I made this post in response to coronavirus but I want to focus on the positive as much as possible and share some tips that will be helpful even when this is all over! To preface, COVID-19 shouldn’t stop you from getting fresh fruits and vegetables. The world might be out of toilet paper and potatoes right now, but last I saw there was plenty of produce at the grocery store. Plus crops aren’t going to stop growing… (They didn’t get the whole quarantine memo.) If no one buys all that produce, where is it going to go? Mostly likely to a landfill to rot. Rotting food emits a huge amount of methane into our atmosphere, making an even bigger impact on our environment than carbon dioxide. (Read more about The Environmental Impact of Food Waste.)

That being said (stepping down from my soapbox now), we need to be prepared to stay in our homes for an extended period of time in case we DO get the coronavirus (or if you are high-risk). I share on my Instagram story a little bit of what Zac and I are doing to make sure we have healthy, shelf-stable meals in case we have to be legitimately quarantined. Now is not the time to binge on potato chips just because they don’t spoil! If we want to fight off the coronavirus we need to keep our health up. Thankfully there are some super-healthy fruits and vegetables that are actually better for you when they are canned or frozen! So stock up on these super healthy, super inexpensive foods while you can!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are known for their lycopene, which helps protect our skin from UV rays. Canned tomato products like tomato paste can have 10 times the amount of lycopene as fresh tomatoes! That is because the longer you cook them, the more bioavailable the nutrients become ¹. Zac and I buy tomato sauce without any added salt or sugar and make our own pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and chili. Our pantry is never without it!

Corn

Even though corn is high in sugar and starch, deep yellow corn is a significant source of phytonutrients like carotenoids. These carotenoids are even higher in canned corn than in fresh corn due to the heating process ¹.

Cabbage

Like corn, cabbage can gain nutrients while in storage, only this is due to freezing rather than heating. Researchers at UC Davis observed a 26% increase in cabbage’s phenolic compounds after freezing². You can freeze cabbage shredded or chopped to put in stews or you can freeze whole leaves to use as wraps!

Spinach

Researches of a study published by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found a 25.4% DW increase in thiamin after 40 days in frozen spinach³. For even less cost, you can buy canned spinach and retain almost all the nutrients, according to Cathy Kapica⁴, a nutrition specialist at Tufts University. Some of the research is conflicting on this matter, however, so I would encourage incorporating canned, frozen, and fresh spinach into your diet! You can have a frozen spinach and blueberry smoothie for breakfast, a spinach salad for lunch, and spaghetti with canned spinach for dinner! (You’ll look like Popeye in no time.)

Root Crops

Pretty much all root crops (carrots, potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes) are better for you cooked so you might as well buy these canned or frozen to save on prep time. You won’t have to worry about them going bad either!

Blueberries

Frozen blueberries are a staple in my freezer. I love to eat them frozen on my cereal or yogurt parfaits. Believe it or not, cooked blueberries have even more bioavailable nutrients than raw. So if you’re thawing frozen blueberries, heat them in the microwave instead of letting them sit out. The faster they are heated, the more nutrients are preserved! The same holds true for blackberries and strawberries¹. (Who new microwaves could preserve nutrients, right?!)

Stone Fruits

In big supermarkets, peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots are almost always picked before they are ripe. Produce that ripens on a vine or a tree have almost no nutrients when picked before they are ripe¹. So unless you shop at a farmers market or a U-Pick farm, I recommend buying canned or frozen stone fruits. You can also buy dried apricots even though they are less nutritious than fresh. Dried apricots are typically treated with sulfur dioxide to preserve their bright-yellow color. Some people avoid yellow dried apricots for this reason but the sulfur dioxide not only retains the apricot’s color, it also retains far more antioxidants than their dark-colored counterparts¹. So if you’re not allergic to sulfur dioxide, go for the pretty dried apricots, especially the deep orange or red-colored ones (they are sweeter and more nutritious).

So there you have it! If you’re preparing to replace your fresh produce with canned or frozen versions, go for these ones! Again, you should always try to get as much fresh produce in your diet as possible, but if you have no other option, you can still be confident that you’re getting good nutrition with these varieties. God bless, stay safe, and continue to have fun with cooking! Let nothing steal your joy!

References

1 Robinson, J. (2014). Eating on the wild side: the missing link to optimum health. Little Brown & Co.

2 Rickman, J., Barrett, D., and Bruhn, C. (2007). Review Nutritional comparison of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. Part 1. Vitamins C and B and phenolic compounds. Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California. Retrieved on 3/23/2020 from http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-779.pdf

3 Hebrero, E., Santos-Buelga, C. and Garcia-Moreno, C. (1988). Changes in thiamin content during the storage of spinach. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 36:144–147.

4 Tate, N. (2014). Read Newsmax: Canned Food: Is It Better than Raw Produce? Newsmax. Retrieved on 3/23/2020 from https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/canned-food-better-nutrients/2014/11/21/id/608814/