Vegetables Frozen greenbeans?

Schweitz said:

I've read that guinea pigs can eat greenbeans but we don't buy them fresh... We buy bagged frozen greenbeans and I'm wondering can he eat those? And what about frozen blueberries? Just wondering also about frozen food in general, what's bad about it and can they have it every once in a while?
Thanks!

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I'd feed fresh fruits and vegetables. I don't know if frozen vegetables are blanched or if preservatives are added to keep them longer. You can buy most vegetables in very small quantities at the grocery store.

pinky said:

I'd feed fresh fruits and vegetables. I don't know if frozen vegetables are blanched or if preservatives are added to keep them longer. You can buy most vegetables in very small quantities at the grocery store.

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What if it says no preservatives on the bag? I have a bag of Bird's Eye French Cut Greenbeans. It's just greenbeans in the ingredients and it says no preservatives...

Schweitz said:

What if it says no preservatives on the bag? I have a bag of Bird's Eye French Cut Greenbeans. It's just greenbeans in the ingredients and it says no preservatives...

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I'd feed fresh. I think frozen vegetables are blanched before freezing and lose some nutrients.

pinky said:

I'd feed fresh. I think frozen vegetables are blanched before freezing and lose some nutrients.

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Depends on the brand. Some are flash frozen from fresh. They loose very little nutrients if done that way. Can veggies are more likely to be blanched to kill bacteria before canning.

Inle_Rabbit said:

Depends on the brand. Some are flash frozen from fresh. They loose very little nutrients if done that way. Can veggies are more likely to be blanched to kill bacteria before canning.

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You might have to contact the individual company to see how they package them because it's not on the packaging. Most are sprayed or blanched to kill bacteria and then frozen. I've thawed green beans and they're not the same consistency as fresh. The following link says the nutrients are preserved but they are blanched.

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I use frozen green beans for my girls. They don't get green beans too often, and the fresh seem to go bad really quickly. I only buy a few at a time, and if I forget to give them, they have mold in a few days! So, I bought frozen green beans that don't have preservatives (the ingredients only list green beans). Another option is purchasing a bunch of fresh and freezing them yourself! Green beans serve as more of a variety addition to my girls' diet than a major nutrient source. As Inle_Rabbit mentioned, some are frozen immediately, in which case they likely actually contain more nutrients than fresh veggies! No way of telling unless you can contact the company, I'm sure. Hope that helped! My girls seem to enjoy the different textures between fresh and frozen veggies as well!

When I freeze blackberries from the garden I wash them, then lay them out on cookie sheets with towels to dry. Then I put the whole cookie sheet in the freezer so they freeze individually instead of clumped together. I would think you could do that with green beans too. I just bag them up, with the air squished out after about an hour. Works great for berries