Similar to canned veggies, frozen veggies are low cost and quite stable. What's more is that the freezing process is very favorable toward vegetables, with nutrients, vitamins and minerals all being well-retained. In fact, frozen veggies may actually be more nutritious than fresh ones, in some cases.
Another study that analyzed the amount of vitamin C, E, riboflavin, and beta carotene in six different vegetables (corn, carrots, broccoli, spinach, peas, and green beans) also suggested that there was no consistent nutritional differences between fresh and frozen vegetables.
Thinking All Frozen Veggies Need to Be Cooked
Nope, you can eat frozen veggies as-is—no pot, pan or microwave required.
Frozen fruit and vegetables can be just as good, and in some cases even better for you than fresh.
Foods sold in containers – frozen vegetables and frozen fruit, for instance – are good processed foods, often frozen at the peak of their freshness. Canned produce, likewise, can be another good, relatively affordable, way to get your vegetables.
In the time it takes to transport carrots from the farm to the supermarket, the nutrient levels tend to decrease. On the other hand, frozen carrots are chosen shortly after harvest, allowing them to maintain their fiber, vitamin A, and beta-carotene nutrients.
Frozen vegetables don't need to cook for as long as fresh produce. They're already at least partially cooked, after all. Many frozen veggies also aren't as firm as fresh ones, so you can slash the cooking time in half when roasting, sautéing or stir-frying.
Frozen carrots can end up a bit rubbery due to moisture loss from the freezing process. For this reason, I DON'T recommend using frozen carrots in recipes where their crisp texure shines (think crudité and dip!). The best way to lessen this texture change, as much as possible, is to blanch carrots prior to freezing.
Depending on the vegetable type, prefreezing operations caused a 19.1–51.5% decrease in the initial vitamin C levels. The freezing process alone did not influence the vitamin levels except in the cases of green beans and spinach.
Frozen vegetables are slightly less nutritional than fresh options. Most fresh fruits and vegetables that are intended to be frozen are picked at peak ripeness, which is when they contain the most nutrients. Nutrients and water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin B and C are lost during the blanching process.
Carrots provide more antioxidants when boiled or steamed than when eaten raw, according to a January 2008 report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. In fact, researchers found that boiling carrots until tender increased the concentration of carotenoids by 14 percent.
Why Is There White Stuff on My Carrots? The white stuff on baby carrots is called "carrot blush," and it's a thin layer of film that may develop on the carrots when they become dehydrated. "The white forms on baby carrots when they lose moisture and are exposed to the atmosphere," says Ilyse Schapiro MS, RD, CDN.
"Frozen vegetables tend to release water quickly and can end up quite mushy if done improperly," says William Goldfield, director of corporate communications at Dole Food Company, Inc. Defrosting frozen vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, peas, carrots, and kale properly can help you avoid this.
Firmness of carrots decreased through freezing then thawing, but preheated carrots retained firmer texture than those blanched in boiling water. Quick-freezing resulted in better texture than slow-freezing.
They're full of antioxidants, which support your body in fighting free radicals, inflammation and cellular damage. Carrots are a great source of vitamin A. Vitamin A is the critical for good vision. Carrots contain a whopping 210% of the recommended daily dose.
Yes, you can freeze carrots without cutting them up. Whether you chop them or leave them whole is your choice, and depends on how you will use them later on.
But though frozen produce is convenient and generally safe, it may still harbor bacteria that cause foodborne illness such as Listeria monocytogenes or salmonella.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the freezing process itself does not destroy nutrients. However, many prepared foods or frozen vegetables are either blanched or precooked to some degree causing some water-soluble nutrients like vitamin C and B vitamins to break down or leach out.