refreshed veggie have a repute for being a little more pricey than their stock-still or transcribed counterparts . Here ’s why it ’s not really deserved — but why it will likely still seem like it is anyway .
The USDArecently put together thisnice little seasonal chart looking at the dissimilar price range of a function you may wait some of your Thanksgiving side to come in at , depending on which form — fresh , frozen , or canned — you opt to buy them in .
At first blush , it looks like a pretty good exemplification of the truism about refreshed commonly being the more expensive choice . Something interesting , though , hap when you open up the field to a wider range , beyond just the seasonally - gay veg , like in this chart I made using theUSDA ’s calculatorfrom their full data :
dead , the picture is much less clear , with fresh vegetable coming in it all different damage point — some of the smart varieties are even considerably cheaper than the processed counterparts ( like in the case of raw Spinacia oleracea vs. frozen , or fire tomatoes vs. fresh romas ) .
The much larger issue to be mistrustful of though is that — although a comparison of apples - to - canned - apples may seem like the most fair of all stack - ups — it actually can be deceptive to put fresh , frozen , canned into a direct price per weight equivalence . Why ? Simply put ( setting aside a few case of summertime overabundance ) fresh , frozen , and canned vegetables are very seldom in unmediated competition with each other for a spot on your table .
If you ’re planning to make a salad , you do n’t walk over to the deep-freeze section , looking for a engine block of spinach to melting , you see for fresh super acid . While you sure enough could bolt down into the grocery store in the middle of November for a bushel of romas for sauce , chances are you want a can of San Marzanos . And , in footing of factual shopping comparisons and how people really corrupt , it commonly makes much more sense to pit a fresh peach against an apple , than a can of peaches .
Of naturally , the price of the veg themselves is n’t the only effect — storage and spoiling also can add quite a bite to the overall price of fresh , which neither terminate nor frozen would be rack up by . Also the price of bracing is much more probable to fluctuate up and down with the seasons than something you break up up in your freezer section . Still , whether unfermented , frozen , or can is really the most expensive option is a much hard interrogation to answer than it initially seems .
Top image : vegetables /liz west ; Charts : USDA ERS
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