are the Birds Eye adverts right - am i better off feeding DD frozen veg than fresh?

[AitchTwoOh]

i do try to buy at the farmers' market to keep our veggies local, but quite a few come from the fruit shop via Spain, italy etc.

i'm really interested to know if i woudl be better off buying frozen than non-local fresh?

please don't ask me to get a veggie box, though. i used to get one, couldn't stand the turnip in the end...

this was something i'd read in the Nobserver Food Porn Mag, that apples can be kept for as long as 3 years, unripened, in cool warehouses. then they are ripened before sale, largely sans vitamins... [must stop reading}

Wouldn't it be lovely if we all had gardens and apple trees and fruit and veg all year round? [sigh]

I wish I had an apple tree (or even a garden big enough to have an apple tree)

I have a concrete back yard about 18' square

god not mine, v v lucky that parents have recently moved to a house with a huge garden (which my mum didn't even know was there until they moved in - they had looked at the house on a winter evening and she had just looked at the garden out of the window - it then has an orchard and a huge allotment round the corner).
I am NOT a foodie, nor am I ecologically sound, I buy most of my stuff from tesco and rarely (never) give a stuff about organic, carbonfootprint etc. I get stuff from my dad when it is in season cos it's free.
BUT if you are interested in these things then I guess it has to mean going back to only having things in season, rather then buying them imported.
Not sure where you are GM, and not sure if its something specific to round here, but loads of people seem to have little tables out selling spare produce.
God I am really in the sticks aren't I!! Actually only a few miles outside Cambridge.

Anyway I have got off topic haven't I.

My parents are in suffolk, CR and it happens there too!We used to get loads of free veg from grandad's garden but he got too old to keep it up. Round here (west yorks) we have lots of signs outside houses for potatoes and eggs but no veg. I have got a really, really good farm shop down the road that sells lots of things and they are all local (mostly from their own farm). I buy organic usually from the supermarket because it tastes nicer but the rest of the time I go to the farm shop and the veg tastes like I grew it myself. I used to get a veg box but the bloody curly Kale did my head in

I use a lot of frozen vegetables - they are convenient and I always steam them rather than boil them. They are great in things where consistency isn't a huge issue like soup/curry etc. I love frozen diced onions for quick cooking from scratch (although does it count as from scratch if your onions are done for you?) I also love forzen fruit; frozen diced pineapple is one od ds's favourite puddings, and the frozen berries are lovely in smoothies etc, or with yoghurt for a lunch.

I suppose it's all about balance really, I do want to have as much fruit and veg as possible as a part of my diet, and these will have to come from various sources - fresh/frozen/juice etc.

Best to buy regional veg in season-failing that then frozen from a vit point of view will be better than that flown,transported and stored..

Apples and potatopes can be stored for a long period of time.Over time,apples produce a compound called patchoulin which if the apples are squeezed makes the juice go brown.Potatoes increase in starch'fructose content over time and can actually taste sweet after a long period of storage (eg end of the Summer) HTH

I do buy frozen berries - they seem to taste better than fresh usually actually. Forgot about berries

oh god yes, frozen blueberries heaps better than weirdy bland fresh ones. okay ladies, thanks for you rhelp, i am clearer now... i'm going to have to get a sodding box again. swap you some curly kale for fifteen hundredweight of turnips, ginge.

Some of the veg box people let you ban certain items (eg turnips) so you can just get more of the things you like. I used to get Abel and Cole boxes who let you do this.

i'm in sunny jocko-land, they only grow neeps and tatties up here. [not even true]

I used to use Abel and Cole and they were good actually. Might start using them again....

I stopped using Abel and Cole because i felt i was paying too much each week but the Sainsbury's stuff just doesn't taste the same.

That was why I stopped, monkeys!!!! Agree about sainsburys too.

And it was nice to have a mystery box turn up each week and not know what was in it. usually heaps of bl**dy parsnips though (I hate parsnips but my dc love parsnip soup).

JanH - so do I , I grow peas,strawberries, blueberries, tomatos, chillies, peppers, salad stuff, apple,pear,carrots,and spring oniion (off the top of my head) So it can be done!

We're NE facing, Mrs W - it's a bit restricted - how do you do it?

I'm north ish facing!

I have 2 of those plastic greenhouse things to start stuff off aND THEN HANGING BASKETS (TUMBLING TOMATOS/STRAWBERRIES) (sorry caplock was on) and Containers(everything else.Apple/pear trees are specially for pots the fruit grows off the 'trunk' rather than branches (have only been going a year though so no fruit yet)
I had window boxes on top of the Wendy House last year too

I used to work in a frozen pea factory and it is true about peas (and indeed beans0 being frozen within hours.

We used to work through the night with deliveries at 2am etc and peas frozen within about 20 mins.

But you don't want to know about what I used to pick out of them....

what???!!!

tell me and i'll tell you why you should never buy ribena.

peapods (a venial sin to leave them in)

caterpillars

worms

mice, especially in the beans

Sometimes you missed them on the first belt and they had to be picked out after the peas had been frozen.

One of my colleagues once found a rabbit. They run into the middle as chased round by the harvester, apparently.

Thing is we have no sun at all after about 5pm in high summer (and only a tiny bit after 3-4pm, and the sunniest corner is full of a large ornamental acer which I'm rather fond of)

There is lots of morning sun, but facing NE it's often chilly; there are 6' walls to the N, E & S and a 25' house to the W. It is restrictive!

Nowt wrong with turnip.
Listen,boil it with swede and/or carrot and mash gently then serve with some butter and lots of black pepper.
I make up huge batches and freeze to have with heart booze filled stews.

Kale is bloody great too.Stir fry with some garlic,ginger and black bean sauce.

I think it's dreadful to think that intelligent folk are persuaded to believe that frozen veg is better although of course nowt wrong with a bit of frozen veg.I am mad for those soya beans-defrost and eat as they are.Kids love them too.