Are Frozen Foods Less Nutritious Than Fresh Foods?
At first glance, it’s easy to assume that frozen vegetables are not as healthy as fresh vegetables, but this is not always the case. In fact, frozen vegetables are often just as full of nutrients. In some cases, they retain nutrients even better.
Frozen foods are often just as nutritious as fresh foods.
Generally speaking, we tend to think of frozen foods as less nutritious than fresh foods because they are usually found in the same food aisle as frozen pizza and microwave meals. This is more of an image issue than a real issue, and frozen food is usually just as nutritious as the fresh food you buy at the grocery store.
Typically, it takes a couple of days to two weeks to deliver products from the farm to the grocery store. During travel, nutrients escape from foods as they are exposed to heat, light and oxygen. This time is extended even further when the harvest is not in season, so the berries are usually more expensive and harder to find in winter. This video offers a great explanation:
In contrast, frozen foods are usually harvested ripe and then frozen immediately. This blocks nutrients, which sometimes makes frozen food more nutritious than fresh food, but it really depends on vegetables. The Wall Street Journal explains the process and results of a study by the Frozen Food Foundation :
Soon after picking, vegetables to be frozen are subjected to a quick jet of hot water or steam – known as blanching, which strips some of the nutrients but also prevents browning and loss of nutrients after freezing. The largest losses at this stage are associated with water-soluble vitamins such as C and B. The vegetables are then quickly frozen, retaining most of the nutrients for long-term storage …
Frozen broccoli, strawberries, and green peas contained more vitamin C than chilled samples. However, frozen spinach had less vitamin C than fresh or chilled samples. This may be because spinach, when minced, has a larger surface area and more vitamin C can be washed out during the blanching step, Dr.Pegg writes in his article.
Study after study shows the same thing: frozen and fresh foods have the same nutritional value. When food is out of season, it is usually best to buy frozen. When this happens, look at your local farmer’s grocery store or farmer’s markets to get the most of your nutrients from fresh produce.
However, frozen foods do not receive immediate nutrition like raw foods. Because it’s packaged, that means it’s often sealed with cheese, sugar, and other not-so-healthy ingredients. When you buy frozen food, fruits or vegetables should be the only item on the ingredient list. In addition, Eating Well recommends purchasing frozen foods with packages that bear the USDA “US Grade A” (also known as “trendy”) label, which means high quality food has been used.
How to make frozen foods taste better
The stigma surrounding frozen foods isn’t just about nutritional value – frozen foods don’t taste as good as fresh foods, so it’s hard to imagine them to be as healthy. The root of this problem is the texture of the frozen food.
To deal with this, The Kitchn recommends seasoning it, avoiding simple dishes and, most importantly, steaming the vegetables rather than boiling them:
The quickest way to cook frozen vegetables is to boil them. If you don’t have the time or inclination to take out the steamer and boil the water, place them in the microwave with a little water. Just make sure your water only goes through 1/3 of the side of the vegetables and cook until it’s warm. However, if you have time, get out your steamer and treat it right!
Taste is a matter of personal preference, but it cannot be denied that frozen food tastes slightly different from fresh food. It matters more to some than to others , but the Huffington Post’s completely unscientific rating shows some of the best and worst foods to buy frozen. The worst list includes Brussels sprouts, carrots, broccoli and asparagus. Staple foods like corn, sweet peas, and edamame are often just as delicious as fresh ones. In any case, when cooked properly with the right sides, most frozen foods can be stored easily.
This story was originally published in 2014 and was updated on December 28, 2020 per Lifehacker’s style guidelines.