Now I find myself in the freezer aisle.
Why? Well, it’s simple really.
- Frozen vegetables are cheaper. Compare the price per weight, and you’ll almost always find that the frozen vegetables are cheaper. As a bonus, you can sometimes find coupons to make them even more economical.
- Frozen vegetables are fresher. What?! Yep. “fresh” veggies are usually trucked in from out of state, or even out of country which means that they’re several days old by the time they even make it to the store shelf. Because of this, they’re almost always picked while immature (see #3). Frozen vegetables in contrast, are almost immediately processed, and have much less time to sit and lose nutritional value.
- Frozen veggies are more nutrient dense. Thanks to the fact that the veggies don’t have to travel far, they can be grown to their peak of maturity, this alone makes them more nutrient dense.
- Easier meal prep. I don’t know about you, but eliminating the need to wash and chop is a big plus in my eyes! I can grab a bag go broccoli in the crockpot in 3 seconds flat and voila! We have Chinese Beef and Broccoli! When you make everything from scratch, you’ll take all the shortcuts you can get.
There you go. My four reasons for buying frozen produce. Which do you prefer – fresh, or frozen?
Here’s a fun side note: Freeze dried produce is also more healthy than “fresh” grocery store produce, and it doesn’t take up precious freezer space either!
We’ve recently started stocking our pantry with cans of freeze-dried fruits and vegetables to fill in the gaps of snacks, and even meals in order to eliminate emergency trips to the store, and make sure that we’re not just out of luck if the power goes out. We love it! And out kids love snacking on crunchy freeze-dried veggies that they normally don’t like – score!
Check out our freeze-dried food source here.
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sommer wisher says
i just took a nutrition course and learned that frozen veggies actually drain the nutrients out of all the vegetables and that those veggies that travel are actually more nutritious b/c they are not frozen. i always find myself in a battle to buy fresh or frozen…luckily, i am in a city with an awesome farmer’s market where i can get fresh produce (picked that day) for very cheap!
Elise says
That’s very interesting! Everything I’ve ever read has been in favor of frozen produce being more nutritious, but I would love to see some of the opposing side’s research.
Miriam Cleary says
Hey!
I really like this article and I found some other research that says “While the first step of freezing vegetables—blanching them in hot water or steam to kill bacteria and arrest the action of food-degrading enzymes—causes some water-soluble nutrients like vitamin C and the B vitamins to break down or leach out, the subsequent flash-freeze locks the vegetables in a relatively nutrient-rich state” (Gorman). I’ve pasted the website below. I’m in my 20’s so anyway to save money and still be healthy is great! Thank you for taking the time to blog about it!
http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/fresh_vs_frozen_vegetables_are_we_giving_up_nutrition_fo
Lisa Loperfido says
Agreeeeed!!!
I buy frozen Brussels sprouts for just a $1 per bag! Sooo gooood.
And about all that research… So the truth is, unless you’re buying local farmers market fresh, or growing your own veggies at home, you’re probably going to lose some nutrients from the farm to the table.
HOWEVER, I’d still rather eat a delicious plate of steamed Brussels sprouts than say, pizza, dino nuggets, lasagna…. or any other common meal that we can just as easily make form the frozen aisle. My point: they’re still a vegetable! They’re still going to fill you up, and replace that carb-heavy meal that you easily could have eaten instead.
I love veggies. Any kind, anyone time, anywhere. 🙂
Jackie says
We like most frozen veggies. Except corn and green beans. Something about freezing those changes the texture enough to be off putting to my kiddos. I generally buy 50% fresh and grow a bit of my own when I can and the rest are canned or frozen, especially love frozen stir fry veggie mixes, peas, and brussel sprouts.
love this article btw. We’re moving and trying to use up everything in our pantry and save a few bucks buying as little as possible. This and the corresponding menu plan will really help over the next month!
Elise says
Good luck with your moving! It’s so funny because I actually prefer frozen corn to canned (with butter of course). Different strokes for different folks, right? Nothing beats homegrown though!
Thank you for your kind words. 🙂
Beth says
I just found your site and I’m in love!
Here are 2 more reasons to buy frozen:
1) If you are feeding just 1-2 people, a “bargain” whole head of something (cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, fennel, cabbage) can go bad before you eat it all. Unless you want to eat 3 straight meals of it. No thanks.
2) If your garden harvest of something was less than fantastic and you still want to dehydrate a bit for later, then frozen is the only way to go! The peeling, chopping and blanching are already done.
Elise says
Great points! And thank you. 🙂
Wanita Lansall says
I live in Victoria, B.C. Canada and I use frozen veggies pretty much all the time except in season when the little organic farm I deal with has fresh and even then I will still use some frozen. It is definitely more convenient and faster in meal prep.
I question how organic fruits and veggies are after crossing the border between Canada & the US and since I have many allergies and especially to pesticides and the like used on conventional crops these days, I prefer organic only.
I have not heard of the freeze-dried option though so will have to look that up and do some research and see if I can find it up here or if can order at reasonable price.
Thank you for posting this information!