benefits of frozen Archives - Wild Blueberries

Top 5 Smoothie Making Hacks

Let’s face it – we love smoothies for their convenience, ease and portability. However, in the busy mornings we know that every minute (and every second!) counts. So while it may not take that long to make a smoothie for breakfast before you head out the door, there are some time-saving tips for smoothie making that can help you hit the snooze button one more time, get to the office before everyone else or even better, carve out some time for morning self-care.

I love taking time on Sundays to prep meals for the week ahead. This makes the workweek less chaotic and allows me to carve out some “me time” during the weekly grind. My morning routine is sacred to me. I gave up checking my phone and emails upon waking a long time ago. Now my mornings are my quiet time to meditate or practice yoga to start the day feeling grounded and present. The only way I can find the time to practice self-care in the morning is if I plan ahead and make breakfasts for the week on Sunday.

Now, you may be thinking how can I prepare ahead of time for smoothies? Well, I’ve got 5 simple smoothie-making hacks to share with you today to help make your weekday mornings stress-free.

Make smoothie freezer packs. Ever feel like smoothie making is quite the production? Do you have a counter filled with bags of frozen fruit, liquids, greens, powders, nuts and seeds? Does it take you forever to find that bag of walnuts at the back of the cupboard? Ever wish you could just have all your smoothie-making ingredients ready to go in one place to throw in the blender? You can! Portion out your smoothie ingredients like frozen Wild Blueberries, sliced bananas and kale into freezer Ziploc bags at the beginning of the week and label them with the date and type of smoothie. Come morning all you have to do is open up the bag, toss the contents into your blender, add liquid and blend away!
Take advantage of the ice cube tray. With the ice cube tray, you can add a frosty consistency to your smoothies while adding flavor! No more diluting your smoothie’s flavor with regular ice cubes; think about freezing liquids like coconut milk, juice, coffee or tea. Simply add a few liquid ice cubes to your smoothie and cut the amount of liquid added in half. However, with frozen Wild Blueberries, you don’t have to worry about using ice cubes or diluting your smoothie – they help keep your smoothie cold while packing in deliciously sweet flavor, which is just one of the many reasons I love using them in smoothies. For another time-saver, pre-portion yogurt into ice cube trays and add the yogurt cubes to your smoothie freezer packs!
Don’t waste about-to-turn produce. We’ve all been there – you buy a bunch of bananas only to watch them turn brown in your fruit bowl. Rather than tossing them, avoid food waste and take advantage of their ripeness and flavor and use in smoothies! Puree extra ripe bananas and store in ice cube trays or simply slice them and store in Ziploc freezer bags. Take ‘em out when you’re ready for your banana-powered smoothie.
Batch-make smoothies. Heard of batch cooking to help you save time and energy during the week? It involves making a large portion of a meal to refrigerate or freeze to enjoy later in the week. Well, you can batch-make smoothies too! Make 3-4+ servings of your favorite smoothie recipe on Sunday evening and pre-portion them into mason jars. All you’ll have to do in the morning is grab a mason jar, give it a good shake (as the contents will begin to separate) and be on your way!
Turn leftovers into popsicles. Food waste is one of my biggest pet peeves so I try to repurpose leftovers whenever I get the chance and smoothies are no exception to this rule! Whenever you make too much of a smoothie and have leftovers, pour the remaining smoothie into a popsicle mold and freeze for a refreshing treat another day.

Ready to start hacking away at your smoothie hacks? Try my Wild Blue Velvet smoothie recipe below. You can freeze the yogurt in an ice cube tray and make smoothie freezer packs with frozen Wild Blueberries, beets and yogurt. Toss the contents into the blender in the morning, add your powder and liquid and you’re ready to conquer the day!

NutriBullet RDs Share Their Favorite Smoothie Ingredients

As registered dietitians and health research scientists, we all love working with food and seeing the positive impact it can have on peoples’ health. That’s why the NutriBullet is an amazing tool — it helps transform health by increasing fruit and vegetable intake in the average daily diet. Sometimes, by simply changing the texture of a food, you can appreciate it in a whole new way.

As NutriBullet RDs, we get a lot of opportunity to play around in the kitchen and blend together new combos of fruits and vegetables. Over the years, we’ve come to love certain foods in our NutriBlast smoothies, not only because they taste delicious, but because they offer so many great and nutritious health benefits. Here’s a roundup of some of our very our favorite ingredients:

Sarah Greenfield, RD CSSD – One of my favorite ingredients to use in a NutriBlast are figs! They’re high in fiber and they’re so sweet that just a little goes a long way. They also play a beneficial role in digestion, which I love!

