Recession Home Cooking? Freeze Fresh Fruits
Save Money, Be Healthy: Buy and Freeze Seasonal Fruits
Oct 13, 2009 Ellen Freudenheim
Everyone knows that it's important to consume fresh fruits and vegetables. But sometimes people buy perfectly good produce, only to let it go unused. It's discouraging to face a fridge full of half-bad apples and soggy melon. And, fresh fruit can be pricey.
The good news is, a person doesn't need to eat an entire mountain of fresh produce to meet nutritional requirements.“You don’t need that much, " says Lisa Young, PhD, adjunct professor of nutrition of NYU and author of the book, “Portion Teller: Smartsize Your Way to Permanent Weight Loss." The recommended serving sizes are tiny, just a half cup. According to Young, "People need just 2.5 cups total per day of fresh or frozen vegetables,” not counting leafy greens such as lettuce (for which the requirement is a modest cup).
Still, with unemployment high, and a lot of people watching their pocketbooks, how can one balance the need for fruit and vegetables with a tight household budget? Buy fresh produce, and freeze some for later. It works for fruit, and for home-frozen vegetables, too.
The savings involved in squirrelling away fruit in the home freezer for wintertime use can add up. For instance, fresh peaches sold in a NYC farmers market at $2 a pound in September were significantly cheaper than the 16-ounce bag of frozen peach slices, priced at $4.65, sold at a neighborhood supermarket.
Summer Fruits, an Antidote to Winter Recession
When it's summer, buy extra fruit, such as peaches, plums, apricots, or blueberries, and freeze them in Ziploc bags for use in the winter. The family will gain important nutritional benefits at a fraction of the cost of buying the same fruit, frozen.
Remove the pits, and peel the skin off fleshy fruits such as apricots, peaches, nectarines, mango and papaya. Then simply slice the fruit up into bits that will suit the way it might eventually be used. For smoothies, cut them smaller. For use in wintertime pies or compotes, larger slices will do. One can add a squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of sugar into the bag, but this is optional.
Berries
Oh ! Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries! Never as good when imported from a distance in the winter months as they are freshly picked or purchased from a local farm, these are prime candidates for freezing for wintertime use. As with frozen peaches, it's cheaper to buy fresh berries and freeze them than to purchase frozen berries at the store. Wash berries before bagging and freezing.
Recycling Bananas
It's annoying when a lovely bunch of bananas suddenly all turn brown. But don't toss them, just cut away the bad sections. Slightly overripe bananas can be used, as is and unfrozen, in banana breads. Or, peel and slice the banana into about four sections, and freeze in a bag. However, bananas don't last forever, even in the freezer; use within a few weeks for smoothies, or in banana bread.
How to Use Summer Fruits and Berries Once Frozen
Perk up poultry dishes with apricots or peaches. Put slices of frozen fruit on top of hot oatmeal for a healthy breakfast in winter. Discover the flavor possibilities of fruity sauces and compotes. Don't expect to make a fresh fruit salad out of frozen fruit; once defrosted, the fruit pieces will be soggy. Instead, use them as ingredients in cooked dishes.
Finally, don't worry that tossing a bag of strawberries or peaches in the home freezer will defeat the original purpose: nutrition. “Nutritionally you won’t lose much if anything by freezing," said Sandra McCurdy, PhD, a food safety expert at the University of Idaho, and spokesperson for the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists. In fact, she added, “Freezing's the best method for preserving the vitamins."
Plan Ahead and Save Money on Fresh Fruit and Veg
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