Freeze dried veg has no nutritional value, so why?
Posted by MisChef@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 85 comments
I just saw that auguson farms dried veggie medley is on sale.
I was curious about how freeze dried stuff tastes, so a few months ago I bought around 2 cups of it from a bulk-bin store and added it to the following (after re-hydrating)
-
rice & lentils (aka kedgeree)
-
buttered pasta (stars, cooked in salted water)
-
alphabet soup (alpha pasta, cooked in tomato broth)
They were edible but not delicious. I thought, "at least it's adding veggies and fiber", but ...there's no THERE there.
I looked at the nutrition label on the auguson farms one and it's all zeros, except for two 2% and one 4%. Not even a remarkable amount of fiber! What is the purpose of adding what looks like confetti and tastes like sawdust to your food?
I am a chef by profession, but dried veg flakes never comes up in my cooking. I've used powdered veg for color like making pasta but that's different.
Did y'all think this stuff is actually good/nutritional or is it doing some other function? It doesn't even taste good, so why get it?
Tinman5278@reddit
First off, read the whole label. The serving size listed there is 1.5 Tablespoons.
That gets you 1 gram of fiber. (3% of the RDA)
It also gets you:
8mg Vitamin C (8% of RDA)
20mg Calcium (2% of RDA)
.3mg Iron (2% of RDA)
150mg Potassium (4% of RDA)
440mcg Vitamin A (50% of RDA)
So you ARE getting nutrients other than fiber. And 1.5 Tablespoons is a ridiculously small serving. The 2 cups you used is over 20 times that.
Zartanio@reddit
My guess is a lot is falling under the "if it's less than x, it gets reported as 0." If that serving size was 1 cup, I suspect there would be more reported, but I'm speculating.
doogles@reddit
I remember learning somewhere that since tic tacs are so small, their serving size in sugar is zero, even though they are made entirely of sugar.
dheera@reddit
The opposite in Europe -- a lot of chocolate bars have nutrition facts labelled in "per 100g" -- but nobody ever eats 100g of chocolate in one serving
Bigtanuki@reddit
Says you.
Eastern-Working9747@reddit
Sometimes I eat 200g
pietroconti@reddit
A king size Snickers bar is 93.3g soooooo maybe 100g in one sitting isn't that crazy
Telemere125@reddit
That’s where the slogan “bet you can’t eat just one” started.
cmarches@reddit
When I'm really depressed I eat a chocolate bar instead of a meal. I've def eaten 100g of chocolate in one sitting
gadget850@reddit
You never met my ex wife.
Angylisis@reddit
There's always someone to give us the misogynist take.
smellswhenwet@reddit
When I hit my monthly cycle, I need lots of chocolate and I’m a dude.
Particular_Relief154@reddit
You’re right- it’s at least double that..
Apprehensive_Spite97@reddit
I´m in Scandinavia and the 200g bars are mostly what they have now. Used to have 50g and 100g. Some people eat the whole bar, and half of it isn´t that much over an evening. They're very good though
OSteady77@reddit
You’ve seen Americans, right?
dra_red@reddit
100g? Amateur.
factory-worker@reddit
Bold of you to assume.
ladyangua@reddit
In Australia, they usually list both - per serving and per 100 gr/ml.
AlternativeAthlete99@reddit
this was a fact i could have gone without knowing 😂 RIP to eating an entire container of tic tacs in one sitting
hippfive@reddit
There was a redditor (I think it was on TIFU) who also didn't realize that and couldn't figure out why he was aggressively gaining weight. Turns out he was downing multiple boxes of tic tacs a day.
DerLyndis@reddit
What did you think they were made of
AlternativeAthlete99@reddit
honestly i chose to not think about it or look into it tbh
Ryan_e3p@reddit
That's exactly how things like oil in aerosol cans get away with saying "0 calories". If you look on the back, you'll see one serving is something like 1/4 second of spray time.
No-Relief9174@reddit
AFAIK, freeze drying is one of the best ways to preserve veg without losing much nutrient content.
xnoxpx@reddit
THIS!
Freeze drying retains up to 97% of nutritional value over fresh!
If there's no nutritional value in the freeze dried vegetable, it's because there's no nutritional value in the vegetable to begin with
christien@reddit
wow, that AI is kinda dumb today.