Unfortunately, the Standard American Diet lacks good sources of fiber. It’s recommended women consume 25g of fiber and men consume upward of 38g of fiber on a daily basis.. Fiber helps keep you full so you eat less overall, it helps balance hormones and blood sugar levels, and, most importantly, it helps promote regularity. When you eat more figs, you’re consuming more fiber! When they’re in season, I eat them almost every day!

While fiber is a good for you, make sure to eat figs in moderation. Too many can sometimes lead to excess bloating and upset stomach.

Sarah’s favorite recipe: Healthy Almond Fig Blast

Gigi Kwok-Hinsley DrPH, MS, RD – I like to look for ingredients with a variety of color. Right now, my absolute favorite smoothie ingredient is a beet. Beets contain iron, a variety of B vitamins and are packed full of phytochemicals, which have a wide array of health benefits.

What’s so intriguing about phytochemicals is their ability to protect the body. Researchers have examined the mechanism of phytochemicals within the body and have shown they help boost immune function, inhibit the progression of chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular disease, cancer and age-related macular degeneration,) and decrease inflammation. While more research is needed to solidify these findings and understand the right amount needed to attain these health benefits, it’s clear that—no matter which research article you read—phytochemicals are an asset to your daily diet.

Gigi’s favorite recipe: Beet and Wild Blueberry Surprise

Susie Rockway, PhD, C.N.S. – Although I’m not a dietitian, my passion has always been nutrition. My degrees and my work have led me to like-minded people whose goals are to achieve long and vibrant lives though healthy eating. I’ve developed supplements, worked in labs conducting research and have always been fascinated by the impact real, whole food can have on health. That’s why I love using Wild Blueberries when I make my smoothies – the perfect high-antioxidant, low-glycemic fruit with tons of flavor. And like beets, Wild Blueberries are high in phytochemicals.

Wild Blueberries contain 2 times the antioxidant power of regular blueberries and are great for the brain. They can protect the body from inflammation, which is thought to be a main cause of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. I love to mix Wild Blueberries with a generous amount of greens, like spinach and celery, and I use coconut water as my base. These truly are some of the healthiest foods you can eat!

Susie’s favorite recipe: Wild Blueberry Celery Blast

Krista Haynes, RD – I really like almonds, because they contain healthy fats and can help keep you full. Smoothies are the perfect meal replacements, so I love ensuring that I have the right balance of nutrients to fuel me through to my next meal.

Contrary to popular belief, “Fat on the lips does not necessarily mean fat on the hips!” When you eat foods containing dietary fat, you do not signal insulin secretion and, once fat is absorbed, it goes through a metabolic process that turns its components – glycerol and free fatty acids – into energy, hormones, ketone bodies, or triglycerides. Triglyceride is the storage form of fat. When dietary fat is reduced and replaced with carbohydrates, then insulin levels raise and this “storage” hormone most likely will increase. Replace those carbohydrates, especially junk food carbs that don’t energize your body long term, with foods containing healthy fats, like almonds! That’ll help reduce the fat stored by your body and keep you fuller, longer.

Krista’s favorite recipe: Berrylicious

Wild Your Smoothie Summer with Wild Blueberries

Summer is officially here and with it come those endless days relaxing by the pool, the lake, or at the beach. For many of us, summer is also a time to get more active, take on a new exercise routine, and spend more time on our bicycles, walking or pushing the lawnmower.

As the temperature heats up, it becomes increasingly important to stay hydrated and replace those electrolytes you lost through exercise. Delicious healthy smoothies are a great way to replenish yourself and ramp up your nutrition at the same time. Smoothies are the perfect on-the-go breakfast or snack; they’re also great for outdoor entertaining as a beautiful, unexpected dessert.

Here in the land of Wild Blueberries, we love the creativity and the health potential of smoothies. We also get excited when we have the chance to help consumers step up their healthy smoothie making game. In celebration of summer, we are officially kicking off the Wild Your Smoothie Summer – a summer long smoothie extravaganza with new recipes, tips and giveaways for the next 9 weeks.

