Can you eat zongzi that has been frozen for a year?

Some families make a lot of zongzi at one time, and the leftovers will be frozen in the refrigerator. However, since they don’t eat much on a normal day, the zongzi may have been in the refrigerator for more than a year. Many people don’t know whether they can eat the zongzi after it has been in the refrigerator for a year. If they eat it, they are afraid that the zongzi may go bad and be bad for the human body, but if they don’t eat it, they feel it is a waste. So they are quite confused about whether it is better to eat it or not. Can zongzi be eaten after being frozen for a year? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. Can rice dumplings be eaten after being frozen for a year?

Zongzi that has been frozen in the refrigerator for a year cannot be eaten, so throw it away! Cooked zongzi can be kept in the refrigerator for a maximum of three months, and cannot be eaten after three months.

According to the storage conditions, rice dumplings can be divided into two categories: room temperature storage and low temperature storage. Regardless of the storage method, rice dumplings are divided into two types: vacuum packed and bulk. Since rice dumplings are mainly made of glutinous rice, they are grain products, and regulations do not allow the addition of any preservatives to grain products. In addition, the moisture and starch content of zongzi are relatively high, and the fillings are either sweet or salty, so it is easy for microorganisms to breed and cause spoilage.

For vacuum-packed rice dumplings, one type is "pseudo-vacuum". After this type of rice dumpling is cooked, it is sealed in a plastic bag and the air inside is sucked out, making customers feel that it is "vacuum", but this type of rice dumpling cannot be stored for a long time. Real vacuum packaging means that after the rice dumplings are cooked, they are put into plastic bags and vacuum-sealed, and then undergo a high-temperature sterilization process. This kind of rice dumplings will have a longer shelf life, which is similar to the principle of "soft canned food".

Generally speaking, vacuum-packed rice dumplings can be stored for 3-5 days at room temperature and for 10-20 days in the refrigerator. However, it should be noted that once the plastic packaging of the vacuum-packed rice dumplings is opened, they can no longer be stored according to the original shelf life and should be treated as bulk rice dumplings. Try to finish it on the same day. If you cannot finish it, you should refrigerate or freeze it in time. The refrigeration time is also relatively short, only 1-2 days; the freezing time is slightly longer, at 7-10 days.

2. Calories of a Zongzi

The calories in zongzi vary according to their size and content:

1. Common "rice dumplings" contain about 450 to 600 calories each, while Taiwanese rice dumplings contain 385 to 671 calories, with an average of 495 calories.

2. Naked rice dumplings have less calories than regular rice dumplings, each containing about 210 to 250 calories.

3. Because of its small size, the calorie content of alkaline rice dumplings is about 100 to 120 calories before being dipped in sugar, and 120 to 150 calories after being dipped in sugar.

4. Each "Red Bean Paste Zongzi" contains about 500 to 600 calories, which is one of the highest in the zongzi kingdom. In addition to the high content of sugar or sucrose, the red bean paste zongzi is mostly fried with lard, so the calories are greatly increased.

3. Tips

A healthy adult male needs to consume 2400 kcal of calories per day, and a woman needs 2100 kcal of calories per day. The optimal ratio of calorie intake for three meals a day is 2:4:4. Taking breakfast as an example, the calorie intake of breakfast for adult men is 2400×0.2=480 kcal, and for women it is 420 kcal. A 100-gram Wufangzhai fresh meat rice dumpling contains 257.4 kcal of energy, which means that a man can eat no more than two such rice dumplings for breakfast every day, and a woman can eat no more than one and a half.