Frozen Foods Have More Nutrients Than You Think

[FarCenter]

"Fresh good. Packaged bad." The clean-eating mantra makes perfect sense, but it turns out your supermarket's produce section never got the memo.

In two recent studies from Britain, researchers purchased a half dozen different kinds of fruit and vegetables, all of which came in two varieties: fresh and frozen. After buying them — and then having them chill out in either a fridge or freezer for three days — researchers conducted 40 tests to compare their nutritional content.

Turns out the frozen varieties were richer in health-boosting vitamins and antioxidants. In fact, frozen broccoli had four times more beta-carotene than its fresh counterpart, while frozen carrots had three times more lutein and double the beta-carotene as well as greater levels of vitamin C and polyphenols.

A few produce picks (raspberries and peas, for example) performed about the same across the board whether they were fresh or frozen, but they were exceptions to what could become the new rule of produce: go frozen.

http://www.businessinsider.com/frozen-foods-have-more-nutrients-than-you-think-2013-11

[djean111]

1. I always assumed that, because things are usually frozen immediately, while fresh

- in most cases, for big-box stores - spend a lot of time on a truck.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. That makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

[TBF]

3. I read that within the past couple years and feel much

better about buying frozen now. Sometimes things just aren't in season when you want them & sometimes your choice way of preparing them doesn't preserve nutrients as well as frozen. Of course the frozen is also usually less expensive. So, learn something new every day.

As long as I spice things decently my kids love frozen broccoli and peas.

[Aerows]

4. French fries and hamburgers

are as nutritious as canned vegetables, according to some DUers, so I wouldn't put much stock in those ideas.

[FarCenter]

5. Canned vegetables are cooked while being canned, while frozen are raw or blanched.

Peas are frozen within hours of being harvested, for example. It is more energy efficient to store and ship frozen vegetables in bulk quantities than to store and ship fresh vegetables in small lots.

[Aerows]

6. I agree

that frozen is better, but any amount of vegetables are better than potato chips and soft drinks. Just interjecting a different element, though I agree with you absolutely, FarCenter. Frozen vegetables are extremely good for you.

[Warpy]

9. Most of them are blanched before freezing

and that means being passed through a bath of simmering water before they go into the blast freezer. That sets the color. Blanching only affects the outermost portion, the interior stays raw until it is frozen.

[Warpy]

7. Most frozen veg are flash frozen as quickly as possible after they're picked

What causes them to lose nutrients is canning them in water. Unless you drink the water, you are just not going to get anything the veg originally had.

I do love canned peaches in heavy syrup. When I'm done with the peaches, the syrup goes into homemade whipped cream, frozen, and comes out a poor man's peach ice cream.

The rest of it gets passed by. I lived on canned veg growing up and thought I hated vegetables. Then I tasted fresh ones and never looked back. In winter I'll eat frozen ones.

[frazzled]

8. I wonder what would happen if you compared the frozen

to really super-fresh, picked-that-day vegetables, as opposed to the kind (even the organic kind) that have been shipped for days and sit around in bins at the supermarket, losing nutrients.

I imagine fresh fresh vegetables might fare better against the frozen. But I've known this business about frozen vegetables retaining more nutrients for quite some time. Trader Joes has excellent frozen vegetables, and we always keep some on hand. But frozen carrots? Yechh, kind of mushy.

[Thor_MN]

12. Depends on how far one is from the source of the food.

If one is comparing local farmer's market produce against frozen, it might be more apples to apples, so to say. If the comparison is Florida produce trucked to Minnesota against frozen, frozen would probably win.

[ancianita]

15. Local fresh beats frozen, from what I've read. Absent local access, frozen is good nutrition bang

for the buck. It is yucky, sometimes, but blending vegies into either smoothies or pureed sauces, or chopping them into stews or whatever can help that problem.

[ctaylors6]

10. I buy frozen fruits & veggies & throw out much less

In my experience, frozen fruits and vegetables are a double savings. I can usually get them for less money than fresh (especially because you can stock up on sales), and I almost never let them go bad. I try hard to use fresh fruit and veggies before they go bad, but occasionally end up with too brown lettuce or gross fuzz on fruit. I can't remember the last time I didn't finish off frozen vegetables or fruit.

We make lots of smoothies in our house. Standard breakfast smoothie is greek yogurt, fresh banana (bananas are so inexpensive), some frozen berries or other frozen fruit, and some milk.

I always use fresh lettuce, but buy many other vegetables frozen: green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, corn.

When I use my slow cooker, I often use frozen vegetables straight out of the bag.

I almost never use canned foods.

[tridim]

11. The mixed-veggie selection is very handy for a single guy.

And frozen broccoli just kicks ass. I make beef and broccoli with it quite often, perfect.

The frozen fruit at Costco is all amazing. It completely solves the spoilage issue.

[FarCenter]

16. Even with the big bags, you can slam them on the counter, pour out a serving and put the rest back.

[sendero]

13. Really no surprise..

.. for reasons already stated here. "Everyone" knows that while heat accelerates chemical reactions (generally) and cold inhibits them.

Deteriorations in nutritional components probably mostly amount to chemical reactions taking place.

That said, I think that fresh vegetables are generally more palatable than frozen assuming skill in preparation.

[DonCoquixote]

14. the hidden secret

Forzen stuff does not require the sugars and syrups that are a part of processing. Check the label, and hands down, you will see less sugar in the frozen veggies. That is a hard lesson this diabetic had to learn.

[libdem4life]

17. Good information and good news for buying extra fresh produce on sale, or when one is rural and has

to forego the quick and/or frequent trip to the market.

I'm a smoothie fan, and to get all of those fruits and veggies that make up a tasty recipe, can be tricky so they don't spoil. I spend a bit of time prepping, cutting, putting in freezer bags for a meal or drink or soup. I had wondered from time to time how it affected the nutrition...thanks for the information.

[IronLionZion]

18. That's good to know

I get both since some of the fresh stuff goes bad before I get a chance to eat it.


Frozen fruit/berries are a good replacement for ice cubes in drinks and smoothies. Sticking frozen strawberries in a glass of water makes it more interesting to drink.