Skoner1990@reddit
“I’m a chef by profession” lol -can’t even figure out a label, do not know basic stuff about food. Goes and ask a fuckin prepper forum instead of i don’t know? Colleagues, your books or google. Either you are a burger flipper or a weird af ragebaiter… does not sound like a “chef by profession” to me.
boxtroutalpha@reddit
Just one more post confirming my belief that bots are writing these posts...
ScrapmasterFlex@reddit
I just wonder what has to be going on in someone's life for them to wake up and go "I think I'm gonna get some AI Bots to write some Internet Shit to get some attention..."
boxtroutalpha@reddit
FB tested using bots to increase user engagement... so yeah theres that :)
NorthHoustonPrepTX@reddit
Yep!!! 🤖🤖🤣🤣🤣
Scared_Category6311@reddit
Probably works at McDonald's and calls himself a "chef" because he can flip a burger over.
Apprehensive_Spite97@reddit
haha, that´s actually kind of sad. I hope OP is a bot
spruceymoos@reddit
He could be a really stupid chef
gilbert2gilbert@reddit
You ever read the label on a vegetable?
HaloDeckJizzMopper@reddit
Did you eat the sticker. Tell me, did you eat a sticker?
kalitarios@reddit
Just the crayons
Telemere125@reddit
Semper fi
IDDMaximus@reddit
Yes but you have to enable God-mode via CLI first
SelectCase@reddit
Only a small number of nutrients are actually required to be labeled on US food labels. Find the product on ESHA or CRDB if possible for more complete info.
It's not supposed to taste good. It's supposed to stay fresh for 30 years and be available in case of an emergency.
World_wide_truth@reddit
Yup, survival doesn't mean you will enjoy it. When surviving you need to prioritize food that lasts long like grains/rice and salt/sugar. Don't expect to eat a nice meal everyday. Freezedrier is very usefull for fruits and vegetables. Also canned food exists.
premar16@reddit
Also they are not counting on many people actually eating. It is designed to be bought then put on the shelf for years at a time. So a lot of people buying it dont know it taste bad
Winter_Owl6097@reddit
Actually I've been very pleased with the taste of the Auguson Farms products. I've eaten several of them.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
Freeze dried fruits and vegetables retain virtually all of their flavor, texture and nutrients when properly processed, stored and prepared.
Also, sounds like you are comparing random junk from a store with quality food from Augason Farms.
Finally, most of this stuff is considered emergency food, not something you would buy, store and eat on a regular basis. The vegetable medley makes great soup on its own or a nice addition to any number of dishes.
sparky-molly@reddit
Do their dried tomatoes have skin left on? I doubt it, so fiber would be low fiber. How about apple peels? I've bought a few items, I wasn't concerned that it was too low, you dont eat just one thing.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
The freeze dried tomato slices I make at home in my Harvest Right still have the skin on.
For Augason Farms, I have some of their tomato powder mainly for making spaghetti sauce.
Their vegetable medley blend does not contain tomatoes.
I have no idea what your point is.
sparky-molly@reddit
Point is skin from fruits & veggies is fiber, adds to nutrition as fiber. I figure skins are not in the commercially available freeze dried item's unless maybe it's powdered. The point of the original post was warning that freeze dried wasn't nutritious. I just had a couple ideas why it differs from non-freeze dried nutrition.
Randomized007@reddit
So you're a augason farms rep?
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit
Lol, no. I have some of their stuff and it's good. They are a reputable brand. I do suggest comparing the Augason Farms site with Amazon to find deals.
I do most of my own freeze drying at home with a Harvest Right freeze dryer.
Own_Instance_357@reddit
I just made a slow cooker split pea soup with peas out of a can 20 years old
I diced in some canned ham and chunked a few bag onions
Imho the dried veg medley thing is just an additive towards the end, not a base
ScrapmasterFlex@reddit
I'm not sure if you're being purposefully disingenuous or what, because if you are in fact a professional Chef, you should know better?
What are your definitions for "nutritional value" ? - Augason Farms Vegetable Medley has 25 calories per serving, 131 servings per container. 5g Carbs, 1g Fiber, 1g Protein, and admittedly small amounts of Calcium, Iron, & Potassium... were you expecting them to be Fortified like Wonder Bread?
