundation, said cooking frozen meat shouldn’t become a problem for families who include it in their daily diets, as long as it is cooked well. “It is not too unhealthy as long as everything is cooked properly,” Marques said. 

She says the taste of food can suffer when items are frozen.  Marques also warned that families should still be cautious about freezing items for very long periods of time. 

The conference brought together 600 school food workers, farmers, advocates, entrepreneurs and others to Detroit from around the nation. They’re all invested in continuing to build the Good Food Movement, which works to increase access to food that is affordable, healthy, green and fair so that all children, families and communities have the opportunity to thrive. 

Vegetables are also often frozen to use in a Chaldean dish called “dolma,” which includes grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat.  

Preparing food with frozen meat differs the communities from other ethnic groups who buy fresh meat, poultry and vegetables daily to eat.  

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), frozen raw meat and poultry maintain their quality longer than their cooked counterparts because moisture is lost during cooking.

The USDA says food stored constantly at 0 °F will always be safe. Only the quality suffers with lengthy freezer storage. Freezing preserves food for extended periods because it prevents the growth of microorganisms that cause both food spoilage and food borne illness.

The freezing process itself does not destroy nutrients. In meat and poultry products, there is little change in nutrient value during freezer storage.

“That’s just the way it is,” Azer said. “In our communities the food we cook is rarely made with fresh meat. We use the meat we freeze. I know it is better and healthier to eat fresh though.”