Canned vs frozen vs fresh vegetables.

BaconMD

It seems difficult to find frozen diced tomatoes around here, so I tend to stick with the no-salt added canned versions.

SanteMulberry

i CANNOT do canned anymore, gave it up for a few months (i used to eat lots), and when i tried to eat some canned green beans i literally got sick. i thought it might be a coincidence but it happened again several other times with different brands and different foods. this just tells me theres something in the preservatives that my body no longer can digest!

canned food just scares me now; how come the water foams when you rince? sketch. it just grosses me out ^^ i think frozen is fine if you cant get the fresh.

It may be the plastic can lining that your body doesn't like--it leaches trace amounts of plasticizers into the food. Another thing that we need to be cautious about is the source for the food. I bought some frozen broccoli the other day and we had eaten half the package before I noticed the "product of China" label. :frown: China is basically an open industrial sewer these days and it is that polluted ground water that is used to water their crops. The frozen broccoli could have been contaminated with lead, arsenic, mercury, PCBs, etc. from that irrigation water. :mad: I threw the rest of the package away. I read EVERY label these days to make sure that the food was grown in North America or even Chile (where we actually have standards about such things). The Chinese glibly poison their own people (remember the baby formula tainted with melamine a few years ago?) What would make us think that they wouldn't poison us? Very few Chinese businessmen have any ethical standards. They routinely fake all kinds of "safety standards" labeling. They are very tricky in other ways, sending a "sample" of a product that is untainted, and then when an order is made for more, shipping a heavily tainted product. And then business men here try to get their money back, only to be stonewalled by the Chinese producer and/or the Chinese government. :mad:

SarahBeth0625

BPA should be banned from canned goods and not just baby products. Hormone disruptors: "ain't nobody got time for that!!"

jonnythan

Frozen does have some small cellular damage, but it's not that bad.

What do you think happens when you chew and then swallow them?

Frozen is arguably better than fresh in many instances.

TriShamelessly

I use frozen most of the time. I buy the Steamfresh ones. 5 min in microwave & they are yummy. As a working mom they are easy & taste good.

This^^^ I buy 10-15 bags everytime I shop in addition to the fresh ones.

Bane81

I don't bother with any canned vegetables. I stock a good amount of frozen veg that I can quickly use in things like stir fry, soups, or a quick side to go with my protein at dinner such as a green bean.

Fresh is definitely the best way if you don't over stock your fridge.

LindaGTaylor

[/quote] I agree with jessvaughn74 "This last year I planned in my budget for extra money to be able to buy extra berries from the farmers market and I froze them and I am still using those. If you flash freeze them they last a long time and if you start out with high quality fruit they taste really good."
[/quote]

I buy from the farmers market also. I flash freeze my veggies in serving size portions, so all I need to do is take out the bag and pour them into the steamer basket... I am on a tight budget also. I spent 23.00$ at the farmers market and when I got home I put up the veggies and I ended up with 31 servings of assorted veggies.

I buy my fruit fresh, but I do buy the fruit cups sometimes.

I hope this helps and good luck.

Timshel_

I do a thing called Bountiful Baskets which is a farm co-op, so we get a 50/50 mix of fruits and veggies from local farmers. I prefer to always use fresh, but many times we get so much I freeze much of what I get. I also buy fresh from the store to fill in for certain fruits and veggies. In a pinch I will do certain things pre-packaged frozen and canned, but not much.

Rhonnie

There has been research that suggests that actually, unless you are buying at a local farmers market, that frozen vegetables have more nutrients in them than 'fresh' in your typical grocery store because in order to have the fresh vegetables not rot before getting to market they harvest them before they are ripe so have not fully absorbed the nutrients, while when they plan on freezing the vegetables they wait and harvest them at full ripeness.

brownshuga30

I eat frozen when I cannot get to fresh. From what I've heard frozen is better than canned. In regards to fruits I prefer fresh.

