Canned vs frozen vs fresh vegetables.

Always Fresh - I'd rather save $ riding the public bus than eat a canned pea!

Fresh vegetables are almost always superior in quality to frozen (better texture, more versatile, and more flavorful), and I wouldn't bother eating frozen vegetables on their own. However, they are some that are nice to have on hand to toss into things (e.g. frozen peas for aloo mutter or spinach for a frittata). I like to have peas, corn, spinach, and edamame on hand for those purposes. Frozen vegetables are more expensive but they say they actually have more nutrition than fresh because they're frozen right after they're picked.

I sometimes keep frozen fruit on hand for smoothies but it's ridiculously expensive and there's not much else you can do with it.

The only canned vegetables I'll bother with are tomatoes. Everything else is too salty and mushy to cook with.

^ 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 buy fresh when I can, but also you should try to know where your food is coming from. I buy fresh a lot more often in the summertime when it's likely local and I can visit the farmer's markets. Otherwise I'm constantly stocking up on frozen veggies when they go on sale at the grocery. You should see my freezer, I probably have at least 10 bags in there.

I will tell you exactly what the nutritionist I had a consultation with told me. The best vegetables most people have access to are frozen. The "fresh" vegetables you see in the grocery store were probably shipped from thousands of miles away. During that time, they lost most of their nutritional value. The best vegetables are the ones you pick from the ground and eat or get at a farmer's market that sells freshly harvested local produce. Frozen vegetables are frozen while they are fresh and the freezing process locks in that nutritional value. According to the nutritionist, here's the order of preference:

1). Freshly harvested, local, organic, farmer's market vegetables.
2). Frozen vegetables.
3). Grocery store "fresh" vegetables.
4). Canned vegetables.

It may seem counter-intuitive at first, but it actually makes perfect sense when you think about it.

^ 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 buy fresh when I can, but also you should try to know where your food is coming from. I buy fresh a lot more often in the summertime when it's likely local and I can visit the farmer's markets. Otherwise I'm constantly stocking up on frozen veggies when they go on sale at the grocery. You should see my freezer, I probably have at least 10 bags in there.

word. my freezer is mostly frozen veg, some meatless products and 3 bottles of liquor

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.