Typically, frozen produce retains most of its nutrients, although there may be small variations in nutrient value.
An 80g serving of frozen peas (boiled):
• 56kcal / 239KJ
• 4.4g protein
• 0.6g fat
• 9g carbs
• 4.7g sugars
• 4.4g fibre
• 142mg Potassium
• 10mg vitamin C
Just like fresh or canned fruit and vegetables, 80g counts as one of your five-a-day. Discover more in our five-a-day infographic.
Frozen fruit and vegetables are almost like-for-like in terms of nutritional value when compared with fresh. There can be slight variations, but the differences are usually negligible – for example, cooked-from-frozen peas contain 12mg of vitamin C per 100g, compared to fresh peas which contain 16mg. However, frozen peas have more calcium at 37mg, compared to fresh peas which contain 19mg per 100g. Vegetables are often blanched prior to freezing to prevent browning, this process also retains phyto-nutrients, including carotenoids and flavonoids.
Salt and sugar levels may be a little higher in frozen fruit and vegetables. For example, frozen peas have 5.9g sugar per 100g compared to 1.2g in fresh peas per 100g.
Freezing is a widely used long-term method of preservation that retains many of the attributes associated with freshness, with many considering it a better method of preservation than say canning or drying.
Fruit and vegetables don’t require any preservatives or added ingredients when frozen, making freezing a healthy way of extending the life of fresh produce. However, it’s worth checking labels of commercially frozen produce to ensure they have no added sugar, salt or other flavourings.
Freezing fresh produce, when in season, is a valuable way to access nutrients like vitamin C during the winter months. Studies suggest people who include frozen produce in their diets tend to eat more fruit and vegetables overall.
Famed for their convenience, frozen fruit and vegetables are typically easier to prepare, with minimal wastage. They don’t require washing, peeling or chopping and are fast to cook, making them a healthy and convenient option.
Frozen produce is typically cheaper than its fresh equivalent, especially out of season. There is minimal wastage and you can use the exact amount you need – all of which makes frozen produce more cost effective and accessible to more people.
Fruit and vegetables are generally recognised as safe for the majority of people, but some people may experience allergies to certain produce, regardless of whether they are fresh or frozen.
It is not necessary to defrost frozen produce before cooking, but be sure to cook to an internal temperature of about 135C before serving. This is because although fresh produce may be blanched before freezing it may still harbour bacteria, such as Listeria.
Be aware that if you’re adding frozen vegetables to a composite dish like a stew or tagine, their addition will lower the temperature of the dish which will, as a result, lengthen the overall cooking time needed.
Read more about food allergies at NHS allergy.
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This article was reviewed on 25 February by Kerry Torrens.
Kerry Torrens BSc. (Hons) PgCert MBANT is a Registered Nutritionist with a post graduate diploma in personalised nutrition & nutritional therapy. She is a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and a member of the Guild of Food Writers. Over the last 15 years she has been a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications including BBC Good Food.
Nicola Shubrook, is a nutritional therapist and works with both private clients and the corporate sector. She is an accredited member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). Find out more at urbanwellness.co.uk.
I became a frozen fruits and veggies gal because of a box of frozen spinach. Besides the big bag of green peas I kept behind the ice cream in case of knee or ankle injury, I used to be a “fresh produce only” person, and kind of a snob about it. I considered managing the decline of my weekly grocery haul from picture-perfect to past-its-prime an ethical responsibility. I spent as much time cooking for fun as I did making mishmashed dinners out of a desperate need to use up all the miscellaneous fruits and vegetables before they went bad.
It was the tactical and logistical puzzle of grocery shopping during the pandemic that changed my tune. Now I know the truth—that frozen produce is just as good as fresh, and sometimes even better and more cost-efficient.
In the spring of , two things happened simultaneously: I had to slow my shopping trips to twice monthly for safety, and I tried Priya Krishna’s saag feta recipe for the first time. Despite my best efforts, very little fresh produce could survive all the way until my next trek to the market, so I started buying frozen instead. And when I put a box of frozen spinach to use in Priya’s bright, comforting dish, I was forever changed. With a freezer full of spinach, I could have this greens-packed, weeknight-friendly meal whenever I wanted, with no special shopping trip required or timeline attached to use the fresh greens before they went slimy. I became a frozen produce lover, branching out from spinach to integrate green beans, berries, and even that languishing bag of peas more readily into my rotation.
Here are three reasons why you should be packing your freezer with fruits and vegetables for last-minute meals whenever the mood strikes you, with no compromise on flavor.
Bringing a quart of strawberries or few bunches of broccoli into your kitchen can go from inspiring to stressful really quickly; with a full fridge comes the added pressure of using it all before things go fuzzy or limp. Frozen produce eliminates that ticking clock, so you can chip away at a giant bag of blueberries on your own timeline, smoothie by smoothie (speaking from experience here), with no concern that you’ll let any go to waste. Like anything you keep at icy temperatures, you’ll have to be careful about resealing packaging and using airtight containers to prevent freezer burn, but in general, frozen produce is much lower maintenance than the fresh stuff.
Freezer aisle fruits and vegetables are (pun sort of intended) frozen in time at the absolutely peak moment of freshness, so every peach wedge or leaf of spinach is as flavorful as possible—not something you can say for fresh produce that can get goopy or battered due to temperature fluctuations or rough handling in transit. When a recipe calls for something you have frozen, you can be sure that post-thaw it will be as good-tasting as a fresh version on its very best day.
Some fruits and vegetables are particularly easy to work with frozen, such that they get specific callouts in recipes (we’re looking at you, “fresh or frozen peas” or “fresh or frozen raspberries”). But with a little foresight, anything frozen can be integrated into a recipe that calls for the same thing fresh.
Move a bag from the freezer to the fridge the night before you plan to use it if a full thaw is required, or stick the produce itself in a strainer and run it under warm water if you just need to take the icy edge off before adding it to a baked good batter. For grain or pasta dishes, you can add peas, corn, green beans, broccoli, and more directly from the freezer to the pot of boiling water a minute or two before everything else is done, then drain it all together and proceed as normal.
The more you work with frozen produce, the better you’ll get at shepherding each item from cold to hot—a skill I now consider just as important as using up a fresh bunch of kale before it’s compost-bound.
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