Frozen or Fresh Food – Which is Healthier?

The answer to this question may surprise you! The unfortunate thing is that many of our favourite fruits and vegetables are only available for a short season. Usually during the height of summer. Strawberries and other berries spring to mind here (especially if you’ve got kids, as these seem to be the main types of fruits they enjoy). Of course we can get hold of fresh berries and other fruits all year round, but they’re never as flavourful as when they’re in season. When this happens don’t worry – just remember the freezer aisle!  Because believe it or not, when frozen or fresh fruit and veg have been studied in lab tests, they almost always turn out to be as nutritious as each other.

In fact sometimes frozen produce fares even better than fresh.  This seems strange but I’ll explain.

Studies have compared the nutrient content of frozen and fresh produce –

• Peas
• Broccoli
• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Carrots
• Spinach

Their overall findings were that there was no difference in nutrient levels, including B-vitamins and folate content, which remained constant even after months spent in the freezer!

How can this be?

Often fresh produce is harvested before it’s fully ripe. This ensures it stays fresh for longer – it has a lengthy journey from being picked, packaged in a factory, transported to a supermarket, sometimes put in cold storage, spending several days on a supermarket shelf, before arriving at your fridge. There it can sometimes hang around for a few more days before you actually eat it. Unfortunately when you pick fruits and vegetables before they’re fully ripe they haven’t had a chance to fully develop all their nutritional goodness – vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Not to mention flavour.

On the other hand, frozen fruits and vegetables are picked when they’re perfectly ripe and rich in vitamins, minerals and flavour. At this point they’re frozen very quickly locking in all these fantastic gut-friendly nutrients.

So that means you can have all that goodness and flavour year round.

Eating a wide variety of different coloured fruits and vegetables, means you’re getting a whole array of nutrients. Including those vital polyphenols which you need for great gut health and keeping your friendly bacteria healthy and thriving.

Remember diet diversity is key for optimal gut health.

If you’re worried your diet is impacting your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support both your digestive sysem and hormone health, whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods.

So, what’s the best way to use frozen fruit and veg?

1. Look for the highest quality frozen fruit and veg you can find. If you can lay your hands on organic – added bonus! – as you know that berries and the more delicate fruits haven’t been overloaded with pesticides.  Berries are notorious for being sprayed a lot as they’re so likely to get eaten by bugs.

2. Organic frozen peas are always readily available. These are one of my favourite frozen vegetables to have on hand.

6. Frozen vegetables are great to add to soups, stews and curries or chillies.  Personally, I don’t find them fantastic to eat steamed or stir-fried, I find fresh much nicer to eat like this. There’s nothing wrong with them at all, but it’s all just down to individual preference ultimately.

7.  One of my favourite frozen food tips: If you buy fresh herbs and find you don’t get around to using them all at once, pop any leftovers in a freezer bag then you can just break bits off when you need them – handy!  And you can have a nice selection of delicious and medicinal herbs available in the freezer ready for when you need them.