SO WHEN IS FROZEN OR TINNED BETTER THAN FRESH?

From fruit and veg to fish and meat, as our expert dietitian reveals, the answers may surprise you...

Canned and frozen foods tend to be seen as less nutritious than fresh versions — but that’s not always the case. according to a recent Which? report, frozen and canned foods may contain more nutrients, as well as being less wasteful since they don’t go off before you’ve had a chance to use them.

‘Though, in theory, fruit and veg fresh from the field are the most nutritious, as the vitamins and minerals are all intact ( they decline naturally over time), this might not be the case after produce has been transported to the store, sat on the supermarket shelf for a while and then languished at the back of your fridge for a week,’ says Helen Bond, a dietitian based in derbyshire.

‘In fact, many foods that are frozen contain just as many nutrients as fresh produce because they are frozen quickly so nutrients are retained.’

and although the canning process — which involves heatsterilising food in a sealed container to kill micro-organisms — can reduce some nutrients that are damaged by heat, others stay stable until you open it.

a 2015 study in the journal nutrients found that people who consumed more than six canned food items a week had higher amounts of 17 essential nutrients, including potassium (good for maintaining healthy blood pressure), calcium (for strong bones) and fibre (needed for good digestive health) than those who ate fewer than two canned foods a week.

So which option is really the best? We asked HELEN BOND to assess the nutritional content of common foods that can be consumed fresh, tinned or frozen — and we then picked a winner.