Culinary Adventures with Canned and Frozen Foods
By: Barb BiagioliI
It’s hard to get culinary inspiration from a bag of frozen green beans. But sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures – like when you are running late after work or class, when you are trying to stick to a grocery budget, or when you are low on fresh fruits and veggies and down to that last box of pasta.
Surprisingly, you can throw together a delicious and healthy meal using frozen vegetables, canned beans, canned tomatoes, spices and seasonings when times are tough. While fresh produce is always best, preferably from the farmer’s market – direct from the ground to your plate in a matter of days – sometimes, the best you can do is a bag of frozen veggies.
If you find yourself with limited access to farm-fresh food and making infrequent visits to the grocery store, it helps to have a full, clean and organized pantry. But there are also a few things you’ll want to keep stocked up in your freezer, to ensure that you can whip up, healthy, family-friendly meals on a whim. Notoriously, our home freezers tend to mirror the collection of junk foods found in the freezer section of the grocery store. But a word to the wise – avoid stockpiling frozen junk food like pizzas, burritos and hot pockets – and instead opt for canned and frozen vegetables like:
Peas
Broccoli
Green beans
Kale
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Tomatoes
Beets
Spinach
Cauliflower
Edamame
Corn
Mixed Vegetables
These are excellent choices when fresh produce isn’t an option. Although you may not be creating cookbook-worthy, Michelin star meals from a frenzy of frozen mixed vegetables and canned beans, you can still cook up a variety of different plant-based dishes for your family that are simple, straight forward, nourishing and nutritious. Try out these freezer food inspired plant based dishes for inspiration.
1. Curry
Curry is the ultimate warming and nourishing dish. It’s so fantastic homemade – full of spices that yield a robust flavor profile – and perfect for weeknight dinners, leftovers too. There are so many ways to make curry and no need to strictly adhere to any single recipe. But the best part is that you can make due with whatever vegetables you have on hand and in your freezer. Check out this cauliflower, kale and chickpea curry pot or this vegan cauliflower pea curry – a one pot Gobi Matar masala.
2. Stir-Fry
Possibly the easiest and most straight forward of all the options, a stir-fry is a super versatile solution for an unused bag of frozen veggies. Although most recipes will call for fresh veggies, utilize the other ingredients and add in a bag of whatever frozen veggies you have in your freezer. Try this spring veggie stir-fry , this easy vegan weeknight stir-fry or this spicy coconut vegetable stir fry.
3. Chili
Another one-pot meal that’s ideal for using frozen vegetables, canned tomatoes and beans – chili is the perfect dish when your supply of fresh produce is running low. Grab an onion, some garlic, spices, a fresh or frozen – pepper, carrot, celery – some beans and canned tomatoes and you’ve got yourself a meal. This 5 ingredient sweet potato chili is the perfect combination of pantry staples and kitchen scraps. For another option, try this indulgent recipe for plant-based chili with lentils and sweet potatoes, and fresh-out-of-the-oven honey cornbread.
4. Risotto
Grab your rice and a bag of frozen peas. This springy risotto is paired with peas and asparagus, creamy with all the flavors of spring. If you don’t have any asparagus, double your peas and it will still be delicious! Or consider this creamy vegetable risotto recipe. It has bell peppers, asparagus, and broccolini – if these aren’t vegetables you have at home, try frozen broccoli and cauliflower, kale or green beans.
5. Sheperd’s Pie
You know those mixed vegetables you never know what to do with? Skip serving them as a boring side and add them to a hearty, homemade sweet potato and lentil shepherd’s pie. There are so many different vegetables you can add to a shepherd’s pie. This vegan lentil shepherd’s pie uses carrots, celery, peas and lentils but you can also try adding frozen broccoli or cauliflower as well.
6. Pasta
Pasta dishes are the perfect, “I can’t leave my house”, “I don’t want to go to the store”, “I don’t want to cook” dish that can be surprisingly exciting. If you have a box of pasta, a vegetable and a jar of marinara or a can of tomatoes, you can make a veggie-focused pasta dish for your dinner. A plant-based pasta primavera is a good choice if you have a frozen vegetable medley in the kitchen. Otherwise, grab your jar of marinara or diced tomatoes, add some onions and garlic, steam some spinach, cook some pasta and you have a yummy spinach pasta plate for dinner.
Frozen foods can be fun to cook with and flavorful when turned into unexpected dishes. No matter what you choose, don’t be afraid to experiment with a variety of different vegetables. Combining plant-based pantry staples and frozen vegetables can yield surprisingly nutritious and nourishing meals that are sure to please both picky eaters and adventurous culinarians.
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