I am the biggest fan of frozen veggies! For years I have had a bag or two on hand just incase I needed to make a side dish in a flash. Since I have been trying to eat healthier I find myself adding them to every dish I cook and go through a bag or four of them weekly. They are the quickest and easiest way to get your 5 a day without breaking the bank. Most frozen veggies range from $1-$2 a bag and are packed with a pound of the veggie. You can get 5-7 bags of veggies for $10 while those same veggies bought fresh would be $20-$40!
The trick with buying, storing and using your frozen veggies is to try and maintain a nice mix of of your favorite combination of veggies in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Doing this will not only save you the time taking each bag out of the freezer to cook with, but will also make sure you have a variety of veggies on hand to add to your favorite dish. If you have an extra 1/2 or 1/3 measuring cup laying around I suggest keeping it in the bag so you can easily dish out your 2/3 to 1 cups of veggies (typical serving size). A few dishes I find myself using the veggies for are: Omelets, Soups, Couscous, Rice, Pasta, Sauces, Mac & Cheese, and Casseroles. What is great about having them mixed and ready is that adding a few scoops of veggies will make your dishes healthier and will also give your food a greater depth of flavor.
What I currently have in my veggie bag:
1/2 bag Onions
1/2 bag Diced Red & Green Peppers
1/2 bag Chopped Broccoli (anything larger cooks unevenly)
1/2 bag Chopped Spinach
1/2 bag Chopped Zucchini
Check out my Healthy Alternative recipes for ideas of how you can add more veggies to your diet.
The next A Dash of Health post will be on bread.
so healthy! i love that you're doing this!
ReplyDeletei quite like this veggie mix, especially with eggs. although the frozen zucchini is the one i'd be quickest to substitute out ... nothing quite like fresh zucchini.
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