OS Vegetables, whats best fresh or frozen?

dizzydolly

fresh tastes best ,the frozen stuff tends to be a bit watery ,although I do like the individual frozen veg sachets ,they seem a bit expensive but as you only use what you need its not so bad.

Skyegirl

I'm really trying to get stuck in this year with sticking to my food budget;)

To help me on my way, I am trying to not throw anything out, which is already proving difficult as I have half a bag of fresh sprouts to use up and everyone is sprouted out:eek: Now if I had bought frozen I wouldn't be facing this dilemma, so for the future weeks of shopping I am weighing up the pro's and con's of fresh v frozen, which is better? I have in the past had bad experiences with frozen cauli when it seemed to be just a bag of stalks and tiny florets stuck on top:rolleyes:

What do you dedicated Old Stylers recommend?

CRANKY40

My dh works away, so I buy frozen veg. It's easier because I can choose from a variety and there's always something in. I know what you mean about the stalks and tiny florets, but I save bits like this to put in stews and then maybe puree for ds, so it's never noticed.

When dh is home, he's an extra pair of hands and never minds nipping down to the grocery shop on his bike, so we tend to eat half and half. I also grew some of my own veg (a tiny amount, but every little helps) this year and froze it, which I was so pleased about.

Can you not freeze the sprouts ready for another day?

Chell

CRANKY40 wrote: »

Can you not freeze the sprouts ready for another day?

I was going to suggest the same. I got a large bag cheap from the market the other day and froze them.

FrenchMaid_2

I would freeze the sprouts too! Or use grated in a stir-fry with garlic, ginger and some lime juice - they never need to know!

Pink.

Hi skyegirl,

Most veg can be blanched (added to boiling water, cooked for a minute or so then plunged into cold water then cooled) and frozen. I do this if I think I'm not going to use something before it goes off.

I prefer fresh vegetables but usually keep some frozen standbys in the freezer, normally just peas and sweetcorn, chopped peppers and any veg that I have frozen because it was going to go off before I used it.

There's an earlier thread with lots of Old Stylers thoughts on fresh and frozen vegetables so I'll add your thread to it to keep the replies together.

Pink

Steve-o

Can anyone who freezes their own veg comment on how the quality compares to store-bought frozen veg? I assume that the quality of the veg being frozen is a lot higher that pre-frozen stuff (going on the rubbish I've encountered), but how does the slower home freezing affect taste/texture compared to the pre-frozen alternatives?

Oh, and is there much difference in cost?

ariba10

Home frozen will not keep as long as commercially frozen food, but we have no problem in keeping it for about three months.

Whatever we buy in most veg (If we have too much to use at the time) we just clean and prepare it, pop it in the freezer and it gets used in a few weeks at the most.

onetomany

yea i agree with the above i just chop it up and bung in the freezer

Olliebeak

One veg that I never buy frozen is carrots (I just don't like the taste of them at all!) but I do buy fresh ones, and freeze them - just find that I prefer the taste of home-frozen. Have even cooked carrot and swede, mashed them and frozen ready-made. This was such a help at Christmas, when you run out of hob-space/pans etc - only needed defrosting in fridge overnight and warming up in microwave.

I always freeze raw chopped onions in a large freezer bag (2kg bags of SmartPrice ones for 76p!). So easy to just take out 1 handful/per onion as needed for a recipe. You DO need to use 2 freezer bags at a time to stop the smell from impregnating everything else in the freezer though :rolleyes:.