MandyAnnV

Fresh, Frozen, and then if you absolutely must, canned. Think about the kind of preservatives that go in to a canned vegetable to make it be able to not spoil for a year or two, or more??

Sodium is definitely something that sneaks up on you big time. I intake less than MFP recommends for personal health reasons, but when I get close to, or go above, I have found in the past my weight loss slows down.

Alot of people focus on quanity (calories), but you have to focus on quality to (if that makes any sense).

I am on a budget too, I have frozen, and some fresh too.

Carnivor0us

I prefer fresh, and think it's better for you but the sodium levels in canned and frozen never bothered me. I also drink a LOT of water.

peacemongernc

There was some research a few years ago that said that sometimes frozen is the best option. For all I know, it may have been paid for by the frozen food council! But the argument is that frozen food in the grocery store is flash frozen as soon as it comes in from the field, or even in the field. Fresh fruits and vegetables begin changes in their nutrient values as soon as they are picked. So if it has been shipped from the field to your store, and it has been a long time since it was picked, the frozen foods might be more nutrient dense.

I suspect that it depends on the veggie or fruit. I'm pretty sure that frozen corn, for instance, would be preferable to fresh corn, unless you can get it the same day it was picked. Green beans or peas... I'm as convinced.

Also, some nutrients are destroyed or diminished in heat, so if you can get them very fresh, and eat them raw, you get different levels of some nutrients than when you cook them. But, along those same lines, if you are cooking the veggies, I would guess (this is just a guess) that the difference between grocery store fresh (not farmer's field fresh) and frozen is even less.

peacemongernc

BPA should be banned from canned goods and not just baby products. Hormone disruptors: "ain't nobody got time for that!!"

Amen.

ninerbuff

Frozen for quite some time now. We used to by fresh, then when you forget about them being in there, you end up throwing money away. At least with frozen, I can keep them longer.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

neandermagnon

^ I agree. Actually, it can also be the case that frozen vegetables have even more nutrients than fresh ones. They are being frozen right after they were picked whereas fresh veggies are sitting sometimes several days in the grocery store until you come and pick them up.

^^^^ this

I'd say it goes like this, both in terms of taste and nutritional quality

best: freshly picked vegetables (grow your own, pick your own farms, eaten as soon as possible after picking, etc)
close 2nd: vegetables that are frozen right after picking and not kept in the freezer for that long
close 3rd: vegetables that have been sitting around for a long time

not so close 4th: tinned veggies - these are heated to a high temperature and sodium is added, both of these reduce the amount of nutrition in them. it also changes the balance between sodium and potassium... fresh veggies have much more potassium than sodium, in fact it's at about the ratio that your body needs sodium and potassium in... whereas tinned vegetables have a lot more sodium than potassium, so if you only eat tinned veggies then you're likely to get too much sodium and not enough potassium

last place: no veggies at all.

so basically, stick to fresh or frozen as much as you can, but tinned veggies are still veggies and you'll still get nutrition from them, just not as much (and be careful of the sodium if blood pressure or water retention is an issue for you).

I'm not sure where dried veggies/fruit would go on here, it would depend on whether they have been exposed to heat and have lots of added sodium. potato crisps (aka chips in the USA) are not exactly what I'd call nutritious, but dried fruit is pretty nutritious, albeit rather calorie dense and easy to overeat on (fresh is more filling for fewer calories).

neandermagnon

Frozen for quite some time now. We used to by fresh, then when you forget about them being in there, you end up throwing money away. At least with frozen, I can keep them longer.

Same!!

Also I buy fresh and freeze some or all of it, if fresh is cheaper than frozen.

ElaineRN100

During the winter I rely on Frozen or canned - I get the fresh when I can. I live too far from a grocery store to use only fresh. I have a garden that I use for most of my vegetables. Fruit, the same. I think as long as you are consuming fruits and veggies in moderation, either fresh, frozen or canned you are doing great.