I love throwing lots of fruits and veggies into my smoothies. Blueberry, strawberry, broccoli, spinach, carrot, etc.
I usually buy fresh, but I just realised frozen is so much cheaper ??? Fresh is often 2-3x more expensive in my stores. Why is it so much cheaper, and is it as healthy as eating fresh fruits/veggies? It all tastes the same in smoothies I make lol
It’s one of the awesome protips of smoothies. It’s ABSOLUTELY as healthy as fresh. Even if you find a deal on fresh, nothing is stopping you from freezing them to use for later. If anything, I like using frozen fruits even better, as they act like ice cubes and keep my smoothie colder longer.
I started to realize my daily smoothies were getting kind of pricey. I switched to frozen blueberries and strawberries. The flavor is more consistent, don’t have to worry about quality or ripeness at purchase and probably saving around 30$ a month. Started buying my almonds (I put a handful in my smoothies) in 40 oz bags through Amazon. Saving a chunk there too.
Often frozen is fresher than fresh fruit. It gets frozen immediately and so it preserves all the vitamins because it immediately halts decay. Fresh fruit get transported from who knows where and shipping often takes a while so fruit will be less fresh than frozen food by the time you buy it.
Why are they cheaper is probably because of capitalism as they have longer shelf life for storage therefore higher supply in comparison to fresh produce.
(high demand x low supply = higher price and vice versa)
Healthy for sure as others have said.
For some people, a frozen fruit of veg in a smoothie is the only fruit & veg they will eat the whole day.
It doesn’t matter to me whether they’re fresh, canned, or frozen. As long as people are including them in their diet in whatever way suits them, great.
Plus adding frozen produce to smoothies gives it that icy cool taste. No need to add ice! And no need to worry about wasting foods that have spoiled particularly if you’re not consistent with eating fruit & veg.
This reminds me, I still have some canned pumpkin still that I need to open up and freeze into single serving portions for my pumpkin spice smoothie — so yummy and nutritious!
Frozen is better because it’s picked when it’s just the right ripeness. Grocery store “fresh” isn’t really fresh. It’s picked when it’s still a bit green & is expected to ripen up as it’s transported across the country, so it doesn’t have all the nutrients that truly fresh-picked has. Just make sure there’s no added sugar, salt, etc.
Frozen, canned and fresh food have always been created equal when it comes to vitamin absorption and fiber. But the trend of which one is considered healthy has gone back and fourth for a long time.
In the Victorian era to the 60s it was believed that canned food was healthier than fresh fruit and vegetables because they were cleaner?
I will look for the history piece I read on the subject but it was a really long time ago so I can’t promise I can find it but if I do I will link it.
The only concern I ever have is the plastic container, but I eat humongous quantities of frozen fruits and vegetables nonetheless. My primary source of vegetables for sure. And fruits for that matter, honestly. I love them. Cheaper as you say, plus soooo much more convenient, and you don’t have to worry about them going bad.