As vegetable shortages hit, this is how to get your five a day from tinned or frozen, says ex-greengrocer Gregg Wallace
FRESH fruit and veg is in short supply, with Tesco and Aldi the latest supermarkets to ration shoppers.
They are limiting tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to just three per customer after Morrisons and Asda earlier this week put a cap on how much fresh produce their customers can buy.
But TV host Gregg Wallace, who started out as a greengrocer, says fresh food is not always best.
In fact, you can get the exact same goodness, and sometimes more, in canned and frozen varieties.
But which is best? Gregg says: “Tinned and frozen fruit and veg can be healthier and cheaper than fresh.
“Don’t mistake frozen food for processed food. Many items such as peppers, blueberries and beans have been harvested in peak condition and then frozen, so they hold their goodness and reach you in perfect condition without any chemicals or preservatives added.
“And because both canned and frozen fruit and veg are often cheaper, you’ll be counting your change on the way out.”
Here, Gregg reveals which fruit and veg should be bought canned and which from the freezer aisles.
Peppers — FROZEN
A 600g bag of frozen sliced peppers costs around £1.35 in store and they are packed full of vitamin C.
An 80g portion makes up one of your five a day and you can literally throw a handful straight from the freezer into a stew, omelette or a tomato-based sauce.
Fresh peppers are crunchy and sweet but they can end up forgotten in the veg tray.
Cauliflower — FROZEN
FROZEN cauli tastes just as great cooked from frozen as it does from fresh.
And whether you boil, steam or saute it, you still get all the benefits of its vitamin C.
It’s also a great source of fibre and promotes the growth of good bacteria in the gut.
And because you only use what you need from the freezer, it means no waste either.
Sweetcorn — TINNED or FROZEN
UNLESS it is frozen and pre-prepared, prepping a corn on the cob for the pan is such a time-consuming faff – and when you get to the eating part, it just gets stuck between your teeth.
For a small sweet treat of goodness, frozen cobs do the job perfectly well.
And while tinned are good too, I’d choose frozen.
Raspberries — FROZEN
RASPBERRIES are perfect all-rounders and delicious in smoothies and on top of breakfast cereal.
However, fresh can often be expensive. The frozen options, which can be stored for up to three months in the freezer, tends to be British and far superior to fresh, imported ones.
They don’t turn mushy when you defrost them either, and I like mixing them with low-fat yogurt mixed with almond milk.
Peaches — TINNED
SNACKING on a tin of canned peaches can settle stomach troubles because they are lower in fibre than fresh and easier to digest.
They’re easier on the pocket too. A pack of fresh peaches can cost up to three times as much as tinned.
Just be sure to buy ones packaged in their own juice rather than syrup, to avoid added sugar.
Asparagus — TINNED or FROZEN
TINNED asparagus is canned almost immediately after picking which means it’s at the peak of freshness and can, in fact, have better nutritional quality than fresh, which can sit for a week or two while travelling to supermarket shelves.
A serving of canned asparagus provides 51 per cent of the body’s daily requirement of vitamin K, which makes buying it a no-brainer. Frozen does the same job.
Blueberries — FROZEN
LIKE raspberries, blueberries are excellent frozen and usually cheaper than fresh.
They are also a good solution for people who tend to waste fresh because they go off quickly.
It is far better to dip into a bag of frozen blueberries when you need them than having to throw fresh in the bin because they have gone mouldy.
Tomatoes — TINNED
IT would be impossible to think of Italian food without tomatoes, and in Italy and Spain they preserve them when they are ripe in either boxes or tins.
That’s how they keep making pizzas and pasta sauces during the winter months.
Fresh tomatoes grown in this country are delicious but the season runs from June to October.
Swap fresh for tinned, passata or in packets for all-year taste and goodness.
Potatoes — TINNED
I ABSOLUTELY love tinned potatoes.
Often, potatoes sold as the new variety are not new potatoes at all, they are just mini ones.
New potatoes are lifted early in the season and they have a skin that can be rubbed off.
If it doesn’t, it needs peeling and is not a new potato.
Potatoes that come in tins are cooked to perfection already and have the perfect texture.
Spinach — FROZEN
FROZEN spinach is fantastic because it comes in hand-sized portions which you cook in a pan on the hob or in the microwave with a little bit of butter.
Preparing fresh spinach can be tedious because you have to remove the stalk from every leaf.
Save yourself the slog. The frozen version is still packed full of all the green goodness.
Broad beans — FROZEN
MANY chefs always use frozen broad beans and these are a favourite of mine.
To get a good, fresh broad bean they have to be in your kitchen pretty sharpish after harvesting.
To eat them, you have to remove the shell, cook them in a pan without salt and remove the white membrane.
It’s a lot of hassle, so who wouldn’t want to buy frozen which have been podded and prepared by experts.
Peas — FROZEN
NOT one top-rated chef I know uses only fresh peas.
I’ve grown peas myself and they go hard unless you eat them within around 12 hours of picking them from the plant.
The longer you leave the fresh peas, the harder they get.
If you don’t live next to a pea plant, never ever bother to try to buy fresh peas.