Product Review of Whole Foods Organic Frozen Vegetables

Organic frozen vegetables are hard to come by. Look in your local neighborhood grocery store, and you're not likely to find them. If you do find them, you may find them severely overpriced and suffering from freezer burn. Whole Foods is your best source for organics in general, and organic frozen vegetables in particular. Any day that you shop there, Whole Foods will have the organic foods you're looking for. You may have to drive a little farther, but getting higher quality products for a lower price will definitely be worth the effort. Whole Foods carries two brands of organic frozen vegetables; Cascadian Farms and their own in-house brand, 365 Everyday Value organic frozen vegetables.

Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value brand organic frozen vegetables come in several varieties. These include spinach, broccoli florets, peas and carrots, cut green beans and mixed vegetables which contains a mixture of corn, beans and carrots.

The selection of Whole Foods' organic frozen vegetables wasn't quite as good as the competition. They offered a single Chinese Stir-Fry blend which wasn't always available on the shelves.

Cascadian Farms offered frozen edamame and several vegetable blends including California-Style, Chinese Stir-Fry and Gardener's Blend. However, the price of Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value organic frozen vegetables was considerably lower than the prices of Cascadian Farms' similar products.

Only a couple of the vegetables contained in these products were in the "dirty dozen;" the list of twelve different types of produce that are likely to still contain pesticides even after they have been washed or peeled. These included spinach and sweet bell peppers. Other vegetables such as carrots, green beans and broccoli seem to be missing from both "dirty" and "clean" lists. However, sweet corn is on the list of vegetables least likely to have pesticide residues.

Fruits such as peaches, apples and strawberries score much higher on the scale of left-over pesticide residues. There are non-organic competitor's products such as Wal-Mart's Great Value brand which were considerably lower in price. For products such as sweet corn, green beans and broccoli these products may be a better value, since they have very little pesticide residue when served. However, if you're trying to protect the planet as well as your own health, paying extra for organic frozen vegetables is a sensible investment.

Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value organic frozen vegetables were just as good in terms of taste and texture as Cascadian Farms. Whole Foods's brand spinach came only in whole leaf form, and there was no cut spinach available. Cascadian Farms, on the other hand, had a boxed cut spinach product. When I was preparing the 365 Everyday Value vegetables, I had to cut them by hand. While this was easier than washing, sorting and cutting fresh organic spinach, it wasn't very convenient.

Even though Cascadian Farms' product was more expensive, the fact that it came pre-cut seemed worth the price. Overall, despite the product availability problems, I found Whole Foods' organic frozen vegetables to be an excellent product for an excellent value.

For more information on this topic, read Review of the Top Organic Pasta Sauce Brands and The Best Organic and Fair Trade Whole Bean Coffees.

Sources:

Danielle Dellorto, CNN: "Dirty Dozen Produce Carries More Pesticide Residue, Group Says."