Dietitians and chefs like Bobby Flay agree: You’re thinking about frozen produce all wrong

Whether it’s on a TV commercial or on display at a grocery store, we’re bombarded time and again with the idea that “fresh is better.” While it’s a manner of taste, there has to be some truth to it, right? After all, fresh vegetables and fruits are usually pricier at the supermarket compared to frozen bags of them. There is very little processing done to them, so they just look healthier, too, right? But what if it was all hype?

Several dietitians and even well-known chefs are fighting back against that stigma to argue that frozen produce is just as good as fresh produce. In some cases, both in terms of taste and in terms of health, frozen produce can even be better than buying fresh.

In terms of eating healthy, frozen veggies and fruits might be better for you than the fresh, unfrozen produce if they don’t have added sugar, salt, or sauces. This is because when produce is flash-frozen, it is done at the peak of the vegetable or fruit’s freshness. While for the most part the same produce contains the same nutrients fresh or frozen, sometimes frozen produce gets a slight edge over their fresher counterparts. Because the frozen produce is frozen at its peak freshness, it retains more nutrients (such as vitamin C and E) than fresh produce.

While the unfrozen produce is readily available and fresh at the market, it already starts to age or has been aging for a couple days prior. Even if you quickly take fresh produce and put it into the fridge, it is still losing its freshness quicker than the frozen version. The added benefit is that you end up wasting less with frozen produce as you can take what you need and then return the rest to the freezer, whereas fresh produce goes bad very quickly and leftovers are often tossed into the trash. This in turn makes frozen produce even cheaper because not only is it cheaper to buy, you won’t be throwing money away along with any leftover veggies that turned rotten.

But what about taste? Executive and award-winning chefs such as Jon Butler and Galen Zamarra vouch for frozen produce such as berries and peaches for pastries and desserts, and use frozen versions of out-of-season produce. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay also swears by frozen peas over fresh ones, mostly due to the fact that a starch quickly develops on fresh peas if they aren’t used immediately. The chefs also like that most frozen produce has been cut, deseeded, shelled, etc. beforehand, so there is less preparation needed before cooking.

So when you go to the grocery store, consider why you’re buying the fresh stuff over frozen. If you’re doing it because you just heard it was better fresh, do some research and see if that’s true. If not, you may want to opt for the frozen produce since you’ll likely save more money and time without sacrificing nutritional value or taste.