To feel guilty for buying frozen vegetables instead of fresh

[Butterfly98]

Just that! I have a very busy life between full time work, kids, their activities and 101 other things it seems to fit in every week! Did the weekly shop this evening, I buy healthy food for breakfast, packed lunches and evening meals with plenty of fruit & veg. One thing that takes up more time every evening is peeling and chopping veg, I also overbuy when rushing so some of it ends up in the bin. A few people have suggested for me to swap to frozen veg as this would save time and money and less waste too! They say there's more nutrients in frozen but I'm not convinced! Also what about flavour? Interested to hear what you buy!

I have a dodgy hand, so chopping can hurt sometimes. I've been buying from Asda, they do a lot of fresh ready chopped, it's my go to place. Morrisons are really good too, they do a frozen range thats their essential range, I usually chuck quite a bit in my trolly.

I use frozen veg and we now eat a lot more vegetables and varied dinners as it’s so much cheaper

I buy frozen onions, onion chilli and ginger mix (for curries), spinach and green beans (not for all dishes) broad beans, soffritto mix. carrot and swede mash, peas and also chopped garlic, ginger chillis. I have recently started using frozen herbs (Tescos are the best I have used) add a much nicer flavour than many dried herbs. And the Thai frozen mix is great (from waitrose)

Also use frozen cheese sauce which is very nice

Meals have become more varied. I work full time and on my own and time is limited but we eat well

Not keen on frozen mash potatoes or broccoli

Mmm thinking one of those Bejam chest freezers that were popular in the 70’s would be handy

Frozen veg has more vitamin content than ‘fresh veg’ you buy in a shop, but often less fibre unless you buy veg that’s frozen whole. So I tend to make meals that combine the two.

I have tried freezing fresh spinach and the same amount of cooked spinach, when cooked it takes up far less room (really shrinks down). Because of this I think it's probably cheaper to buy it frozen in the first place, as frozen spinach is actually equivalent to loads of fresh leaves.

I buy frozen garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms, peas, carrots, veg mix (cauliflower, broccoli etc).

Since having DS and going back to work full time I was finding it difficult to cook varied meals that weren't all from a jar. Cutting veg up took just as long as cooking a meal sometimes.

Frozen veg has been such a time saver. And it means I don't use oil to cook with as well as the defrosting veg give off just enough liquid to stop meat sticking to the pan without watering things down too much.

Nutritionally they're fine. Some things are ujystvas nice as fresh, eg peas, Sweetcorn. Some are a bit soggy.

Frozen food is supposed to be better. A lot is frozen very quickly after being picked. Fresh veg can in fact be quite old by the time it gets to shops. I normally use frozen

Thank goodness for frozen veg, I say! I always try to use fresh, but sometimes that just doesn't work out, and one of my biggest peeves/guilts is wasting fresh produce. I get so upset with myself when I've let something go bad, so I try not to over buy.

How did I not know frozen chopped onions existed.?..
I always have some mixed veg in freezer. That way if we're having take away or something with chips.. Toddler wont eat chips etc
I just do her some fish, rice and frozen mixed veg nice and quick.

But I have thought about getting other frozen veggies as peeling takes forever. And due a baby next week so to spend ages in kitchen with baby and toddler in lounge isn't a good idea and if we wait until dh home for either of us to cook it would be 8pm before eating and I like us all to eat together at 6pm with kids so I tend to cook

I've never shelled my own peas or broad beans and wouldn't dream of buying them fresh, it's frozen or nothing. Other veg I prefer fresh, not necessarily for flavour but the texture is usually nicer, but I have the luxury of no time pressure.

Frozen coriander is great - it's less wasteful because you end up having to buy a huge bush of it for one meal otherwise.

So those who m buy frozen. What's the best supermarket for taste and value.. Or is there not much difference.?
I have tesco and sainsburys very local. Asda 3 miles. Aldi x 3 all withing 4 miles. I use all these
Iceland is very close but u can't stand queues in there. Its a bad store for lack of staff.

Nope do not be feeling guilty, think about if you had fresh veg, how much would you use verses how much would get binned.

My adorable DH thinks this is lazy, I welcome him to cook for the family if he feels so strongly.

Being a Mum is hard enough, without having to worry over such things. You are doing a great job, as long as the children are fed, that's what matters.

I buy fresh veggies and actually end up throwing 80% away ..it’s habit , so you are to stop worrying!! I only do it to keep to support our local farmer !!

Frozen peas, broad beans and corn are really convenient, nutritious and as pp mentioned no waste.
I also buy spinach, edamame and berries of all sorts.
They work well if texture isn't important.

it's outstandingly good for avoiding waste. agree with other comments that taste is a mixed bag, eg peas superb, carrots less so, etc

I love frozen onions. Cook from frozen (never found them watery tbh). I freeze excess onions if I cut fresh ones.

I always use frozen veg. It's so much less wasteful

Also if I'm in the supermarket at yellow sticker time and they are selling off peppers or mushrooms or the likes I'll buy, chop and freeze them

I buy fresh from local grocer and freeze it into 'soup packs' if I do t get through it.

Frozen doesn't take away any of the goodness. Your fresh frozen is probably fresher than my bought and frozen.

For cooking I choose frozen peppers every time. So much cheaper too. Also use frozen mushroom and onions in casseroles etc. Used to be able to get frozen sugar snap peas years ago by Birds Eye bug they stopped them more the pity.

Whatever it takes to get vegetables into your family's diet is a plus.

The only fresh veg I use are potatoes. Everything else is frozen. I love the steamfresh veg.
I have athritis in my wrists and find peeling / chopping veg painful, so frozen veg is a godsend for me.
Plus there is less wastage as you just use what you need.

There are some things that will be nicer if you've used fresh stuff and some where it won't matter at all. Either cook stuff where you won't notice the difference or just accept that some stuff won't be quite as nice. Not every meal has to be fantastic. When you have a full-time job and kids to run around after it's ok for dinner to be "good enough".

On the other hand Broccoli always seems a bit soggy to me when cooked from frozen, and doesn't take much effort to prepare.

I'd have agreed with you until very recently but there seems to have been a big improvement (depending on the 'brand').

I have an auto-immune arthritis and it can affect my hands badly in the morning and evening. On the nights when they're acting up then I find the steamer bags of frozen vegetables are invaluable.

Love frozen veg! Hate food waste so frozen veg is so much better.

Not a fan of frozen carrots though, so I tend to keep fresh carrots in the fridge (and fresh spinach but will be trying to freeze that now - great shout!)