Key Questions to Ask When Ordering Frozen Fruits And Vegetables

Happy month of March! Did you know that March is National Frozen Foods Month? Your Registered Dietitian is here to chat all things frozen foods and how they can be incorporated into a balanced diet.

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A common myth prevails that frozen foods are unhealthy. When in fact, there are an abundance of healthful options to be found in the frozen food aisles of grocery stores. The key is knowing what to look for to spot the better-for-you options among all the offerings. Let’s dive into some dietitian-approved tips for shopping the frozen food aisles!

Fruits and vegetables

Aren’t fresh fruits and vegetables healthier than frozen? A common question among shoppers. And the answer is NO. Fruits and vegetables picked for freezing are selected when they are at peak ripeness and are frozen almost immediately afterwards. The freezing process they undergo locks in the nutrients, making the product just as nutritious as if you were to eat it fresh. In fact, there are times when purchasing frozen can be more nutritionally optimal due to the nutrients being retained during freezing whereas fresh fruits and vegetables may lose some of those nutrients over time.

When shopping for frozen fruits and vegetables, take a look at the nutrition label. For vegetables, look for options that have no added salt, sugar, or sauces in the ingredient list. For fruits, look for unsweetened varieties.

Frozen meals

Sometimes convenience is key, and frozen entrees whip up in a flash. Plus, they can be stored for longer periods of time. When shopping for frozen meals, look for options that are loaded with vegetables and include a lean protein source. For entrees that include a grain, consider choosing varieties that include whole grains. For options that don’t have a grain, consider adding your own such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta or quinoa. Don’t forget, you can always elevate your frozen entrees with your own veggies too! Adding vegetables to frozen pizzas and frozen pasta dishes like mac n cheese is a great way to add a nutritional punch while keeping the convenience! Finally, sodium is another component to pay attention to, as many frozen entrees can have quite a bit of added sodium. Look for options that have less than 600 mg per serving.

Dietitians’ Choice

Our Dietitian’s Choice shelf tag program is in place to help you shop for the better-for-you options in our stores. In the frozen food aisles, as throughout our whole store, you can simply look for the blue shelf tag to find the options our Dietitian Team have tagged as better-for-you choices!

There are plenty of fabulous frozen vegetables to choose from. HFG senior nutritionist Rose Carr looks at what’s available.

For more Frozen Fruits And Vegetablesinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

Healthy veges

There are so many reasons to eat more vegetables. Higher intakes of vegetables have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of a number of cancers. One of the 10 recommendations from the World Cancer Research Fund report is to eat mostly plant foods, aiming for at least five serves (or a minimum of 400g) of non-starchy vegetables and fruit each day. Higher intakes of vegetables are also thought to help protect us from coronary heart disease, stroke and cataracts. Many other health conditions appear to be improved with higher intakes of vegetables. The list keeps growing the more we know.

Colour your plate

The different colours in our vegetables and fruit indicate the presence of different phytochemicals. It is thought the benefits of diets higher in vegetables and fruit come not only from the amount of vitamins, minerals and fibre they provide but also from the synergistic effect of these hundreds of different phyto-chemicals — a great reason to not only increase our vegetable intake but to aim to include a colourful variety.

Are frozen veges as good as fresh?

We admit it’s hard to beat vegetables straight from the garden for taste and texture, but it is reassuring to know that frozen veges are not only convenient and practical, they are also nutritious.

Freezing vegetables in itself doesn’t alter their nutrition, and frozen veges are processed pretty quickly after picking.

Before freezing vegetables, they must first be blanched, which can affect nutrients, although most are blanched using steam rather than water (which has less effect). Fresh vegetables can also lose nutrients during distribution and storage when the temperature may not be constant and there can be some physical damage. So on balance, there is little difference between fresh and frozen when it comes to nutrition.

Potassium

Another reason vegetables are so important is they are the best source of potassium in our diets. Most us get much more sodium (from salt) than is recommended and as a result many of us have high blood pressure, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Increasing potassium in our diets can help lessen the effect of sodium on blood pressure.

Tips

• Aim to buy frozen vegetables towards the end of your shop. Get frozen vegetables into your freezer as quickly as possible to avoid partial defrosting. Use a chiller bag when it’s warm.
• Remember, frozen vegetables have been partially cooked before being frozen. So when adding frozen vegetables to a hot dish, add veges straight from frozen. Don’t defrost them first as they may end up soggy in the dish.

How to choose

• We recommend choosing vegetables with nothing added.
• Aim to include a range of different-coloured vegetables every day. It’s OK to have the basics you know you are always going to use but also aim for variety.
• A reasonable approximation for one vege serve is 80-100g, ie. about half a cup.

Ideas for using

Use frozen vegetables to add more veges to your day:

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