In order to capture the extraordinary range of ingredients and combinations, be sure to follow us on social media and visit our new Wild Your Smoothie website. Each day, you’ll discover:

Exciting NEW smoothie recipes
Exceptional smoothie recipe videos and e-recipe books
Tips and Twitter Chats on the latest smoothies trends from health and nutrition experts at NutriBullet, our favorite nutrient extraction company
Weekly giveaways of limited edition NutriBullets and on-the-go 20 oz. smoothie cups

Here’s how the Wild Your Smoothie Summer weekly giveaways work:

Each Friday from July 1 to August 26, Wild Blueberries will host a giveaway on Facebook and Instagram.
Prizes will rotate between a limited edition NutriBullet or a Wild Blueberries smoothie cup.
To enter to win, participants must follow the directions on Facebook and Instagram.
- On Facebook: Follow link in the weekly post to submit your email to enter.
- On Instagram: Answer the question posed about Wild Blueberries and include #WildYourSmoothie in your comment or post a photo of yourself enjoying your favorite Wild Blueberry smoothie. Don’t forget to tag @WildBlueberries and include #WildYourSmoothie to be entered to win.
One winner on each platform will be selected the following Monday at the discretion of Wild Blueberries. Winners will be contacted via email, Facebook or Instagram. Winners will have 24 hours to respond or forfeit their prize.
These giveaways are in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Facebook or Instagram. No purchase necessary. Entrants do so at their own risk. All decisions are final.

Smoothie Tip of the Day

Pick ingredients that deliver essential nutrition and great taste.

For example, there are two types of blueberries but only one can change your smoothie. When compared to regular blueberries, frozen fresh Wild Blueberries offer:

Join the Wild Your Smoothie Summer conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and be sure to share your smoothie making success stories with us in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to include #WildYourSmoothie in your posts!

And remember, healthy smoothies start with a half-cup of frozen Wild Blueberries. Find them in the frozen aisle.

Happy Summer and Let’s Get Blending!

7 Tips for Packing the Perfect Lunch Box from Registered Dietician Liz Weiss

It’s back-to-school season and that means packing lunches, again! For many parents, packing the lunchbox can send the heart into nervous palpitations. But for registered dietitian Liz Weiss, it’s an art form. After reading her lunchbox ideas, your anxiety will magically transform into inspiration.

Liz is an award-winning broadcast journalist, cookbook author, and radio show host who started Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen, a leading blog for parents in search of better ways to feed their family a super-nutritious diet. She’s also the co-author of two great books: No Whine with Dinner: 150 Healthy, Kid-Tested Recipes from The Meal Makeover Moms and The Moms’ Guide to Meal Makeovers: Improving the Way Your Family Eats, One Meal at a Time and she recently released a mobile recipe app called, Meal Makeovers. You can read more about Liz at http://mealmakeovermoms.com/ and you can download the Meal Makeover app here.

Here’s some of the wisdom Liz shared with us about packing lunches.

How do you get inspired with packing a good lunchbox?
To get inspired I think about color, flavor, nutrition, and seasonality. I really like to include all of the senses – smell, sight, touch, and taste when thinking about the lunch box.
What has worked for you in the past?
I have found that it’s really helpful to include my kids in the process. I do this by simply asking them: “What do you want for lunch?” The last thing we want –or I want as a dietitian – is to throw away food or for a child to not eat something because it’s not appealing. Plus, if they don’t eat what you packed for lunch they are getting no nutritional benefit. One of the most important ways to get children excited is to present the food in a kid-appealing way. For example if you’re going to slice up apples, put a little lemon on them so they don’t turn brown. Put grapes in a small container. Think about how you package your food. Use small containers and put a little utensil in there. Make it cute and playful. That’s why Bento Box Lunches are so appealing. Kids like to play, so it pays off to think about finger foods –something easy to pick up and bite into. Most young kids are either missing teeth or they have braces – and it’s important to be mindful and make sure they are physically able to eat the food you pack. For example, I would never send young kids to school with whole pieces of fruit like apples.
How important is it to be organized?
It’s very important. As moms we really relish our sleep. If you can get 5-10 extra minutes of sleep in the morning, wouldn’t you want that? Pack shelf-stable milk boxes in the fridge before going to bed. That way it will be cold in the morning and will help keep your kid’s lunch cold. If you’re packing sandwiches, wash and dry the lettuce leaves the night before, and have them in a bag ready to go. Cut up your veggies the night before – have bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers ready with a small container of dip. Recently, I sent my son to school with pasta salad. I boiled the whole wheat pasta the night before and it was ready to go in the morning.
Can you provide a few simple ideas for recipes?
There are lots of lunchbox recipes on my website. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Yogurt, granola and fruit cup— morning snack time at school is a perfect time to integrate some healthy options. I like to pack a small container of yogurt and pour some frozen wild blueberries over the top. Then I add a second container of granola to sprinkle on the top.

