Canned vs Frozen vs Fresh Fruits And Vegetables
Which is healthiest: canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables?
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m comparing the health benefits of canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables.
I often talk about how high protein foods should be the main building block of your meals and snacks.
So if protein acts as the bricks to build your house, vegetables, and on a lesser extent fruit, act as the cement to keep everything together.
The health benefits of fruits and vegetables are well known.
Fruits and vegetables are filled with:
- vitamins
- minerals
- antioxidants
These nutrients strengthen your immune system, fight disease, and can help your body recover quicker after your workouts.
But what about your taste buds?
I’m happy to say, when you know how to cook vegetables and use spices, vegetables can play a key role in changing your boring meal into a flavorful masterpiece.
Plus fruit is essentially nature’s candy.
The US Government’s Food Guide Pyramid recommends:
- 4-5 servings of vegetables per day
- 3-4 servings of fruit per day
Comment below, how many servings of fruits and vegetables do you average per day.
Side note: this same Food Guide Pyramid from the United States government also recommends 9-11 servings of rice, bread, cereal, and pasta.
Yes, the government recommends your consume twice as many grains as vegetables.
Twice as many servings of bread than vegetables, smh.
Moving on.
Maybe consuming 4-5 servings of vegetables and 3-4 servings of fruit seems hard for you, but there are a variety of ways to get it.
You can buy fruits and vegetables that are:
- Fresh
- Frozen
- Canned
Plus you can buy each of these varieties of fruits and vegetables in either organic or conventional.
Which is best: canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables
So which variety of fruits and vegetables should you buy?
Well that depends on what is most important to you.
What do you value most in your fruits and vegetables?
- Taste
- Cost
- Convenience
- Nutrition benefits
Lets discuss each of these in more detail.
Comparing Taste: canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables
Fresh organic fruits and vegetables wins this category hands down.
Sure, certain high quality frozen brands of fruits and vegetables will still taste good, but you can’t beat the taste of fresh organic produce.
Also adding frozen fruit and vegetables to certain recipes can change the consistency of the meal or snack.
This is due to the melted water caused by heating up the frozen produce.
Taste rankings:
Tastiest: Fresh organic fruits and vegetables
Least Tasty: Conventional canned fruits and vegetables
Comparing Cost: canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables
Conventional canned fruits and vegetables are usually the most economical, but issues with added preservatives, BPA cans, and taste is the downfall.
Fresh organic fruits and vegetables are usually the most expensive.
Cost rankings:
Lowest cost: Conventional canned fruits and vegetables
Highest cost: Fresh organic fruits and vegetables
Comparing Convenience: canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables
Canned and frozen fruit and vegetables are more convenient due to their increased shelf life.
Plus you can always stock up on canned and frozen produce during a sale.
The downfall with fresh produce is it has a limited shelf life, which requires more trips to the grocery store.
However you can also freeze certain fresh produce and then defrost when you’re ready to use it.
But since we’re ranking convenience, you might as well just buy frozen.
Convenience rankings:
Most convenient: Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables
Least Convenient: Fresh fruits and vegetables
Comparing Nutrition Benefits: canned vs frozen vs fresh fruits and vegetables
Surprisingly, frozen fruit and vegetables can sometimes be more nutritious than fresh.
The reason?
The ripeness of the fruit and vegetables is what controls the overall quality of the nutrients.
Frozen produce can be picked during peak ripeness and then immediately frozen to preserve all the nutrients.
This can create an overall more nutritious piece of produce versus a “fresh” piece that is over or under ripe.
But be careful to only buy frozen produce that does not have added preservatives.
Also many canned fruits and vegetables can have added preservatives to extend the shelf life.
Canned produce also has potential BPA issues that leaks into the food from the can lining.
Always read the nutrition label and look for fruits and vegetables in BPA free cans.
Nutrition benefit rankings:
Most nutritious: Fresh, locally produced, organic, ripe fruits and vegetables.
By purchasing local produce, it’s usually a good sign that it’s at its optimal nutrition level.
Least nutritious: Conventional canned fruits and vegetables in BPA lined cans.
There you have it Live Lean Nation.
As you can see, there are three different ways to consume fruits and vegetables.
Each way has varying taste, cost, convenience, and nutritional benefits.
It’s now up to you to figure out what you value most, then do what you can to hit your daily fruits and vegetables quota.
If you’re struggling to consume enough vegetables in your diet because you just hate the boring and bland taste, we have you covered.
Vegetables taste amazing, when you know how to cook them, and what spices and dressings to use.
Welcome To Team Live Lean
That’s what we show our members on our group coaching platform, Team Live Lean.
Our group coaching members have access to over 200 video cooking recipes, weekly meal plans and grocery lists, and monthly 4 week workout programs.
You’re just one program away from turning your diet and workouts into a lifestyle.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
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