Everyone who knows me, knows that I am really into fresh vegetables. I have a vegetable garden at home AND at the cottage and I’ve been known to have an obsession with canning, freezing and preserving. I really can’t think of a vegetable that I don’t like (although cauliflower isn’t my favourite), but I do have one kind of strange preference… I absolutely love frozen peas. I mean, really love them.
When my clients tell me that they eat (ahem) frozen vegetables, they always look rather ashamed, as though they were admitting to a chocolate or potato chip habit. While locally grown vegetables in season are clearly the gold standard, frozen vegetables shouldn’t get a bad rap. Some studies show that the nutrient content of a flash frozen vegetable is actually superior to the same vegetable imported from out of country. The unfortunate consequence of living in a northern climate is a lack of fresh food for more than half the year. So rather than buying that $6 wrinkled red pepper or wilted broccoli from Mexico in January, try some of what I call “emergency vegetables”. Quick, convenient and usually pretty tasty (particularly the peas), a frozen vegetable is better than no vegetable!
