Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
I enjoy cooking and do alot of it...as long as the DW cleans up.
I've been using frozen vegetables for awhile, but I recently discovered the frozen steamable packages and was presently surprised at their taste. I even tried one of the breakfast packages the other day, and it was pretty good after I added some other "stuff."
Since I'm a man, my limit on shopping for something is about 2 minutes before hitting the checkout line. Perhaps some of you who have used these products can spare some advise on which brand is better.
__________________
When it comes to the hereafter, I want to be in the no smoking section.
Although there may be some practical limitations of what kind of food to store in an RV (mind you, I don't own one, I have just rented them in the past, I am a wannabe), I can tell you that when it comes to the nutritional value of vegetables, nothing beats fresh and raw. As soon as it is canned or bagged, the nutritional value is stripped away. Especially when it comes to the canned stuff. I would rather not eat than eat canned vegetables. The food industry maximizes sales by extending shelf life of their products. If the shelf life of a product is six months as opposed to six days, they increase the chance of selling it. What shortens the shelf life of food, spoilage. What spoils in vegetables, the fiber content within the food. The industry first kills the fiber content to almost 0 through chemicals. You have now reduced the tendency for spoilage. The next step to extend the shelf life even longer is they pump it up with sugar. This can come in many forms, most notably HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and its many derivatives, corn syrup, etc, etc. Why is sugar so bad, because it spikes insulin levels. With spiked insulin levels your body lowers its ability to burn fat. The lack of fiber and the levels of sugar in the American diet is a main contributor to obesity and many diseases. Canned or bagged is not good, just look at the food labels and you will see. IMHO, anything over 2 grams of sugar per serving of anything is bad. I am not advocating total abstinence of course, that is impossible. But I am saying that one should monitor this and keep a tight control over it Mon-Fri's and reward yourself on the weekends. When I say raw vegetables is the best I do not mean organic. Personally, organic, for most of what is sold out there, is overpriced for any nutritional gain you would get over regular raw vegetables.
I've heard several times that the the nutritional value of frozen vegetables is very good since they are frozen at the peak of ripeness and maintain all the nutritional value. I agree that nothing beats fresh, but that is not always possible, so I'd say a frozen vegetable is better than no vegetable and to always read package ingredients.
I tend to use fresh veggies, but have had some great Birds Eye frozen veggies and even their steamed brown rice.
Lately I've been doing the shopping and cooking since the DW hurt her knee.
I also discovered the "Steamables" vegatables and have tried quite a few. I'm partial to the Birdseye and Green Giant brands. The 3 of us really liked the mixed vegetables in cheese sauce and the Broccoli in cheese. I also bought one that had curly pasta in with vegetables and cheese sauce....very good, almost a meal by itself.
The rice and veggies mixes are good.
In fact, I have found all of the varieties we've tried to be good or great. Even just the plain whole kernal corn was great.
I find that if I set the microwave timer for the longest time shown on the package, everything seems to taste better and have the right texture.
My only complaint is there just isn't enough in the package for the 3 adults in our home. I usually cook two bags and have some left overs.
__________________
Larry "Small House, Big Yard " 7 years to go to FT Alfa See-Ya 5'er and 2007 Kodiak C4500 Monroe Pickup
There is research on the subject, but it very boring reading.
Basically, the nutritional value of vegetables starts to degrade shortly after harvesting. The total percentage of decreased values depends on the time from harvest to packaging, time spent on grocery shelves and in your fridge, loss of water content, plus the home cooking process.
Since fresh ones take longer to get from the field to your stomach, days in fact depending on your location from the grower, it would seem logical that loss is much more than canned or frozen which are packaged within a few hours of harvesting. It would then be a good assumption that canned or frozen would retain those nutrients better than fresh. But canned vegetables have generally been cooked prior to packaging and heat degrades nutrition. Vitamins are also reduced by leaching into the cans. Frozen vegetables lose some value due to blanching and exposure to oxygen in a package. One thing is certain. There is no sodium or sugar added to fresh vegetables and frozen has much less than canned.
I suspect the stuff in the grocery isn't all that "fresh" especially since they rotate the stock from back to front. Since it's an added expense to regularly go to a farmer's market for what would be fresh, I'll just buy the better alternative with less additives and ease of preparation. That would be frozen.
-- Edited by TXRVr on Friday 15th of January 2010 01:19:42 PM
__________________
When it comes to the hereafter, I want to be in the no smoking section.
