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24 Comments:
Peas and corn are fine--I often use them in the winter. Broccoli--not so good. That's about all I've tried. A chef at the CIA told me that nutritionally they're okay because they are frozen right after harvest, so they're better than something that has spent 3-4 days in a truck to get to the market.
ride&cook at 8:36AM on 03/26/07
I concur that peas and corn are fine and that brocolli isn't the greatest. I found frozen green beans to be yucky too. I dp like to keep a bag of frozen asian veggies on hand for a quick stir fry. I find they taste pretty good that way, and a heck of a lot easier than chopping everything up!
psychsarah at 9:07AM on 03/26/07
peas. i dont feel like shelling any, and the bagged is just as good.
i also buy big bags of mixed fruit in the winter for smoothies. yeah, they're not as good as fresh, but i'm also not going to pay up the nose for fruit that's been long-hauled from some warmer climate in the dead of winter. it's better than no fruit at all.
french tart at 9:14AM on 03/26/07
Trader joe's sells frozen French green beans (very thin) that are fine, but otherwise I agree with above. Certain fruits (peaches, raspberries, blueberries, mangos, pineapple) are not bad.
emily20008 at 9:37AM on 03/26/07
I use frozen peas, and occasionally frozen corn. But I wouldn't say they were as good as fresh. They're a reasonable alternative when fresh isn't available. Otherwise I don't really use frozen produce - both because I find most of it pretty awful (I mean, frozen carrots? Ugh.) and also because my freezer is a tiny little practical joke.
caley at 9:41AM on 03/26/07
for baking, frozen berries are all right by me. i made a warm berry preserve to go with some maple french toast and used two bags of frozen strawberries from trader joe's. it tasted delicious and saved a lot of work in terms of washing, cutting, etc.
Doug at 9:47AM on 03/26/07
I agree with Emily, the Trader Joes French green beans are pretty good. As others mentioned, peas and corn are also decent. Trader Joes also has asparagus that is pretty decent...especially if you are mixing it in with other stuff. Frozen artichoke hearts are also decent as well as those steam fresh sugar shap peas.
EatWisconsin at 10:26AM on 03/26/07
Frozen berries are good, as are frozen peas.
I use frozen spinach quite a bit, but not as a substitute for fresh spinach.
savvy at 10:32AM on 03/26/07
Generally not as good as fresh. But what are you to do in winter? One can usually find braccoli, squash, and a variety of root vegtables in the stores. Some frozen vegtables such as peas are better than one can get fresh if you're not picking them yourself. So if one wants to maintain a healthy diet during the winter months the use of frozen vegtables is a must.
Colorado Jim at 10:41AM on 03/26/07
Frozen sliced bell peppers. They wind up being far cheaper than the thick-walled, heavy cored Dutch ones I find at the market in winter. Trader Joe's has bags of what they called traffic-light peppers, which are red, yellow, and green. (Surprise!) Inspired by that, I now buy and freeze jalapenos when on sale.
Peas and corn, of course.
Absolute, utter worst--frozen rutabaga. I was jonesing for mashed rutabaga, which no one else around here much cares for, so I thought I would give it a try. Even with lashings of butter and so much ground pepper that my wrist hurt, it was inedible.
Barbara Hanson at 10:55AM on 03/26/07
I use frozen peas, corn & spinach the most....I have bought frozen berries too..they are great in smoothies. Some things though, like squash...just don't freeze well!
mepolo at 10:55AM on 03/26/07
I often use Europes Best for my frozen veggies and fruit, they are the best I have yet to use.
Lilartist at 11:26AM on 03/26/07
As someone who doesn't have as much time to go grocery shopping as I'd like, frozen produce is a godsend.
Squash,peas, and corn are great. Lima beans are fine. Frozen spinach works in soups or lasagnas. My grocery store sells pre-chopped/sliced onions and peppers, which make their way into stews and stir-fries. Berries don't suffer much from freezing, and are much cheaper than their fresh counterparts. They're not ideal for eating from hand, but if you heat them up with a little sugar they're delicious over waffles or ice cream.
www.hundredthings.com at 11:37AM on 03/26/07
Frozen Veggies good, Peas, Spinach as long as you drain it well, I agree with Emily the Trader Joe's Haricot Verts are excellent. I would steam them and then do a quick sautee with a little butter shallots and a squeeze of fresh lemon
nelson5757 at 12:04PM on 03/26/07
Frozen spinach if it is going "into" something. Frozen peas and corn are fine. Fruits and berries are good if you are cooking with them or putting them in a smothie. Not so good for eating by themselves. Although I do love to eat bluberries frozen as a snack. I also freeze grapes when it looks like I am not going to eat them before they go bad. They are a great little cool snack but yucky if they thaw out before you eat them.
