Why You Should Avoid Grocery Store Bakery Frozen Items At All Costs

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Grocery store bakeries save the day when it comes to last-minute goodies for a potluck, kid's birthday, or backyard barbecue. In fact, grocery store sugar cookies, funfetti cakes, and cupcakes have been imitated by famous culinary publications like New York Times Cooking. While the grocery store bakery is convenient, sometimes that comes at too big a cost to taste and texture. And one of the grocery store bakery items you should avoid at all costs is frozen desserts.

In theory, freezing desserts extends their shelf life and pauses the aging process so that when you defrost them, they'll taste as fresh as the day they were made. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with frozen bakery items from the grocery store. You might see single slices of cake in plastic containers in the bakery freezer that you might be tempted to take home for a single serving dessert. However, you'll find that once the cake thaws, it's likely to be dry and flavorless. The plastic container they come in doesn't prevent air from seeping in and infiltrating the crumb, resulting in a stale taste and dried-out consistency. Worse still, circulating cold air could cause the moisture in the cake, bread, or cookies to form ice crystals, which renders a freezer-burned taste and soggy texture. Mass-produced frozen cheesecake brands like Sara Lee come in sealed packs to safeguard against air seepage, but even they aren't immune.

Grocery stores with the best bakeries include national giants like Safeway and Kroger, as well as bargain stores like Aldi. Still, there's a big chance the freshly baked goods might not be as fresh as you think. A grocery store bakery red flag that you should always watch out for is dull coloring and dry texture on the dessert or baked good in question. While you might not be able to touch, visual cues of staleness should be obvious upon close inspection.

Cinnamon rolls are yet another bakery product that you should think twice about buying from the grocery store, as they tend to dry out very quickly, losing their ooey-gooey appeal. In fact, many argue that you should think twice before buying baked goods at a grocery store, period. They may be cheap and convenient, but that's because they're mass-produced with low-quality ingredients.

You'll get high-quality, fresh desserts and bread while supporting local businesses by ordering desserts from the independent bakery in your neighborhood. If you have leftover cake slices, you can freeze them at home. The correct way to freeze cakes is by wrapping them first in plastic wrap, then covering them a second time in aluminum foil before placing them in the coldest part of the freezer.