I was wondering how you cook your veggies to reap the biggest nutritional benefits from them? I currently add a little water to a cooking pan and cook them by the bag, then drain the water and serve. However, when I drain the water, I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of the nutrients.
When buying broccoli, do you purchase the bags or the fresh stuff? I also noticed that the broccoli sold in the bags, you can buy the different ‘parts’ of the broccoli (top-flowery portion or the ‘stalk’).
Lastly, any one have advantages / nutritional value over the other?
I buy all my veggies and fruits frozen and cook the veggies in the microwave and defrost/warm-up the fruits in the microwave.
There are some studies from a decade ago or so that showed frozen to have more nutrients than fresh (bought in the store) because of transportation time, lights, handling, etc. Frozens are usually frozen in portable factories right in the field they are picked at.
Yes like has been stated frozen tend to have more of the natural nutrients do to being flash frozen soon after picking/harvest. Where as the fresh have been traveling for days.
Unless you can get some from a local farmers market. Them I buy in bulk and freeze myself.
As for cooking. Well I usually go raw with many. I will also microwave them, stir fry them,or my favorite is to bake them. Usually I dont boil them.
If you are worried about losing the nutrients throughb the water however. Simply drink it. Hey then you have a glass of water with your meal.
Main thing is you are doing good to be eating the veggies, Anything further is extra.
I don’t care, a multivitamin should cover deficiencies well enough for us not to worry about all this micro stuff…so I just bake and then broil my frozen veggies (bought in bulk from Costco) and fry my asparagus.
Recipe: Bake veggies for 20 min at 500F, then broil for 15 or until burned. Then take out of oven, lace with red pepper flavored olive oil and salt. YUM YUM YUM.
Microwaved plain. If I want to spice things up, I’ll toss the microwaved veggies into my medium hot cast iron pan and give it a minute or two with some cumin or other spice(s).
I agree that frozen are just as good if not better than fresh. The only problem is that I find they put too much broccoli stalk and not enough flowers in the bag.
Anyway, I believe the main thing is not to boil your veggies. Try to lightly steam them on low heat. Sorry guys, but microwaving for more than just de-frosting is a form of boiling. This does reduce the nutrient content, and not to mention, they tend to taste rubbery IMO. But, to each their own.
When I do cook them on the stove top, they do tend to boil a bit. However, I add salsa, olive oil, and spices and I make sure I don’t add water so the fluids thicken up to make a sauce. That way there is nothing to drain and they taste AMAZING!
I like them broasted the best (baked-roasted with olive oil) but that oil, salsa, and spice combo is great as well.
Thanks TopSirloin - I’m going to try that salsa, olive oil and spices addition to my veggies.
I agree with you that most brands out there have too much of the stalk and not enough of the flower part. However, I was at the store this weekend and found a new brand that looked mostly like the flower part. So I bought a few bags and opened them when I got home and sure enough, nice big flower parts and nearly NO stalk! I don’t remember the name brand, but will check and post tomorrow.
One other thing is to prefer non-plastic containers when you microwave. Very tiny amounts of plastic do migrate into food when heated, and plastic is something you don’t want in your body.