Many people believe freezing their fruits and vegetables will make them less nutritious than the fresh versions they pick up from the grocery store.

The truth is that unless you pluck your tomatoes from your own backyard garden or shop at a local farmers' market, the opposite is most likely true. "Fresh" produce from your favorite grocery store is usually several days old by the time it travels from the farm to the market shelves. Often, nutrients are depleted in the process. But frozen fruit and vegetables are flash-frozen within hours of being picked, locking in a majority of the vital nutrients like folate and vitamin C.

The freezing process can alter the flavor and texture of some produce, so you may want to test drive which recipes taste best with fresh and which with frozen. Chopped frozen veggies work wonders in casseroles, for example. Our advice: Take advantage of fresh seasonal produce—especially items that don’t stay in season long—while keeping frozen counterparts on hand for times when you are in a hurry or when items aren't in season, like berries during winter.

Read more about eating fresh and frozen veggies at BlackHealthMatters.Com.

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(Photo: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Blend Images/Corbis)