With winter and the holidays on the horizon, it’s tempting to throw all our healthy habits out the window. Curling up with a warm blanket and a sugary snack can be so much more tempting on a cold day than hitting the grocery store to find fresh produce.
But self-care in the winter is still important for our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. And while indulging here and there is great, for us the real indulgence is prioritizing our health – and the health of our families.
Thankfully, there’s a happy middle ground. We love using frozen fruit in the winter, so we can still ‘eat the rainbow’ in an easy and enjoyable way. Keep reading to learn why frozen fruit is so great, along with three ways to use frozen fruit this winter.
Why Choose Frozen Fruit?
Have you heard? Seasonal eating is just as important as local eating. It means always eating fruit and veggies that are picked in season, at the peak of their ripeness. Eating this way is better for your health, better for food producers, and better for the planet (win-win-win).
But unless you live in a tropical locale, eating fresh fruit all year long isn’t really an option. So the solution? Frozen food!
Frozen fruit is picked at the peak of ripeness like we mentioned, then frozen to lock in all the good stuff. We always keep a few bags of frozen fruit in our freezers, especially in the winter. It’s a great way to ensure our families are getting all the nutrients they need, all year long.
See more tips for using frozen food here. Now, let’s jump into how to use frozen fruit in the winter.
Using Frozen Fruit in the Winter: Better Breakfasts
There’s nothing like a warm batch of pancakes or waffles on a blustery Saturday morning. The only thing better? Warm blueberry pancakes or waffles. Keep a bag of frozen blueberries in the fridge and you can throw as many as you like into the batter, without having to worry about thawing them first.
And are you on the overnight oats train yet? If not, you should be! It’s a great way to save lots of time in the morning, while still giving the kiddos something yummy and satisfying before sending them off to school (see more time saving hacks for busy moms here). See our favorite recipe for overnight oats here (it’s strawberry lemon!).
The great thing is that when you prepare your overnight oats, you can throw in a bunch of frozen fruit to up the health factor, and you don’t need to worry about thawing them first (because they’ll thaw overnight, naturally!).
Of course, frozen fruit can be added to regular oatmeal as well. You could also thaw some fruit the night before and add it to regular cereal.
And smoothie bowls are always a great way to get lots of fruit in right at the start of the day, and they work perfectly with frozen fruit. See our recipe for a superfruit smoothie bowl here, and a delicious tropical smoothie bowl that uses frozen mango here (yum).
Better Snacks
In the summer, healthy snacks for the kids are so easy – a bowl of raspberries here, some sliced up watermelon there. In the winter, it gets a little more challenging, which is where frozen fruit really shines.
Everyone loves a smoothie, and frozen fruit was practically made for smoothies. We’re always sharing smoothie recipes and inspo on our Insta, so be sure to follow us there.
And if you’d like to get a little creative, check out our recipe for frozen yogurt bark. We’ve used frozen blueberries, but you could swap those out for any of your favorites (we bet sliced strawberries would work great!).
Better Baking
This is the time of year many of us like to dust off our muffin tins and get baking again. And using frozen fruit is a great way to up the nutrient factor on our yummy baked treats.
Frozen fruit works great in just about any baking recipe. Check out our recipe for vegan strawberry muffins here. Special bonus: they’re only sweetened with our strawberry lemon superfruit freezies and real fruit, so they’re refined-sugar-free!
We’ve also got a delicious recipe for a refined-sugar free superfruit crumble which works great with frozen fruit, too.
Hopefully we’ve inspired you to think outside the fresh fruit box. This time of year, frozen is definitely the way to go, and there’s so many ways to use it that are as satisfying as they are nutritious. Enjoy!