Pasta salad—I’m all about whole grains, so I start with a whole-wheat rotini. Then I add all-natural deli ham, feta cheese, diced bell peppers, zucchini ribbons, corn on the cob (leftover from last night’s dinner), and some Italian dressing. This is simple and delicious.

Kebabs — These are a favorite. I use cheese cubes, leftover chicken or deli meats like turkey or chicken. Then I add grapes, melon cubes or berries in between.

Chicken salad — Here’s an easy one. I use cubed chicken mixed with plain Greek yogurt, some low-fat mayonnaise. Then I add nuts, dicedgrapes or apples, or diced avocado.

Quesadillas – These are a hit for lunch and offer a nice change of scenery from the standard lunch. I heat the tortilla and then I add beans, veggies, cheese, and BBQ sauce and wrap these hot in foil.

What are some common lunchbox mistakes?
Packing too much food is a common mistake. Kids have about 20 minutes to eat so I encourage parents to pack the right amount of food for their child and prepare it in bite-sized pieces. Be sure to observe what comes back in the lunch box – this can be very telling. A lot of parents tend to focus on refined carbs because they are easy– they will pack a bagel with cream cheese, a juice box, and a bag of chips. The challenge when packing a bagel/juice box/bag of chips is that it lacks color and nutrition, so focus on a rainbow of colors instead!
What is the trick to keeping it healthy?
Make sure you have fresh fruit and a veggie in your lunch box. Some parents consider juice to be a fruit serving, but it’s best to think about fresh, frozen, or dried fruit as a true serving. Don’t forget about snacks. I view snacks as a mini-meal. Snack time is an opportunity to weave in ingredients that are missing in the diet. If they are not getting veggies or fruit in the morning, make sure they’re an option as a snack. One of my favorite snacks is my Mini Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins.

7. What are some of the worst lunch boxes you’ve seen?

I’ve seen a morning snack of Hawaiian punch and chips. I’ve also seen Gatorade and chocolate chip cookies. These “snacks” bring calories and sugar to the diet, but not much more. Remember that kids are small, and it doesn’t take much to fill their stomachs – so every bite should be packed with nutrition – think nutrient rich and the colors of the rainbow. Every time you pack that lunchbox ask yourself: “What is this ingredient doing for my child?”

What are favorite things to pack for your kids’ lunches? What’s the worst lunch box you’ve ever seen?

Go Wild for Wild Blueberry Ice Cream!

Guest Blogger and Registered Dietitian Lindsay Livingston from The Lean Green Bean has sent us yet another tasty recipe that is sure to impress friends and family this coming Labor Day Weekend. Her newest Wild Taste of Summer recipe is a really fun way to get some antioxidants into your diet and create a summer memory at the same time. Be sure to share this recipe and Lindsay’s other great summer recipes — Wild Blueberry & Spinach Turkey Burgers, Wild Blueberry Ice Cream Sandwiches and Wild Blueberry Zucchini Bread —with your friends and family. You can find them right here on the Wild Blueberries blog!

For me, there’s something about summer and ice cream that just go hand-in-hand. As a young child, we used to visit a place called Cup & Cone almost weekly. It was a small free-standing shack that served ice cream during the Minnesota summers and it shared its parking lot with a retired train caboose. I can still remember the thrill of ordering and devouring my ice cream cone and then spending endless hours climbing on, running around and wandering through that caboose with the other local kids.

As I got older, I spent my summers working for a landscaping company. We worked long hours in the hot Kansas sun and let me tell you, there was nothing better than getting off work and heading straight to the local ice cream store where we could sit in the air-conditioning and enjoy some ice cream.

As an adult, my husband and I often ride our bikes to our favorite ice cream store to enjoy a summer treat, and with a baby on the way, I can’t wait to create our own family ice cream tradition!

Yet, while going to get ice cream brings back a lot of memories for me, sometimes it’s not the most economical choice. Especially during the summer when I seem to crave it all the time! So, to ease the burden on your wallet, the next best option, in my opinion, is to make your own! With the help of a relatively inexpensive ice cream maker that pretty much does all the work for you, you can spend your summer dreaming up and creating dozens of your own ice cream flavors that are customized just to your liking!

I’ve had a lot of fun with my ice cream maker over the years, both recreating store-bought favorites and coming up with new ones. Recently I got a little creative and came up with a new combo that I thought I would share with you!

As I started brainstorming, I knew I wanted to include frozen Wild Blueberries for several reasons:

The color- so vibrant and pretty to look at.
The flavor- Wild Blueberries are smaller and more flavorful than regular blueberries making them ideal to use in recipes like this where you really want their flavor to shine!
The health benefits – ice cream is not always the healthiest dessert option but the addition of Wild Blueberries means your ice cream gets a healthy dose of antioxidants. Wild Blueberries have been shown to have positive effects brain and eye health, heart health and more!

