Frozen & Canned Food: Is it an Absolute No?

Fresh foods are always the best when it comes to cooking for your babies and toddlers. But there are times when frozen and canned foods come handy. Some fruits and vegetables are not always in season or even not easily accessible on our country. There are also times when buying a whole tuna or uncooked one seemed too tedious. In times like these, I’m always thankful for the availability of processed foods.

Some processed foods, such as vegetables and fruits are said to be able to retain the nutrient they have when they were harvested. This is because they were frozen or canned within hours of their harvest. In the case of canned fish, such as tuna or salmon that comes from further part of the ocean, it becomes expensive on our part of the world to buy fresh one. Therefore, when you’re only cooking for your kids or you only have so little amount, I found it very useful to just settle for the canned version.

What you should notice is that, the longer the foods are frozen and canned, the more the nutrient diminishes. Therefore, when buying processed foods you should always find those which produce more recent. Canned foods are also famous of high in salt and sugar, so never forget to read the ingredient list. It is advisable to avid fruits that are canned with syrup instead of their natural juice because they’re high in sugar.

Among many, these are the processed foods that I can’t live without:

Frozen peas, just because I rarely, if not never, seen them fresh

Frozen mixed vegetables, to give more variety to your kids dishes

Canned tuna and salmon

Canned tomato sauce

Good quality pasta sauces that are low in salt and free of any trace of alcohol

Peanut butter, cream cheese and sour cream or whipped and thick cream

If you happened to (luckily) find frozen berries you better stock on them, because berries are famous to be good antioxidants. It also give variety of taste to your kids palate.

I could not end this post without reiterating that even though processed foods are easy and in my dictionary are not an absolute no, but fresh food whenever possible are still the best for your loved ones.

So mommies, what are your (guilty as charged) favorite processed food?

*Image courtesy of pro.corbis.com