By Elizabeth Jarrard, Dietetics Student, Sargent College

Question: Canned vegetables, such as corn and peas, have more vitamins and are healthier for you than frozen vegetables. Is that true?

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Answer by Taylor Gillis and Jennifer Kong, Nutrition Students, Sargent College

Let’s start by mentioning that vegetables are an important part of a healthy, well-rounded diet.  The new MyPlate.gov advises us to make half of our plate fruits and vegetables.  Vegetables can be purchased fresh, frozen, or canned, which all have pros and cons.  Usually frozen vegetables are flash frozen shortly after they are harvested when their nutrient content is at its peak.  For this reason frozen vegetables are just as nutritious, or possibly more nutritious, than fresh vegetables.  Similarly, canned vegetables are processed shortly after being harvested.  Often times however, canned vegetables contain sodium so look for low sodium options if you decide canned is the way to go.

Frozen and canned vegetables are often less expensive than fresh, and can be a real time saver.  It’s great to have these in your kitchen for the days you don’t have time to pick up fresh vegetables from the market or want to eat something out of season.

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