Canned veggies?

Troo.

Agree that canned and frozen veggies can be considered having more nutritional value d/t being packaged at time of harvest.

however, need to point out that the above study was funded by the Canned Food Alliance.
Also, some frozen veggies are blanched before packaging which may affect vitamin content

when it comes to canned: check sodium content, opt for 'no added salt' cans

Bottom line: eat your veggies!

Not exactly sure where I heard this. It may have been one of the many tangents my Fundamentals of Nutrition professor went on last semester. (It was an animal nutrition class, but humans are so similar when it comes to nutrition, etc. that comparisons are pretty seamless, and food quality is an even bigger issue in animal nutrition because producers want the best gain per $ spent to keep cost down.)

Basically, most frozen fruits and veggies are flash frozen almost immediately after they are picked, so nutrients and preserved. If you thaw then refreeze you'll lose nutrients. Unless you are getting fresh produce from locally grown sources, the fresh produce in large chain stores can come from a long distance, and loses nutrients along the way. Canned is basically the same as frozen, but a load of salt added in, and (this is my opinion, I have no proof!) I bet some of the nutrients seep out into the preserving liquid and get lost when you drain canned veggies. With canned fruits, you have to worry about the syrups they put the fruit in. I always get fruits in 100% juice, or at the very least, the lightest syrup available.

I've heard frozen spinach is one of the most cost effective ways of buying spinach, but I can't stand it! Frozen peas are easier than fresh, and taste better than the mushy green balls that canned peas are. If you ever have a perfectly ripe home grown tomato in season, you will never be able to stomach the little red rocks that are called tomatoes out of season. They are picked green, and instead of natural ripening, they are exposed to a gas that turns them red, but doesn't actually continue the ripening process. They pretty much go from unripe to rotten, and you need loads of salt to give them decent taste.

If something is out of season in your area, it is probably better to get a frozen/canned version of it. All in all, I think all three are considered equal in the food pyramid.

If you want to add more veggies to your diet, try keeping a bag of fresh baby spinach and use it as the base for a quickie salad before meals. It has tons of nutrients and keeps a lot longer than most lettuces. Munch on baby carrots instead of chips. There are baked veggie chips out there too, just check on the sodium, fat, etc. I eat TONS of pico de gallo. Keep bags of frozen veggies you can heat up quickly if you have no urge to cook. You can have a salad, turkey burger with tomato, pickles, little bit of cheese, etc. on whole wheat bread/bun, with sides of frozen peas and corn on the cob done before a delivery pizza comes. (And this is coming from a college student, gasp!) You just need to watch how much sauce or butter, etc. you put on plain veggie sides.

I've found keeping a mixture of each fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and veggies gives me more choices and I'm more likely to eat well if there is always something quick and easy on hand to prepare.

For easiest option, I love the microwave in a bag frozen veggies. You can't get any easier than that unless someone cooked for you! If you're looking for good taste, some canned veggies taste better than others. And it's vegetable season, so, like others have said, check your local farmer's market, etc. Where I live, there are even co-ops with local farmers where you can pay a certain amount and get literally garden-fresh veggies weekly.

The lycopene in tomatoes is actually more readily available to your body when they're cooked, so canned tomatoes are a great source of this nutrient. I make a lot of dishes with low sodium diced canned tomatoes....veggie curries, pasta, chili, etc. They are even really good in homade salsa and I've never seen a pasty white canned tomato (as opposed to the "fresh" ones in the produce aisle at my grocery store.)

Honestly, most people don't eat near enough veggies.  So I say eat them any way you can.  Once you have the habits built up, worry about the production methods and quality.