Why Frozen Food is a Smart Choice for Healthcare and Senior Living Facilities

Frozen food often has a mixed reputation, especially in healthcare and senior living. However, when it comes to delivering nutritious, consistent, and efficient meals, it remains one of the most reliable solutions.

More than just convenient, frozen meal components like soups, starches, and bulk entrées offer the flexibility kitchens need to operate effectively, especially when staff and resources are limited. They help ease the burden on food service teams by simplifying meal preparation, reducing staffing demands, and minimizing food waste. These advantages have become even more important in recent years, as care facilities continue to navigate challenges in staffing, costs, and a growing demand for high-quality, person centered care.

For caregivers and food service providers working tirelessly to support patients and residents, frozen food provides a dependable, cost-effective way to deliver consistent, high-quality meals with less strain.

In the following sections, we’ll take a closer look at how frozen food supports efficient meal preparation, optimizes labor and space management, and reduces food waste in care settings.

Meal Preparation and Labor Efficiency

One of the most significant benefits of frozen food in care facilities is its ability to simplify meal preparation, making it easier to serve high-quality meals with minimal effort. Unlike fresh meals which require extensive on-site preparation, cooking, and assembly, frozen meal components come fully or partially prepared, significantly reducing time and labor costs.

Many care facilities use retherm equipment to heat frozen meal components as part of the cold plating process, where trays are assembled in advance and then rethermed just before service. This ensures meals are served at the correct temperature while maintaining quality for patients and residents. According to Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine (2022), this approach has helped hospitals reduce labor costs by up to 30% while ensuring consistency and efficiency in food service.

Because less manual prep is needed, facilities can operate with smaller food service teams and fewer kitchen resources. This creates a more efficient workflow which is an important advantage, especially during times of staffing shortages or increased patient volume.

Waste Reduction and Cost Savings

Food waste is a major concern in healthcare and senior living facilities, with significant amounts going uneaten due to overproduction, spoilage, or portioning issues. In fact, hospitals in Canada lose approximately $45 million annually due to food waste, with some large facilities generating over a tonne of waste each day, according to The Scale and Impact of Food Waste in Healthcare Facilities (Value Chain Management Centre, 2014).

Frozen meal components help address this issue by offering greater portion control and a longer shelf life. Kitchens can use exactly what is needed, whether it is a single portion or a full batch, reducing the risk of overproduction and waste. This not only improves inventory management but also helps keep food costs under control.

As we’ve discussed in our blog on food waste in healthcare, smart meal forecasting, attention to patient preferences, and effective portion control are key to reducing unnecessary waste. By incorporating frozen food solutions, healthcare facilities can better manage demand, serve meals that align with patient needs, and improve overall food service efficiency.

Advancing Food Quality with Our New Spiral Freezer

We are committed to continuously improving our freezing processes to enhance the quality and efficiency of our meal production. This June 2025, we are excited to introduce our new spiral freezer, an advanced technology that allows us to further optimize our freezing methods.

Spiral freezers provide rapid and efficient freezing, ensuring that food retains its quality, flavor, and texture by minimizing ice crystal formation. This technology preserves meals at their peak, helping us maintain the high standards of nutrition and consistency that healthcare and senior living facilities rely on.

Michael Edwardes, our Project Manager who has played a key role in this development, offers his perspective on the new technology:

"This spiral freezer will be at the heart of our production going forward. It will enable us to rapidly freeze each meal within one hour, locking in the nutrients and preserving the taste, allowing us to supply all our Canadian customers who rely on apetito for safe and nutritious food every day."

Serving Those Who Serve Others

At apetito Canada, we know how demanding care kitchens can be. When teams are busy and working with limited resources, having dependable, efficient food solutions makes a real difference.

That’s why we focus on more than just quality ingredients, we design products and processes that support the people preparing them. Our frozen meal components help reduce labour in the kitchen, offer pre-portioned options when needed, and are fast-frozen to lock in both taste and nutrition.

With our new spiral freezer and continued investment in innovation, we’re proud to support the real people behind every plate: the food service teams and caregivers who work tirelessly to make every meal count.

References

Foodservice and Hospitality. (2022). Patient dining in Canada continues to innovate. Retrieved from https://www.foodserviceandhospitality.com/patient-dining-in-canada-continues-to-innovate/?cn-reloaded=1

Value Chain Management Center. (2014). $27 billion revisited - Value Chain Management International. Retrieved from https://vcm-international.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Food-Waste-in-Canada-27-Billion-Revisited-Dec-10-2014.pdf