As for the mix-ins, I’m a huge proponent of pairing blueberries and chocolate together, so I added some dark chocolate chips. I also added in some crumbled graham crackers for a touch of added sweetness. To keep the ice cream making simple, I kept it egg-free and instead of all cream, I used some 2% milk to make it a bit healthier without sacrificing flavor or creaminess!

Here’s how you make it!

Wild Blueberry Ice Cream

2 cups frozen Wild Blueberries
2/3 cup sugar

1 ¼ cups heavy cream
¾ cup 2% milk
1 cup crumbled Graham Crackers
½ cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Combine first four ingredients in a blender and blend until well mixed.
2. Pour into ice cream maker (do not overfill).
3. Turn on ice cream maker and let run for approximately 20 minutes. As the ice cream starts to thicken, you may need to scoop out some if your ice cream maker gets too full. Consider it a taste testing opportunity!
4. About 2 minutes before turning off, pour in grahams and chocolate chips and let run until mixed in.

Jam: Winter’s Taste of Summer Relies on Frozen

Fruit jams are sometimes referred to as “summer in a jar”, and no wonder. Jam is fruit in the extreme, providing a perfect taste bud boost when spring is still several long weeks away. Even those who didn’t share in an annual canning ritual during the summer months can take part – anyone can cook up this tasty treat in the winter as easily as they can in July. That was certainly the view of Allison Carroll Duffy when she shared her recipe for Blueberry Vanilla Jam on Maine’s 207 recently. She reminded us in no uncertain terms that frozen wild blueberries are the solution to winter jam making.

“Since it’s winter, I’ve been making this recipe with frozen berries,” said Duffy, “and you know what? I actually prefer using frozen at this time of year, as I can use locally-grown [or “wild”] berries.” Duffy’s comment serves as a perfect reminder of the advantages that frozen affords us. Convenient, loved by bakers, chefs, and home cooks, available year round in the frozen food section, and just as nutritious and delicious as fresh, frozen helps us adds important cups of fruit to our daily nutritional needs, all while providing a taste of a local summer favorite. The utter ease of availability of frozen wild blueberries means there is nothing standing in our way of making homemade jam this month – or any month – and experiencing the superior taste and nutrition of wild blueberries.

Keeping jam on hand is a must in Duffy’s household – she finds the sweet fruit taste of homemade jam irresistible. Besides its role as a foil for toast, jam lovers like theirs for lunch in classic PB & J(am), as a sweet topper for ice cream, in yogurt, or with cottage cheese. The unique sweet and tart flavor of wild blueberries are a classic for fruit jams – unsurpassed in flavor and color – especially when it’s used in small, warmed amounts whisked into salad dressings or glazes for chicken or meats, or for dolloping over goat cheese for a tasty hors d’oeuvre.

Wild blueberry jam is also a pantry staple for bakers – Blueberry Jam Sandwich Cookies come to mind. Even Medina County Life has the right idea, miles away from the wild blueberry harvest, in Ohio: they suggest frozen blueberry jam as the complement to everything from pound cake to sliced bananas. Well done!

Jam’s Jarring Health Benefits

Homemade wild blueberry jam is a sweet treat with broad appeal, but it offers big benefits when it’s made at home. Making jam helps side-step the extra sugar, calories, and preservatives that can run high in many supermarket jams. Made with whole ingredients, homemade jam helps us feel good about enjoying its many health advantages without the health hazards.

Jam’s biggest advantage is the main ingredient, wild blueberries. Wild blues have powerful antioxidant properties that support our disease prevention efforts, and since we tend to eat fewer cups of fruits and veggies this time of year, now is when we need good-for-us food the most. When we enjoy any half cup of wild blueberries, we’re giving the nod to nutrition by leaving less room for foods that satisfy our sweet tooth but offer empty calories. And just like frozen berries, jam is there to be used whenever we please: it stores well in the freezer for several months and will last in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks.

Now that you are jam savvy, what’s stopping your from cooking up a jar of summer sweetness while the snow flies? You’re bound to find it a welcome taste of summer this season!

Looking for more jam recipe ideas? Find other ways to enjoy this Summer Fruit Spin-off all winter. You can also find out more about Allison Caroll Duffy’s classes and workshops on home canning and other methods of food preservation at CanningCraft.com.

LATEST NEWS: Victory for the Frozen Message

Dr. Oz & TIME Magazine Help Bring Frozen to the Public

The American food supply is abundant, nutritionally sound and affordable – and it can be found in your supermarket.