Sindy at 1:07PM on 03/26/07
Peas are ok. Spinach too, but fresh, when in season, are much better... Aubergines or potatoes are just horrible...
Sara - Piperita at 3:26PM on 03/26/07
All fresh all the time
JEP at 6:50PM on 03/26/07
Saw this on a TV program in Australia - tests were done on the nutritional content of frozen versus 'fresh'. Frozen won out by far for broccoli. The theory is that the 'fresh' food bought at the supermarket has been sitting there for a while, as opposed to veg which has been frozen, supposedly as soon as it's been harvested.
Apart from that, frozen veg is usually too soggy for my liking.
turkiyaki at 7:19PM on 03/26/07
The only frozen vegetables I buy are corn and edamame. I don't like the texture of most frozen vegetables, even the good stuff from Trader Joe's.
Though I do use frozen fruit (berries, peaches, mangoes) for smoothies, mostly because they're not available most of the year, and given the choice between eating a peach and blending it up into a smoothie I'll choose eating it every time!
Really interesting information about the greater nutritional content of some frozen foods. I know I'm lucky that I can shop at a great local greenmarket; if my alternative was tired supermarket produce, I bet I'd warm up to more frozen veggies.
producestories at 8:08PM on 03/26/07
frozen peas are a family favorite--we have a song. chopped spinach is just fine for saag paneer. Trader Joe's has bags of artichoke hearts, good for a soup or tossed with pasta.
jscheck at 10:05PM on 03/26/07
Trader Joes green beans are young and fresh. Also the edamame.
I buy mushrooms fresh slice them and freeze them. Peas, corn, spinach, peas & carrots, hash brown shreds.
JerzeeTomato at 11:35PM on 03/26/07
I use frozen peas, spinach, edamame, corn and some of the mixed varieties for stir-frys and for fritattas. Hash browns and crinkle cut fries are excellent, too. Frozen berries and peaches also work well when used in recipes.
I don't think I've ever seen frozen mangoes, but here in California one can buy fresh mangoes year-round. Actually, one can buy most produce "fresh" here year-round, if you don't mind the fact that out of season produce comes from South America. Personally, I don't eat many fresh things out of season because they just don't taste as good and they are expensive.
Oh, and I'm going to brag here for just a moment, but I have tomatoes on my vines that are nearly two inches across already. I believe I will be eating fresh, homegrown tomatoes by Memorial Day this year. They are currently living in the bathtub because we are having a cold storm, but they will be ready to plant as soon as the weather cooperates. :-D
I love California, and I don't want to ever live anywhere else!
Calichef at 4:28AM on 03/27/07
@Jerzee: How do frozen mushroom slices hold up on thawing out? Do you use them in, say, stir fry or some such? I could see there that the texture wouldn't matter as much.
Adam Kuban at 8:31AM on 03/27/07
Culinary traditions have evolved based upon the food that was immediately available in a particular region of the globe. Similarily, seasonal food traditions evolved based upon what was available at any given time of the year.
I live in Minnesota, and I can tell you that there are no fresh fruits or vegetables available naturally. Only modern transportation methods have allow me to go to SuperTarget and pick up asparagus to grill, limes for gin & tonics, and head of romaine lettuce.
I get what the original question was about...i.e. are there frozen veggies that taste comparable to fresh....However, the real question here is preserved food vs. fresh food.
I grew up in the country where we had an acre sized vegetable garden. We also had 20 acres of woods with berries, wild plums, chokecherries, & mushrooms. From spring until fall we ate nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables as they came into season.
Once the season was over, the excess food that would have spoiled was safely canned, frozen or made into preserves. From November on, we had our own homegrown food, but not fresh...preserved. And like many generations before us, we simply utilized the food that was available.
This meant stews, soups, roasts with root vegetables, chili, canned beans, frozen corn, homemade rhubarb jam, etc....The point I am making is that frozen corn is a different ingredient than fresh corn.
To me, chopping up fresh broccoli is a waste if all you are going to do is make a cream of broccoli soup....as the point has been made in other posts, the nutritional value may actually be better if you used frozen.
conversely, It'd be ridiculous to throw frozen broccoli on a crudite platter with some dip and expect anyone to eat it.
The real fun of cooking is balancing the best ingredients available with the best recipe to use those ingredients, without going broke.
2qrs at 4:38PM on 03/27/07