What frozen / tinned fruit and veg are actually okay?

[AchtungBaby]

I tend to only use fresh fruit and veg, but sometimes find myself throwing away unused food when I'm disorganised busy.

So, what frozen / tinned fruit and veg are actually okay? It would be great to have some in as a backup for when the fridge is bare!

I just bought some frozen sliced leeks. Would these work in a soup? I'd love to buy some frozen chopped onions (I didn't know that you could buy such a thing until recently), as I hate chopping onions. Some posters also mention frozen blueberries, hmm.

I already buy tinned sweetcorn, but can't think of any other tinned fruit or veg that might be okay (although I'm sure that some must be!).

I / we need to cook for DH and I, and DS (9 months) if that helps. And I know that fresh is best, and that's what I'll continue to strive for, but I'd rather give DS something homemade even if it does contain frozen / tinned fruit or veg, rather than a jar / pouch of baby food.

[RitaMorgan]

I use frozen peas, frozen spinach, frozen sweetcorn cobs and frozen green beans quite a lot - all pretty good. Frozen berries are all good too.

Have recently bought some frozen broccoli but haven't tried it out yet.

I mostly use frozen veg - saves on waste.

[missnevermind]

Tinned and frozen can be better vitamin wise than old badly stored fresh veg.

[Cattleprod]

Tinned peaches are really nice with custard.

Frozen mixed fruit is great to use in smoothies for a refreshing summer drink.

With frozen veg, I like petits pois, supersweet sweetcorn, spinach (easy to hide in pasta) and brussel sprouts.

[MotherPanda]

I find that frozen green beans are often quite good - as long as you dont buy the ones that are already sliced up, and i always buy frozen corn on the cob - very yummy and much cheaper than the fresh stuff!

I would avoid fozen carrots, they are always very watery.

[KnottyLocks]

Frozen cauli and broccoli are great for quick cauliflower/broccoli cheeses.

Frozen spinach, peas, french beans, sweetcorn all fine.

You can get frozen mixed berry bags which are great for pies or crumbles, adding a chopped apple if you fancy or they make good summer puddings or compotes.

Tinned pineapple, peaches, pears, mandarins all fine.

[MooM00]

Tinned prunes make a lovely rich crumble ( i make little ones in ramekins as eating a lot of prune crumble is not always a good thing).

[Aworryingtrend]

Frozen broccoli, frozen cauliflower, frozen beansprouts, frozen peas, frozen berries all good.

Tins of ratatouille are good to have on standby, can eb bulked out with other veg if you have it in.

Tinned tomatoes of course.

Tinned pineapple, blackberries, peaches all fine in desserts, not sure i would have them as you would eat a piece of fresh fruit'.

[AchtungBaby]

Thanks for all of the replies !

I went to the supermarket with DH, and we're now the proud owners of frozen spinach, chopped onions, and blueberries. I'll definitely start going down the frozen fruit and veg aisle now!

I also plan to buy some tinned mandarins for DS to have in plain yoghurt / fromage frais.

[RitaMorgan]

Let us know how the frozen onions are - I am a bit sceptical!

[AchtungBaby]

I will.

[thereistheball]

France lives on frozen food. Their Iceland equivalent is a gourmet experience. It sells frozen sliced onions, chopped veg for making ratatouille (disappointing) and tons of other prepped veg.

Personally I am happy to use frozen green beans (whole, and only certain brands), frozen spinach (for curries and eggs), frozen peas, tinned sweetcorn and beans of different varieties.

[ChippyMinton]

Frozen:
mango
blueberries
peas
Tins/jars:
tomato/passata
roasted red peppers
garlic
sweetcorn
pears

[bigTillyMint]

I use frozen:
peas
sweetcorn (they won't touch tinned!)
peppers
broad beans
spinach
sometimes french beans
sometimes chopped onions

I find frozen carrots, cauli and broccoli very mushy

tinned:
peaches
pears
mandarins
fruit salad (olde stylie in fruit juice, of course )
summer fruits
blackberries
raspberries
mango
tomatoes

[Collision]

Can I also recommend frozen mushrooms, peppers and onions. I have a bag of each of these in the freezer and they are all really handy to add to dishes.

The mushrooms are very mushroomy if you know what I mean!!

[ChippyMinton]

Tinned mushrooms are good for the authentic full-english in a caff experience.

[dreamofwhitehorses]

Frozen peas. I didn't realise anyone lived without them! (And they keep all their nutrients, I believe)
Frozen sweetcorn same.
Tinned tomatoes, baked beans, kidney beans.
Have recently tried frozen leeks and they are brilliant for a quick soup, although you will notice a bit of difference from fresh.

And of course the classic 4 can camping stew.
Tin of stewing steak, carrots, peas, potatoes, into a pan and heat through. Eat with bread in a sleeping bag.

[AchtungBaby]

Thanks, lots more replies !

I made an emergency leek and potato soup for part of DS's lunch this morning, using frozen chopped onions and sliced leeks. It was fine, and tasted much like the last all-fresh-ingredients leek and potato soup that I made him.

Now I'm going to make a less-emergency red lentil soup, so I'm planning to ask DH nicely to chop 2 onions for me...

[JetLi]

I too found the frozen broccoli a bit waterlogged, but I have switched to steaming it and its not nearly so much of a problem. Would agree frozen carrots have an odd texture, but I have a passion for tinned carrots. Green beans are fine here, also frozen mushrooms to sling into sauces & casseroles.

[nickelbabe]

it's always worth making some ready-meals with fresh ingredients then freezing those - soups are good for that, because you can also freeze the bread

and casseroles, pies, etc.

[SarahLundsredJumper]

Frozen mixed veg great
also spinach
peas sweetcorn
frozen casserole veg
also frozen herbs -saves wastage when the supermarket pots give up and die after a week

[nickelbabe]

(and most frozen veg is actually better than fresh, because they freeze it immediately it's picked, whereas fresh can be sitting around for a couple of weeks before it's eaten.)

[Flossie69]

Frozen chopped onions are a god-send - so easy, no tears, just add them striaght to the frying pan. I also do the frozen peas and sweetcorn, but all other veg I do fresh - it isn't normally around long enough to go off.

[LoveBeingAbleToNamechange]

Glad to see frozen sweetcorn getting the thumbs up I have bought some today.

[nickelbabe]

We also found it's a lot cheaper to buy frozen for some veg - like green beans and sweetcorn.
We normally eat loads of fresh veg (in season, though), and we bought a huge bag of sweetcorn about a month ago and we've still got about 1/4 left in it! (there are only 2 of us, though)

It's good for getting out-of-season veg at different times of the year, because it's usually british stuff that was frozen when it was in season. iyswim.