An article written by Dr. Mehmet Oz, well-known surgeon, author and personality, in a TIME cover story called “What to Eat Now,” might include the most important message today’s families can hear when it comes to their diet. Though the idea is not exactly new, talking about it in a new way has been tectonic, and it may change, once and for all, the way we think about nutrition.

It’s a message consumers and their families are prepared for. Dr. Oz’s clear statements about frozen and canned food speak to nagging myths we’ve lived with too long. For example, is frozen food as nutritious as fresh? Today, technology allows us the taste and nutritional advantages of fruit and vegetables harvested and preserved at their peak. (In his article, Dr. Oz explains the shift in freezing that began with Charles Birdseye.) Nutrition, in fact, comes in many forms, and one is certainly frozen. Eating frozen and canned foods is an important part of how most of us can eat healthily now.

Eating for Our Time

Today, the message to consumers that affordability, convenience, and ease is not just OK, but it can also be nutritionally sound is one embraced by families tasked with providing meals nutritious enough to stave off the increasing threat of obesity and disease. Healthy food should be, and is, achievable for all of us by shopping right at the supermarket where we can take advantage of frozen and canned food as well as fresh or when fresh is not available. Families facing squeezed food budgets and precious little time for food preparation can turn to frozen and feel good about their nutritional choices.

Dr. Oz makes his case, he says, after years of research and experience. “The American food supply is abundant, nutritionally sound, affordable,” he said of what he calls the 99% diet. (You can hear Dr. Oz talk more about this on CNN.) It’s time for all of us to throw our hats skyward to join him in celebrating frozen and the opportunity for good health for everyone.

Wild: The Best of Frozen

According to Dr. Oz, canned salmon and frozen peas are a part of eating well on a budget without sacrificing nutrition – and with no concerns about waste, a major food budget killer. Dr. Oz is also a notorious proponent of wild blueberries), and wild blueberries offer a perfect case in point: while they are harvested in Maine and parts of Canada, the frozen fresh method of freezing allows our region to supply the entire country and parts of the world all year round with the berry’s wild nutritional advantages. Live outside of these regions? Not the harvest season? Buying affordably in bulk at the supermarket? Wild blueberries are there to oblige in the supermarket’s frozen aisle, easily purchased in large bags to be used as needed anytime, always at the peak of taste and nutrition, just like they were at the moment they were frozen.

Among its many rewards, frozen allows for variety, which is one of the best way to eat nutritiously. Wild blueberries lead the pack when it comes to nutrition. A wonderful way to introduce color into your diet, wild blueberries stand out because they outperform other fruits when it comes to measuring total antioxidant capacity per serving. Because of their powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, they can help protect against diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Wild blueberries are an important component of an affordable, nutritionally sound diet, not to mention a gift to mothers everywhere: have you ever heard a mother warn their child to “finish your wild blueberries”? Of course not – they are already gone.

Forging A Path to Frozen

We’ve assembled some of our favorite frozen-focused posts that have helped herald this new age of nutrition. In light of frozen’s passionate support from Dr. Oz and countless other experts, we thought it would be appropriate to look at them in a new light – as part of a revolution to bring good nutritional health to one and all.

Here are some highlights from past posts that have helped forge a path to frozen.

Saving Your Frozen for Processing? You’re Missing Out
That frozen is only for food processing is a once widely held belief is changing rapidly. Today, frozen wild blues are an ingredient that works in more than smoothies. IQF freezing means each berry maintains its size and structure. That means we can bake with frozen when the individual berry is important, or thaw them for use in any number of toppings, salads and entrées.

Frozen Fruit Myths…Debunked!
Here, the myths of frozen face incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Think frozen means a glob of ice or a square of green? Not a chance. Not premium quality? Nope. Less nutritious than picked from a field? No sir. Get hip to the next generation of frozen and dispense with the old school beliefs.

Milk, Eggs, Butter….and Frozen
Got frozen on your list? Here’s why you should. Frozen can eliminate kitchen prep time, it’s easy to work with, and it’s there when you need it – in your freezer, as good as the day you purchased it.

Frozen Bombshell: Why Nutrition No Longer = Fresh
Consumers have wisely tuned in to foods that offer competitive prices and low waste. They’ve had to. From the ultimate foodie to the frying-pan challenged, we all need healthy ingredients that are affordable and available. Thinking “frozen” as well as “fresh” offers the answer.

Embrace the Brrr! 5 Summer Fruits to Eat Frozen This Winter
Got a yen for summer fruit but the mercury is low? Enter frozen! Find out how you can eat mangoes, peaches and wild blueberries as if it’s the height of the summer (and not have to pay more.)

Help make the case for frozen! Check out these 10 Fruity Reasons to Visit the Frozen Aisle.

Latest Health News: Healthy Eating is Affordable

by Pink Sherbet Photography

A recent study about nutrition is making a lot of headlines this month. The news is not so much a nutritional breakthrough as a rethinking of an old idea. While some consider the USDA study just a new way to crunch nutritional data, it may contribute to a major shift in how we view the cost of being healthy.

The report concluded that eating healthy food is more cost effective than eating poorly. It’s a conclusion that debunks accepted wisdom that it’s cheaper to eat a diet loaded with sugar and fat than it is to eat more nutritious food. Such assumptions, based on calorie-to-calorie comparisons, have been supported by previous studies, including one conducted by the University of Washington Nutritional Science Program in 2010, and has led many to point the finger at a broken food system that particularly affects low income families. Unhealthy foods full of calories – like cereals, pastries and fast food – could be purchased cheaply, while the price-per-calorie of fruits or vegetables was much higher in comparison, stated previous studies. Poor eating habits were understandable, if unfortunate, because it was the cost-effective choice.

The USDA study could begin to change this way of thinking.

The Study

According to the USDA report, “fruits and vegetables are often cheaper when you calculate the cost in a smarter way.” This new calculation was the result of researching 4,000 foods and analyzing price per calorie, price by weight, and price by average amount consumed. Previous calculations that guided the “junk food is cheaper” conclusion measured only price per calorie. Researchers found that fruits and vegetables were cheaper when taking into account the amount of vitamins and minerals they provide – that is, they give more “bang for the buck”. In addition, more satisfaction can be derived by higher amounts, One article about the USDA study shows a plate of nutritious food (broccoli and berries) compared with calorically comparable junk food amounts like M&Ms and chips. The amounts of nutritious food dwarf the junk food portions. The message is that healthier food is the better value after all.

In fact, before the onslaught of headlines this month, Mark Bittman wrote an article for the New York Times that questioned this entrenched idea that junk is more affordable. (We talked about his article in a previous post.) Like the researchers cited in the USDA study, he mentions beans and lentils as inexpensive foods that provide high nutrition, high volume, and serve as great nutritional meat alternatives. Bittman also cites roasted chicken, rice, pasta, other grains, and vegetables as less expensive alternatives to cheaper fast or processed food, arguing against the idea that grass-fed meat and high priced organics are the only ways to eat healthier.

A Crack in Food’s “New Calculation”?

By all accounts, nutrition is the best way to avoid health problems, prevent disease, and reduce the myriad issues that accompany weight gain. But previous conclusions about the high cost of staying healthy have been reiterated thousands of times in writings and discussions about the health crisis. Understanding more about food and its nutritional and monetary value by looking at it in a new way – with a “smarter calculation” – may indeed provide a way to break us out of a learned helplessness when it comes to eating better.

At the same time, the study does not factor in crucial elements that lead to that value – like cooking. That roasted chicken with lentils may be pound smart, but it doesn’t calculate for preparation time or for the knowledge about how to cook. It neglects to take into consideration that we must 1) understand the importance of nutrition and how to get it, 2) know how to cook and prepare real food, and 3) have the time it takes to do it for ourselves and our families.

Also, the reality of nutrition is that better food must be available. The growth of supermarkets in urban areas and farmer’s markets is encouraging. Improved cafeterias are changing the health of our kids. Health efforts for employees that include distributing menus from places that offer fresh foods and spending lunch breaks walking has changed the health habits in many workplaces. But the “fast food mile” we drive by on the way home from a long work day can destroy good eating habits, even when money is not an issue. Good food must be available for us to have the option to choose it, and its availability must slowly replace the abundance of poor food choices in our homes, schools, and communities.

Changing Food Value By Buying Frozen

With news of the new food value calculation, the mention of frozen surfaces over and over again. Taking advantage of frozen fruits and vegetables is one of the easiest ways we can significantly change how we invest in our health. Here’s why:

Frozen fruits and veggies are just as nutritious as fresh if not more. Understand why that is.
Frozen means nutritious foods like wild blueberries, one of the highest antioxidant foods there is, are available every day of the year, at your supermarket and in your freezer.
Frozen can be purchased affordably in bulk. Buy a bulk bag of a frozen fruit or vegetable, and it stays for weeks in your freezer. That means there is no waste, a major contributor to rising food bills.
There is no prep. Frozen is easy to use and cook with.

How do you weigh in on food values? What’s the most appropriate way to measure the cost of a meal? Should food by measured by calorie or by portion size? What’s the most nutritious meal you can make on the cheap? Let us know.

Health.com Cites Wild Blueberries as Pick for Winter

It’s a set-in-stone rule for cold-weather eating: fruit can rescue good nutrition in the winter months. We often don’t get the fruit requirements we need when the mercury drops, but frozen makes our favorite fruits available and as nutritious as fresh (if not more, due to being quick-frozen at their peak). So why are we ducking our daily requirements? There should be no excuses.

Health.com lays out the best winter fruits, and starts their list with powerful wild blueberries, urging readers to “Buy ’em: Frozen” and touting the nutritional and economic virtues of the small, wild fruit.

From Health.com’s How to Get Your Favorite Fruits in Winter:

“Frozen blueberries are typically the petite wild version, which have been found by scientists to contain more disease-thwarting antioxidants than their traditionally cultivated counterparts (the type you’re most likely to find fresh right now). Also, fresh blueberries are pricey in winter and, if trucked in from afar, can go moldy fast.”

The article also cites wild blueberries as one of the best superfoods for weight loss, and no wonder: a 1-cup serving is just 80 calories, and provides 4 grams of fiber for helping you feel full – a perfect food to help you keep your New Year’s resolution.

Get ’em frozen indeed! Well done, Health.com!

Milk, Eggs, Butter….and Frozen

Recently, we came across an article at EatingWell.com which posed the question, “Are we sacrificing nutrition by opting for frozen?”

Our first thought was: Are they living in the dark ages?

Then, we saw the date: 2007. It all made sense. Four years ago, they would have been forgiven for asking this legitimate nutritional question. Frozen myths circulated. The IQF method of freezing fruits and vegetables remained unclear to some consumers. And, because of a seemingly stable economy and a health crisis that was still in the nascent stages of publicity, consumer demand for solutions to eating well for less money was still at a dull roar.

Today, those frozen peas aren’t just taking up space until the next sprain. We know frozen preserves all the nutrition of fresh, and perhaps more, since frozen fruits and vegetables are processed at their peak, not before, as they often are in anticipation of the selling cycle. And, manufacturers have responded by providing bigger bags for bulk and economy, small serving sizes for convenience, re-sealable bags, and more variety. Now, when we head to the supermarket for staples, we get the milk, the eggs, the butter, and the bag of frozen.

The future is here. Nutrition, availability, and cost are immediate associations when we think of frozen. Here are a few other reasons to think of frozen as one the best things to happen this century besides phones smaller than shoeboxes:

Frozen fruits and veggies eliminate kitchen prep. Stop thinking that you can only get your fruit and veggie nutrition if you have to cut, chop and peel. Suffering for your supper is simply not a requirement in the age of frozen. Frozen veggies, for instance, are often chopped (broccoli), peeled (squash) or prepared (spinach) for our convenience, as are fruits that can otherwise be time-consuming to denude – like pineapple, for instance.

Frozen is easy to work with. The IQF method preserves the individual integrity of the fruit or vegetable. That means that unlike regular freezing methods of yore, excess water is not an issue, and mushy product is avoided. The resulting quality is perfect for cooks. Frozen fruits like blueberries can be easily folded into other ingredients and can be substituted for fresh without sacrificing flavor.

Frozen is there when you need it. The convenience of having healthy food available anytime you need it cannot be overstated. A quick pour of bell pepper from a freezer bag can liven up a pasta dish. A sprinkle of kale can make a soup pop. Frozen spinach can take tortellini from dull to brilliant. Whatever you’re making, if you’ve stocked up on frozen staples, you can make a dish healthy and colorful at the drop of a hat and never waste a bit.

Expand Your Frozen Repertoire

In their post, Frozen Produce: My favorite Kitchen Staple, Fruits & Veggies More Matters shares some fruits and veggies that might not be top of mind when it comes to frozen. While they are quick to point out that blueberries are a fabulous frozen staple because of their high nutritional content and versatility that spans oatmeal and beef (tell us about it!), their article reminds us of some other great frozen options as well.

Edamame, for example, is a healthy snack that can be stocked in the freezer, and frozen butternut squash is another great seasonless suggestion that makes preparation easy – none of the usual cutting, seeding and peeling.

They are all great ideas to use as inspiration for when you go browsing in your frozen produce section. You can see what you’re missing out on when it comes to expanding your frozen repertoire – and increasing the daily servings that are so important for your health and longevity.