Canned and frozen produce: an overlooked performance booster?

We often turn our noses up at canned fruits and vegetables. They certainly look nothing like their farmer’s market or produce section counterparts. But trust me when I say, those looks could be deceiving. 

Frozen fruits and vegetables are picked at their ripest  and flash freezing them locks in all the vitamins, minerals and fiber we need to stay healthy. Plus, they have an added bonus that most of us don’t ever think of. That “fresh fruit” may have been shipped from another country. The longer our produce sits out, the more nutrients it loses. Which means, frozen fruit and vegetables may have even more nutrition than the fresh produce on the shelf depending on where the produce was shipped from. 

One downside of frozen produce is they lose their crunchy texture once heated, which can be a deal breaker for some of us. One way to get past that is by adding frozen vegetables and fruit to smoothies or frozen vegetables to casseroles. 

Now that I’ve sold you on heading to the frozen aisle during your next grocery store run, what about a trip to the canned food section? 

Canned fruits and vegetables are once again picked at their ripest and canning produce preserves many of the nutrients. The canning process utilizes very high heat to kill disease-causing microbes so some nutrients like B vitamins and vitamin C, may be lost.  On the flipside, cooking our vegetables (i.e. canning), can actually increase antioxidant content. For example, the lycopene in tomatoes and carotenoids in carrots. If you are concerned about the salt or sugar content of canned fruits and veggies, look for fruits packed in water or 100% fruit juice, low sodium or reduced sodium vegetables, or you can strain out the liquid and rinse them with water. If that’s still a concern for you, frozen vegetables are less likely to have any added salt or sugar.

Both options are a cost-effective way of meeting daily recommended serving requirements for fruits and veggies and won’t rot away in the fridge if we forget about them. (Definitely not speaking from experience). They reduce prep time when cooking meals (hello busy weeknights or long training days), can be added to smoothies, overnight oats and more.