OS Vegetables, whats best fresh or frozen?

skylight

Er...

I buy fresh then freeze it.

Cheaper, as we dont get through all of it - there are so many of us, I have to buy lots anyway and freezing it helps to make sure it gets used rather than the little excess left.

franney

i buy fresh from the supermaket and only buy frozen when it's on special offer (BOGOF or greatly reduced) as i find frozen veg is watery and not as tasty as fresh.
I am looking into organic veg boxes or a local farm shop for veg at the moment though so don't be mean to me cos i use a supermarket:eek:

Pink.

I usually buy fresh from my local greengrocer. He's great and he's always ready to recommend what's in season (and cheap). I'm quite keen on trying the organic boxes you all talk about, but I'd miss his personal touch.

I only buy frozen peas and sweetcorn to eat as they come because any time I have tried other frozen veg I've found them to be a bit soggy....so I gave up on that.

For casseroles, soups and stews I always have frozen mushrooms and peppers in the freezer and a few tins of tomatoes in the cupboard as it means you can always manage to produce something homecooked in a hurry if you need to. They're great for the slow cooker too.

Pink

Curry_Queen

The only veg I buy ready frozen are peas, and ocassionally sweetcorn kernels, and the rest is fresh local organic produce which I will then freeze myself if I can't use it immediately.

Now I have a garden, which has already got a couple of nice patches previously used as veggie plots, I will hopefully be growing some of my own veggies this summer

Hermia

I buy lots of frozen. We only have big supermarkets where I live and the veg is horrible. Over-priced and tasteless. The local supermarket is huge, but has a surpisingly limited choice (this is a store the size of a warehouse and you are lucky if there are 3 different types of apples!). The measly organic section is also appalling. If I lived somewhere with a greengrocers I would buy fresh. I thought about joining one of those box schemes, but I work full-time and there would be no one to sign for the delivery.

Barcode

Fresh fruit and vegetables is the way to go I think - thankfully, we have a very cheap fruit and vegetable market in York, and a greengrocer's five minutes down the road from me that gives student discounts. I think I spend about 5 pounds a week, which gets me at least my five portions a day and several meals.

I only buy frozen when I'm doing on-line shopping. Sainsbury's fresh fruit and vegetables are much, much more expensive than anything I can find locally.

I've started freezing some fresh vegetables too - doesn't seem to make much of a difference. They still taste fine.

Tabbykatt

I think I will never buy Supermarket potatoes again... 18 months in storage... YUCK!

As far as fresh veg/frozen veg, during the summer months I take my children out to the local Pick Your Own. It has a tractor train and loads of safe space for them to run around in, all for free, and we spend a good couple of hours picking load of fruit and veg. Then we come home and we spend the rest of the day busy chopping/blanching/freezing our lovely fresh veg for the year ahead. I picked up a fantastic book in a charity shop that tells you how to freeze just about anything.

What more could a Mum want... cheap fresh veg and two exhausted children who also enjoy the food more as they have had a hand in its making.

Rebob

Mixed lot for me. I prefer frozen peas and sometimes get brussel sprouts,cauliflour and brocolli frozen so I can cook it as and when needed. Get just about everything else from the supermarket as the stuff I have bought from the market is often poor when you get home.

Debt_Free_Chick

Apart from frozen peas (see later) everything is fresh and mostly home-grown.

Still ploughing through our home-grown potatoes. I think we'll have run out by the end of Feb so I'll be off to the local potato man. He's not that cheap, however, selling 28lb (half a sack) for £3. My partner's parents get theirs at £3 for a full sack (56lb)!!

Also using home-grown chilli peppers (dried), onions, shallots & garlic from storage. And have home-grown runner beans, french beans & kale in the freezer.

Still harvesting Swiss Chard (been brilliant, still is), Cavolo Nero (also excellent), Leeks & calabrese. Brussels are still the size of nipples :eek: but the Purple Sprouting Broccoli should be ready next month .... yum

Carrots, parsnips and other roots come from the local farm shop. We only stopped pulling carrots out of the veg plot last month!

My main aim this year is for more winter veg - cabbage, cauli, parsnips to add to the existing kale, chard, brussels, purple sprouting & calabrese. And to grow more taters - last year we had 5kg of seed pots that yielded about 17kg in storage (in addition to those we ate, freshly pulled). Planting 5kg again this year, but only three varieties and have chosen high-yielders.

The only frozen veg I have (apart from my own home-grown) is peas. I just can't be bothered growing them as they need some space, some TLC and the yields are apparently not great - I'd rather use the space for something else.

That reminds me .... we should have home-grown asparagus this year

franney

DOH! I forgot about my home grown veggies

Debt_Free_Chick, how do you store your potatoes?
We dug ours up, left them to dry out for a day or so in the sun then put them in a brown paper potato bag/sack thing which is kept in the kitchen but we didn't have anywhere near as much as you!
I'd love to grow more of my own veg but i don't know how to store it

Last year i grew potatoes (all gone now, had about 20lbs i think it was) will have potatoes again this year, earlies and lates
I also grew tonnes of green beans which i sliced up and froze, i still have 3 freezer bags full and they are still delicious - i didn't blanch them first, just washed and dried and froze and they don't come out watery when cooked
I tried peas but we had an upheaval in the garden right at the beginning of the season when i put them in and had to move them and they didn't do very well Will try again this year though as i love fresh peas
I had yellow french beans which froze very well and are very tasty
This year i will do brussels again as i missed having them (had them the year before last and they were the best i have ever tasted ) and i'll do beetroot again too as it was lovely but i need to find some recipes as all i did with it before was eat it boiled!
I'd love to grow cabbage and broccolli but as it's only me that eats it i worry about it going to waste, i don't like it frozen and it takes me two weeks to eat a whole cabbage!
Sorry for rambling on i'll go and start my seed planting plan, that'll keep me quiet :rotfl: