Are Frozen Food as good as Fresh Food?

THE ANSWER IS YES !!!

As people nowadays are more and more health conscious. We will start to wonder whether frozen and canned vegetables are as nutritious as fresh vegetables. It actually really depends on the time between where the vegetable are harvested and the canning and freezing process. Generally, most vegetables are frozen and canned directly after harvest when their nutrient content is at its peak.

Dr Andrew Rochford set out to see if fresh or frozen vegetables are better for you. At a fresh food market, Andrew bought carrots, corn and cauliflower. He then purchased some frozen vegetables from the supermarket freezer.

His results showed that there was very little difference between fresh and frozen vegetables in the vitamins and mineral content," concluded Dr Skurry from University of Western Sydney.

They were almost the same! Specifically, the fresh vegies had marginally higher levels of calcium and potassium, and in our third test for vitamin C, the frozen vegies proved to have almost twice as much as the fresh produce.

"When frozen foods are made, they snap freeze product after blanching and this preserves the vitamins, so you don't get any loss," says Dr Skurry.

Here are some tips to maintain vegetables nutrients:

1. Don't cook your vegetable and meat too long, boiling vegetables tend to lose its contain very fast.
2. Choose canned vegetable and meat without added salt.
3. Choose canned food that is closer to the manufacturer date, as the longer it is left on the shelves, the more nutrients lost.
   
4. Vegetables left in the open exposing to air and atmosphere are susceptible to content lost.
5. Vegetables and meat should be kept in fridge straight after market shopping.
   
6. Always buy vegetable and meat fresh.
7. When preparing frozen food it is best not to thaw them.
8. Vegetables retain more vitamin C when cooked from their frozen state.
   
9. Best cooking method are steaming, microwaving, stir frying or baking. A lot of nutrients like Vitamin C are water soluble and will leach away in a process like boiling.

how long you can freeze food?

• Beef and lamb — 12 months

• Chicken and pork — six months

• Vegetables — six months

• Seafood — three months

The freezing process causes some loss of vitamins and minerals, but frozen food retains the remaining nutritive value for up to a year.

Frozen fruits are usually good for up to 12 months, and frozen vegetables are good for 12 to 24 months. Whether fresh or frozen is selected, the best tip is just to eat a wide variety of both, because some vitamins and minerals are always better than none.

It's more likely a frozen food will be healthier than a fresh out of season item that has been transported from a great distance. Out of season produce can be up to two weeks old by the time it's purchased from a grocery store.

Summarized by BigMouth

source 1,2,3