I have just read a tip that it's cheaper to buy frozen vegetables than to purchase, prep and freeze fresh ones.

Which do you think is more frugal?

 

That would depend on the cost of vegetables. If you can get a decent price on fresh but not on frozen, then fresh is better. It doesn't cost that much to prepare and freeze them!  Frozen vegetables can be a little expensive, especially if you want quality food. Cheaper frozen vegetables for instance, often have more broccoli stems than flowerettes, mixed vegetables have more potatoes than anything else and so on. When you freeze your own, you control the quality.

There's only one thing I can think of that redeems buying frozen vegetables and that's that they're usually frozen quickly so they don't lose nutrients. Fresh vegetables bought at the grocery store are never as fresh and have lost a lot of nutrition. 

It varies for me on which is cheaper.

Frozen corn, green beans and peas are about $1.29 a pound. I can't often get them cheaper fresh and the fresh usually has bits that get cut which reduces how much I actually have to use. These are cheaper frozen.

It's cheaper to buy bags of cut and frozen bell peppers. 

It's cheaper for me to buy onions and chop them myself for freezing. 

 

Pat:

If you can get a decent price on fresh but not on frozen, then fresh is better. It doesn't cost that much to prepare and freeze them! 

I agree with Pat and use the same formula for dehydrating. Today I found 2 Lbs bags of shredded cheese and it was $3.00 a pound versus $5.29 Lbs to shred my own. Its the same things with vegetables. Sometimes its cheaper to by it already frozen.

Pat:

When you freeze your own, you control the quality.

That's my motivation.

    The other thing to consider is that there may be more waste with some fresh veggies ... .   I don't mind with some veggies, since I can use the peelings, etc., for broth.  But somethings, you end up throwing out quite a lot....

Clearly, one has to consider the price and quality of the fresh vegetables in order to make such a determination. AM, Stretchpert in Self Sufficient Living

 Well, it may be cheaper to buy frozen ones, but freezing your own gives you more control over quality - especially if you grow them. You know what went into the soil, you know how fresh they were when you prepped and froze them. Health/nutrition is worth something too, and sometimes in case like this, it can be a forgotten factor. 

If a person has the time and resources, I think it's always best to prepare your own.

Well from where I stand and what I've bought fresh in the Produce Dept. vs frozen veggies.....Brussels Sprouts bought fresh at Harris Teeter are not as good (taste & quality) as the frozen ones. Asparagus is okay if it is fresh. Winter squash is available frozen by Birds Eye (I look for sales & coupons). I buy frozen or canned corn. The only decent tasting tomatoes come from a farmstand in my town. Dean & Don in Newport News do have nice produce, but I don't shop there.

I look for sales and coupons for frozen veggies. I either buy the store brand or a national brand depending upon the coupons and sales.

Same with creamed corn or "regular" canned corn----whichever is cheaper.

I buy canned beets.

Since I'll be getting fresh locally grown produce this summer, I am hoping the flavors will be better than the produce at the liocal grocery stores.

About the Brussels Sprouts....I bought them fresh and cooked them with Mom's eagle eyes. We decided to get the frozen ones because the quality was so much better.

Virginia Needlewoman:

Brussels Sprouts bought fresh at Harris Teeter are not as good (taste & quality) as the frozen ones.

That's because they weren't as fresh. Frozen vegetables are handled rather quickly in comparison to vegetables that spend days in storage and transit to the stores.

We got spoiled. We grew them in our garden when my step-father was alive.

The frozen ones are lovely and the same quality as the fresh ones in our garden.

I switched to frozen winter squash because it was so hard to cut them open if they were fresh.