Frozen Fruit and Vegetables..Which are nice and which to avoid?

I'm guilty of having a ton of frozen vegetables on me. They're typically cheaper than the fresh counterpart and last weeks longer (a great thing when you're the only one who will eat that food). Right now, my typical frozen fruits/veggie pile includes:
-Asparagus (no sauce)
-Broccoli (no sauce)
-Mixed nonstarchy vegetables (with or without sauce)
-Blueberries (unsweetened)
-Strawberries (unsweetened)

I'm super lazy, so I tend to throw in a small box of frozen veggies in with my dinner, and my desserts include the frozen fruit with a bit of splenda mixed in with whipped cream (it helps with my cold food cravings, and I can get a cup and a half of blueberries with whipped cream for the calories of half a cup of ice cream).

We get frozen mango and forest fruits for smoothies, and I sometimes put them on porridge too.

We also have frozen peas, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and roasted Mediterranean veg.

Frozen asparagus is something I've always been to afraid to even try. Asparagus is usually something I only buy when it's in season.

I really like frozen mixes, like bags of stir-fry vegetables. That way you get a nice variety with little effort and they're really good. Frozen fruit and veggies are really good, it just depends on how you like to prepare them. For example, I don't really like frozen broccoli because I prefer my broccoli crispy (frozen broccoli tends to be softer when you cook it). But if it's in a recipe for quiche or something then it's perfect. It all depends on what you're using it for and how you prefer to eat it. Experiment!

lisafrancis888 wrote: »

Hello,
I would really appreciate your opinions which I realise may differ on which frozen fruit and veg work well and which end up a total mush.
I have always avoided frozen but since trying to eat healthier it would certainly be useful to have some in the freezer. At the moment I only keep garden peas
I have also become more aware recently that many frozen things can have more vitamins in them because they are frozen straight from picking rather than being in the supermarket a week. Sadly I don't have a farmers market handy.
Thank you.

I personally don't enjoy frozen broccoli, except single serve packs, as it's often more stems.
We keep: peas, corn, mix veg, cauliflower, kale and spinach on hand.

We do a lot of green smoothies with kale, spinach, fruits.

(And then we also keep things like black eyed peas, quinoa etc)
And a staple is edamame.

I love my frozen veggies! I always spoil fresh ones, so to me, it's really a no brainer.

I like my frozen blueberries. I put them in my refrigerator oatmeal to gently defrost overnight.

Hubby freezes bananas when they get over-ripe and include them in his smoothies along with frozen strawberries and frozen mangoes.

I freeze 1/2 cup portion sizes of my own pumpkin and squash puree for protein pumpkin pancakes. The two of us would never finish off a large can of pumpkin in a sitting.

I've also blanched and frozen kale to use through the winter.

Other vegetables always on hand are peas, corn, and edamame. I take frozen edamame in my lunch and let them defrost gently in my lunch bag.

Love frozen veggies, but the steam in the bag stuff is typically better tasting than the ones you have to steam yourself (plus you have to add water and they just end up mushy and bleh).

Fruit... nope nope nope. It's good enough for smoothies and sometimes oatmeal (or yogurt), but that's about it.

lisafrancis888 wrote: »

What a good idea. Would never have thought of freezing bananas for smoothies. Can't tell you how many I throw out.

I freeze all my leftover fresh fruit before it goes bad and I have to toss it. Bananas, all berries, mango cantaloupe...whatever. There's always some kind of fruit ready to add to yogurt, smoothies or baking.