Tried frozen bagged veggies vs fresh for my weekly meal prep in Austin... one was a total waste

I did a side by side comparison last month cooking for myself on $50 a week. The frozen broccoli and bell peppers held up way better after 5 days in the fridge, while the fresh stuff turned to mush by Wednesday. Has anyone else noticed frozen beats fresh for batch cooking, or do you have a trick to keep fresh veggies from going bad so fast?

2 comments

2 Comments

leobrown16d ago

Gotta disagree here, man. Fresh veggies are all about how you store them, not the cooking method. I wrap my bell peppers in a paper towel inside a ziplock and they stay crisp for over a week. Frozen stuff always turns into a watery mess for me when I reheat it, like the texture just goes south. Plus the taste difference is real, especially with broccoli that gets that weird freezer burn flavor. Maybe try a vacuum sealer for the fresh stuff, it takes five minutes on Sunday and saves everything. But hey, to each their own, if frozen works for your meal prep then run with it.

white.grant15d ago

Wait, do you actually have the patience to do the whole paper towel thing? I admire you for it, I really do. I've tried that trick maybe twice and both times I forgot I had a ziplock full of paper towels in the fridge and just ended up with a sad, soggy mess that looked like a crime scene. Its honestly a miracle I haven't accidentally frozen my own fingers off trying to seal a bag properly after a long day. I mean, frozen broccoli does have that weird taste you mentioned, but at this point I'm basically just challenging myself to see how much freezer burn I can tolerate before I give up on cooking entirely. Maybe I should just get a vacuum sealer, but idk, that feels like admitting defeat against a bell pepper.