This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Frozen Food Foundation. All opinions are 100% mine.
I feel very fortunate to live in an agricultural area where produce is in abudance. However, as with most things, fruits and vegetables have their season. So what do you do when you want corn or strawberries in the winter months, or broccoli and cauliflower in the summer? Surely you don’t go without until the proper season! I think that would be pure torture for some of us! After all, we need the nutrients that come from fruits and veggies. I rely quite heavily on frozen fruits and vegetables not only when I can’t get fresh, but also for certain recipes, or when I’m afraid that fresh has been sitting on the store shelves too long.
I once heard that frozen produce can be more fresh than what we buy in the store. After reading up on A study conduced by the Frozen Food Foundation and University of Georgia, I learned a bit more about frozen fruits and vegetables, and thought I’d share with you some of what I found out. Frozen fruits and vegetables are picked at their peak ripeness with the intent to freeze right away. That means that our produce has high nutritional value at the point of freezing. This doesn’t just apply to plain bags of frozen vegetables such as Green Giant or Birds Eye, but also to fruits and vegetables that are included as part of a main entree. Hot Pockets actually include said vegetables! The same goes for Buitoni, Marie Callender’s, Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine meals.
Ready to have your mind blown with something the study discovered? Produce was taken from six different grocery stores and each fruit and vegetable was analyzed under three conditions: frozen, fresh (on the day of purchase), and fresh-stored (after five days of storage in a kitchen refrigerator). The study showed that on average, Americans store perishable produce for five days. The study also revealed that in many cases, the amounts of vitamin C, A and folate in frozen fruits and vegetables is greater than that of fresh-stored produce, because of the length of storage time with the fresh produce.
For those hectic days when I’m in a hurry, or I just need a healthier meal option for lunch, I love to keep Healthy Choice meals on hand. I love the veggies that are included and I’m quite fond of all off the different types of stir frys. The Birds Eye Steamfresh vegetables are also great to pop in the microwave and let them start steaming while you prepare the rest of your meal.
Be sure to check out the Frozen Food Foundation Facebook and Frozen Food Foundation Twitter to get more information on the study, and nutrients we can get from eating our frozen fruits and vegetables!
Anita Sharp says
I do use frozen veggies and fruits when fresh are out of season. I do tend to avoid those that have ‘sauces’ added, as they tend (at least to me) to be heavy in sodium. I love all the frozen varieties that are available to us now.