There is growing evidence that frozen vegetables may actually be better than fresh vegetables.

The frozen ones are taken virtually straight from the farm to the processing factory where they are snap frozen.

The factories take from the growers on pre-arranged contracts, and often a grower's yield doesn't go anywhere else except to processing.

The freezing process doesn't interfere significantly with the nutritional value of the vegetables.

On the other hand, "fresh" vegetables take some time to transport from farm to wholesaler to supermarket. Out of season, of course, the vegetables either have to come from thousands of miles away or from storage where they have been treated with antifungal agents or kept in controlled atmosphere. Then there is the time they are on the shelf before sale.

I know that when I worked on an apple orchard, a large proportion of the fruit we picked was a variety that supposedly kept well. It was picked in May and kept in controlled atmosphere until November or later, when it was proclaimed as "new season's fruit". Having eaten fruit straight off the tree, I have great difficulty buying fruit from the supermarket these days.

A $3 bag of mixed frozen vegetables will do two meals for Machka and me.