Fruit or vegetable, lord knows I've tried to make myself like frozen. "It's cheaper! The healthy option!" I tell myself, but everytime I try, the taste and texture throw me off.
I had a few bags of frozen berries that I wanted to use in smoothies, as yogurt toppings, etc, but I ended up cooking them down into compote instead, as I didn't care for them any other way.
Any time I've tried cooking with frozen veggies, no matter how I've prepared them (air fryer, oven, stir fried, nuked), they still taste…frozen. Some veggies, I can't get crispy when cooking from frozen, no matter how long I try (looking at you, Brussels sprouts).
What am I doing wrong? Am I destined to miss out on these savings forever?
Confession: I can't get myself to like frozen produce, I feel that it always has a "frozen" taste that is unappealing
byu/IOHRM22 inFrugal
Posted by IOHRM22
18 Comments
I only like thawed frozen berries as a sweet option.
I air fry veggies. The corn-carrot-pea-bean combo get kind of crunchy/ caramel used. The broccoli cauliflower carrot combos do not.
Cook it longer so it is softer
It’s a choice isn’t it.
What I eat is based on finance – in view of something better but not break my bank.
>What am I doing wrong? Am I destined to miss out on these savings forever?
measurement / priorities. Where is it. which one is more important? For me, both. But there’s a limit / threshold that I can’t go past.
In short. BUDGETING.
It’s because when you heat it up in a pan it boils your veggies due to the extra water content. Thaw and cook your veggies in an air fryer on max with a drip pan. Cooks the outside before the center gets to thaw works pretty well.
Yeah i guess i don’t cheap out on this either. Good for smoothies though. But not gonna just eat it alone.
Try roasting them in a pan on the stove with a little oil and whatever spices you like. The water will evaporate and the vegetables will get nicely brown but you have to keep a close eye because they go from browned to burnt very quickly.
I prefer frozen peas over canned. The texture is better. It’s the only way I can eat them. I also only add them to dishes but just eat them plain.
Canned vegetables are just fine, you can get no-salt added ones.
Fruit, I don’t know. You can get canned peaches, canned cherries and several others
It’s not cheaper if you won’t eat them. Budget for what you will eat, noting that if you NEEDED to cut back from a purely nutritional standpoint, you could.
I wait until blackberries and raspberries are bogo and I freeze them and have a handful as a little natural popsicle.
I don’t like most frozen or canned veggies, so I just don’t eat them. I get fresh veggies. They cost more, but it’s about priorities. If money was super tight such that I had to make every dollar count, I’d have different priorities. As it is, I have room in my budget to be selectively frugal. So I buy fresh veggies and don’t worry about the price difference.
I rarely use frozen veggies in a way that I expect them to get crunchy. I buy fresh if that’s the intention. But if you’re blending them in a smoothie, soup, spaghetti sauce, curry, anything where they don’t need to be crispy, they taste the same.
Honestly, I only like frozen green beans if I cook them with a little bit of bacon 🤣
I like to put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes first to burn off all the water. Then I will take them out, use whatever standard oil/seasoning I would use and pop em back in
I think that depends on what you do with them? I also struggle with frozen foods and am still experimenting. But I make a lot of rice bowls. I don’t really notice the weirdness of frozen food when it’s mixed in something else. Rice, protein, sauce, and frozen veggies. As long as it’s not a bowl that requires crisp veggies for texture, this works for me.
But also note it’s okay if you just don’t like it. Depending on what you like, fresh is still a good value.
I can’t stand frozen veggies either, I always like to eat them as a side and only fresh works from that. Boiled or microwaved the texture is always way too mushy for me.
Have you noticed this off flavor ti be consistent across all types of frozen veg?
I find that frozen corn gets a strange off flavor but that is the only vegetable that I notice it in.
It could be possible that you are sensitive to the off flavor and taste it in all frozen vegetables. Or maybe only some vegetables. Don’t give up trying all kinds!
The tolerability of frozen produce is entirely dependent on the nature of the produce and the expected final application. E.g. peas are something that freezes exceptionally well – there are even arguments that the speed of modern frozen pea production makes them ‘fresher’ than non-frozen peas could ever be (when bought from a shop).
Other things simply don’t freeze well, particularly fruits with a high water content, which tend to disintegrate on defrosting, loosing all of their shape and texture. As you’ve discovered, they can be useful in some applications, like compotes, where you naturally cook them down – but if you want a recognisable strawberry/raspberry for the top of your morning porridge, you’re out of luck.
Your comments on the ‘taste’ of frozen food are interesting though – I don’t think that freezing inherently alters the taste of produce. However, most freezers I’ve ever used do have a distinctive ‘plastic/chemical’ smell inside them, which seems to linger throughout the life of the device. This smell can creep into food, particularly fatty food, if they’re not sealed well – for me, ice-cream is a major culprit, which can taste revolting if left exposed to the interior of the freezer for an extended period. So, I’d defintely ensure that any produce you freeze is extremely well sealed to avoid any potential ‘taint’.
Have you tried steaming them? I steam frozen broccoli (for example) all the time and it tastes fine.