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Update: I was totally wrong about buying frozen veggies for meal prep
My friend Jen from work kept telling me frozen broccoli was just as good as fresh for my weekly meal prep. I argued with her for months saying frozen stuff gets all watery and mushy. Finally gave in last week because the fresh broccoli was $3.49 a head and the frozen bag was $1.29. She was right. I just had to roast it straight from the freezer with some olive oil and salt at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. No thawing, no extra moisture. It came out crispy and saved me $8 on my weekly grocery run. Has anyone else found a specific veggie that works better frozen than fresh?
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perez.patricia21d ago
Girl, the way I felt this in my soul. Been there with the exact same argument with my sister about frozen green beans. She swore up and down they'd turn into a soggy mess. Finally tried them roasted straight from the bag and honestly? They come out way crispier than fresh ones half the time. Plus you never have to deal with those sad, wrinkly beans sitting in the fridge for a week. The money savings is real too, especially when you're trying to stretch a grocery budget.
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ryan_ellis21d ago
Honestly, perez.patricia nailed it with the whole "sad, wrinkly beans sitting in the fridge" thing. I think that's the biggest hidden win with frozen veggies - you're not gambling on whether you'll actually use them before they go bad. My personal game changer was frozen spinach for meal prep. You just squeeze out the water after thawing and it's way more concentrated than fresh - you get like triple the volume for half the price. Plus it doesn't turn into that slimy mess fresh spinach becomes after three days in the container. So yeah, your friend Jen was right and I bet she's never letting you forget it either.
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I read this article from some food science website that said frozen veggies are actually picked at peak ripeness and flash frozen, so they keep more nutrients than the fresh stuff that sits on trucks and shelves for days. That made me feel a lot better about relying on my freezer stash. The spinach thing is genius though, I've been doing that for years and it seriously bulks up pasta sauces and soups without watering them down. My only trick is to let it thaw in a colander so the water drains out nicely.
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