And freeze-dried food for Survival & Preparedness is a world of difference away from Professional Chef Culinary Creation / restaurant-type of food you make - or we purchase- for pleasure etc. It's to fill your stomach and keep you going in times of emergency. Freeze-Dried stuff that is unopened & properly stored lasts almost forever with no degradation in quality. That's pretty important for Survival & Preparedness. Admittedly, I wouldn't expect a Professional Chef to be serving me Augason Farms at the restaurant I'm having a meal at.
We're mixing Apples & Oranges & Bowling Bowls when we compare freeze-dried survival foods with Professional Chef Foods with Nutritional Value - your first beef seemed to be with Nutritional Value, then it was that it's not very good - those again are two different things entirely.
So... ?
nunyabizz62@reddit
Thats nonsense. Freeze dried has virtually the same nutritional value as fresh
throwawaybsme@reddit
Have you compared the nutritional value of freeze-dried vegetables with a comparable amount of rehydrated vegetables?
Lanky-Lake-1157@reddit
OP realized they didn't read serving size correctly before ranting.
I love the internet.
Emergency_Sink_706@reddit
OP needs to forget prepping for now and go back to the basics... learning how to read.
randynumbergenerator@reddit
Yup, it's the equivalent of wordlessly leaving a place after you've publicly been embarrassed/embarrassed yourself, lol.
somethingwholesomer@reddit
There’s all kinds of reasons a person might not respond right away, or ever. I try to be curious rather than assume negative intent
Digital_Simian@reddit
I suspect that's why the serving size is 1.5 tablespoons. It's probably close to a cup of veg is before freeze drying. Actual recommended portions would be closer to five or six servings. So 5.25 tbs would be the equivalent to get that 5 servings after rehydration.
Tinman5278@reddit
The whole serving size thing is somewhat confusing to me. I've never eaten these things and 1.5 tablespoons seems absurdly small. The packaging says to mix 2 cups of water with 1/2 cup of the veggie mix and that makes 2 cups of reconstituted veggies. I don't know about other people but I generally eat about a cup of veggies with main meals. So if my math isn't totally out the window, my expected serving size is about 2.5 times what they list.
Digital_Simian@reddit
It would depend on the veg. They can be 90-97% water which would track at least by weight, not really sure about volume.
churnopol@reddit
Auguson Farms sells both freeze dried and dehydrated. I’m pretty sure all their vegetables are dehydrated and meats and meals are their freeze dried products.
And yeah, dehydrated vegetables loses a lot of nutrients during the dehydration process.
The only dehydrated things I keep is sliced, diced, and hashbrown potatoes and ramen toppings. I really only use the potatoes when there’s a lot of people visiting. Sliced potatoes at hand with little cleanup helps me keep my sanity while cooking for a dozen plus people. The ramen toppings are just fun and I like them.
Alarming-Upstairs963@reddit
Fiber isn’t a nutrient 🤣
Bmat70@reddit
The Auguson Farms vegetable medley is dehydrated. I use it just about every time I make soup. Far faster and easier than prepping the vegetables myself. And not as many fresh vegetables spoiling. I usually toss in some fresh vegetables if I have any or a can of tomatoes. Plus typical other ingredients of course (protein etc. ) The flavor isn’t the same as fresh. It is better the next day. Makes an acceptable soup with not much effort.
N44thLatitude@reddit
Isn't the Augason Farms veggetable medley DEHYDRATED, not freeze dried?
I've been seeing a lot of people throw around the word "freeze dried" to every food that's in a dry form. Where are they imagining the "freeze" part? These are standard dehydrated vegetables, like you'd get out of a home dehydrator that blows hot air over food until the moisture evaporates. Freeze dried are frozen then dehydrated in a type of vacuum machine that converts ice to vapor to remove the moisture.
Because dehydrated foods are typically heat dried in the sun or in blown with hot air, they are very mildly "cooked" and the nutritional profiles changes more than freeze dried, which has a nutritional profile closer to frozen vegetables/fruits.
And fyi, the vegetable medley you're looking at is majority potatoes, based on the order of the ingredient list. I don't know what vitamins you were expecting out of 1.5 Tbsp serving size of mostly potatoes, which likely were peeled to dice and don't include the skin, which has the most fiber.
