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 buy frozen peas, corn, green beans, and spinach. The rest I buy fresh, apart from chopped dried onion and garlic. So fresh carrots, parsnips, celery, peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, cucumbers, cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, and potatoes both white and sweet. If there's a sale I occasionally buy and freeze the cheap veg, but not the cruciferous veg apart from cauliflower.

I hardly ever buy fresh fruit apart from apples for a pie, or something seasonal that you never see frozen like plums, and oranges, clementines, citrus in general limes for boozing.

I like frozen Brussels that are roasted - not soggy at all. I plan to experiment with roasting broccoli and cauliflower in the same way as I find it watery.

In terms of nutritional quality, froze is far superior (as its frozen fresh). no need to feel guilty at all

When you cook fozen veg, put it in cold water and bring to the boil, and its done. Dont boil it for any time.
Frozen carrots and aubergines go weird, everything else is great.

I live alone and use mostly frozen vegetables as that way there is no waste. The vegetables are picked at their peak and then frozen, so have more nutrients than fresh, which have been sitting on the shelves and then at your home. No need to feel guilty for a second!

I do a mixture of both.

Frozen peas, sweet corn, sometimes onions especially for the slow cooker or stews, frozen mash potatoes to top things like shepherds pies, soffrito mix.

I prefer broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peppers, although I have also tried frozen l. occasion.

I also freeze any leftovers I have. So if a recipe calls for half a red onion, I’ll chop it up and put half in the freezer in a bag for another time. Same with leeks, peppers.

During early summer I always go fruit picking and get strawberries, raspberries s s blackberries. We use some and batch freeze the rest to use throughout the year in smoothies, shakes and even just to top a glass of chilled prosecco at Christmas.

Just this week I have chopped and frozen grapes for the first time. Interested to see how they turn out.

I only use frozen veg as there's only me that really likes it. I buy those steam bags with a mix of veg and you pop in the microwave for a few minutes. Excellent.

I have also bought some frozen fruit this week. Have been putting it in my breakfast - mango and raspberries. They're a revelation.

A lot of allotmenteers pickle or freeze their fresh vegs, so don't waste time worrying on that count. You could even grow your own or ask the kids to grow their own. A packet of cress costs less than £1 and requires no compost. You will have your fresh cress under 2 weeks. Or grow some rocket leaves in a tub! Nothing wrong with frozen foods.

Molly button is right about lead! We used to live in a converted Suffolk farm cottage on a corner at the junction of three farms, and when there were peas in one or other of the fields, the pea viners would trundle into the field followed by the freezer lorry. Right onto the field. Often in the wee hours of the morning. Those babies were frozen within minutes. Did you know you can sprout frozen peas for pea shoots? They're still alive in that bag in your freezer!

My best waste less/freeze it tip is for fresh ginger. Buy it, bung it in the freezer, no peeling, no wrapping whatsoever, and grate it from frozen as you need it. And I buy that frozen spinach in plugs, so I can count them into the pan.

Spinach and ginger go into Jack Monroe's daal. Mmm mmm!

Peas! We don't eat lead. My autocorrect categorically refuses to recognise the word peas!

I eat frozen peas, corn, and spinach. The only thing against it in my mind is the plastic packaging which is not good for the environment. Now that I’m thinking about it I’m wondering where the veg comes from too - whether it is UK grown or flown here 🤔.

Now I wish I had bought more sprouts on Christmas day and frozen them! Lost chance!

I use frozen mixed peppers, frozen peas, frozen corn, frozen spinach, frozen berries for my breakfast, frozen green beans.
have yet to succumb to frozen squash but am tempted, onions rarely go off in my house

i believe some is grown in Hungary or somewhere

Garlic, ginger, peas, sweet corn, mixed veg are staples. I wouldn’t buy high water content ones such as peppers nor green leafy ones like sprouts. I don’t mind the odd frozen green bean either.

Not a veg as such but frozen rice is amazing, either bought in bags or done yourself with leftovers.

OP

Not only do I use frozen veg, but sometimes I use tinned as well.

IMHO carrots, cauliflower and broccoli are too watery for me but peas, sweetcorn, ginger, onions, garlic - all good.

I tend to have fresh carrots in the fridge.

I make a sort of, well veg in a jar - this is useful for veg you need to use before it goes off.

Anyway, get a jar, an old jam jar is fine ('sterilize' it by washing in the dishwasher) and add to it 1 clove of garlic - peeled and whole. Add slices of pepper, mushroom and olives, capers and anchovies if you like, then top the jar up with olive oil.

Leave for a week and eat with crusty bread.

Yabu.
Apparently they retain more nutrients and there's less waste. Frozen is often better than fresh.

I use frozen green beans and peas of course, frozen peppers can be useful too. I prefer the texture of fresh though

I use lots of frozen veg: sweet corn, peas, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, mushrooms.

The ones I've found not so good are onions and broccoli. Agree with PP that the broccoli goes quite soggy and just doesn't defrost so well.

I do use frozen onions on occasion but they taste of absolutely nothing. Onions are basically the only vegetable which I deliberately use fresh.

I love frozen veg and it means that I take a pick and mix approach to cooking, whereby a handful of this or that becomes a meal. It does mean I eat a better variety of food and dinner comes together quickly. I don't see the issue. Carry on!

Yes the fresh bag of spinach in the freezer has been brilliant ! It freezes perfectly, doesn't clump together or anything. I also do this with large bundles of fresh herbs like coriander and then again you can just pull off what you need straight from freezer.

Frozen veg is great, cheaper and no wastage. O usually chuck it in the steamer and can't taste the difference.

Nothing wrong with frozen veg.

Morrison’s do big frozen bags of garlic and ginger in handy blocks in their ‘world foods’ section. Along with frozen chopped onion you have the base for a curry, soup or a stir-fry instantly.

I freeze my own mashed potato - periodically make a huge batch, then scoop into balls with an ice cream scoop and place on a baking tray to freeze. Once they have frozen hard, put the balls into a freezer bag to make it easy to take out a portion.

Hard grated cheese like cheddar also freezes well and is cheaper and better than ready-grated with that weird potato starch on it. Buy a massive breezeblock of cheddar when it’s on offer, grate in the food processor, then bag up and freeze.