Nutrition experts say they’re not only as good as fresh, they’re often better.
As winter drags on, it can become increasingly challenging to envision the bright colors and flavors of spring and summer. But many of the warmer season’s delicacies are hiding where you may least expect them — in the frozen food aisle of your grocery store.
“Frozen foods can be a lifesaver,” said Maya Feller, a dietitian nutritionist in Brooklyn. Although packages of cold, hard blocks of produce may not look as enticing as colorful fresh fruit and vegetable displays, there are plenty of reasons to love frozen options.
Here are the three things nutrition experts love most about frozen foods, and how you can get the most out of them.
They can contain more nutrients.
Frozen options are often just as delicious — and, in some cases, more nutritious — than their fresh alternatives, Ms. Feller said.
In one study published in 2015, researchers measured the levels of four vitamins in eight types of frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables: strawberries, spinach, broccoli, corn, carrots, peas, green beans and blueberries. They found that while fresh and frozen versions generally had similar levels of vitamins, there were notable exceptions. Frozen corn, green beans and blueberries, for example, had significantly higher levels of vitamin C than their fresh counterparts. And the vitamin E levels in frozen green beans, peas, blueberries and spinach were higher than in the fresh versions. The vitamin B2 levels were also higher in frozen broccoli versus fresh.
Frozen fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients because they are picked and then quickly frozen when they are ripe — when their vitamin and mineral levels are typically highest, said Marie Barone, a dietitian at UC Davis Health. On the other hand, with fresh options, “the longer produce sits around on store shelves or in our homes, the more nutrients it loses,” she said.