ErinRedWolf@reddit
It looks like some of the Augason Farms cans I have are freeze dried (broccoli, peas) and some are dehydrated (spinach flakes, veggie medley). That last one is 52% off on Amazon right now btw.
N44thLatitude@reddit
Yep, but it seems like with all of the dry-in-any-way food cans, the new thing is just to call them all "freeze dried" no matter what's on the label. I saw the same when people were talking about Emergency Essentials dehydrated food. They also carry both dehydrated and freeze dried too.
Dry does not always mean freeze dried. I'm just seeing this automatic assumption happening a lot more often.
Longjumping-Army-172@reddit
These things exist to provide a false sense of security for minimal effort at a premium price.
Simply put...I can put hundreds, even thousands of dollars into these long-term storage foods, stack them into a closet and say "See! My family is safe from this imaginary danger!"...while making no actual changes in my lifestyle.
The alternatives take more effort. A useable pantry requires the effort to rotate things in and out. Preserving real food is a whole lot of work! And procuring food via means such as gardening, foraging, fishing and hunting? Forget it!
startledastarte@reddit
I mean, a lot of people want to have done level or preparedness without living on a huge plot of land to farm. Or hundreds of pounds of cans snd jars. These products allow someone with more money than time to have actual preps set aside.
Having food stored is a very real and important prep for a lot of people.
More_Mind6869@reddit
Well, if it has no nutritional value, can it really be called Food ?
More_Mind6869@reddit
Wow ! What an embarrassing yet valid question to ask...
Yet it seems to ruffle some feathers. Lol.
Y'all are well to buy and store whatever highly refined foods ya want. Ya probably eat that crap now anyway ?
But hey, Convenience sells, right ?
Justify what ya want...
startledastarte@reddit
90% of nutrients are retained…
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7022747/
ladyangua@reddit
I don't think freeze-dried vegetables would count as "highly refined". There is no more processing required than for freezing the same vegetables, and the only thing removed is the water content.
startledastarte@reddit
It does though….
More_Mind6869@reddit
Most refined foods have very little nutrition.
Speaking of sawdust, a while back it was legal to add a % to hamburger.
Analysis of the top "Veggie burgers" found they were the same ingredients as dog food, with added artificial flavorings... Lol
NewPerfection@reddit
Not sure how freeze drying vegetables makes them "highly refined". And dog food containing some of the same ingredients as human food proves absolutely nothing.
More_Mind6869@reddit
Wow ! Ok
Ya know you can buy 50 lb bags of dog food and some spices and save a lot of $$$.
ladyangua@reddit
Wow ! OK
You really are a tool
ghablio@reddit
My dog's food is mostly brown rice and beef...
CBrainz@reddit
Where did you get that information?
Bad-Briar@reddit
No nutritional value? I'd assume it has prebiotic and probiotic fiber in it, as well as some vitamins and minerals, like fresh vegies, probably reduced vitamins but still...
Also rounds out the meal, fills people up.
Sleddoggamer@reddit
I think it's a few things. If you're a chef, you're probably working with much better free-range chicken that was raised on a mix of wild grass and bugs so their eggs were much more nutritious than farm that sold the eggs to the processor, but you'd also be working with less processed foods with a different reporting system
Serving sizes for foods higher in sodium or cholesterol are usually reported as smaller servings, which will show much fewer nutrients per serving, but you're usually intended to put as much as 10x a serving if it's going to end as a meal so it should end up much closer to normal. I don't use much processed eggs of any kind tho because the real dense nutrient value seems to be in vegetables/spices if not berries
MichaelHammor@reddit
All freeze drying does is remove moisture.
emorymom@reddit
I don’t think the vegetable medley is freeze dried. Just dried.
neomage2021@reddit
You are wrong here. Feeeze dried food preserves most of the nutrition
Overall-Tailor8949@reddit
As u/Tinman5278 points out there ARE crucial nutrients in freeze dried veggies. However, something else they add is BULK to the meal, the same as adding pasta or rice. Mind games to make you THINK you're eating a lot more than you really are. It's really an excellent way to stretch your protein (meat, not veggie based) supplies.