If the sound of the can opener is more prevalent at home than the swish of the vegetable peeler, take heart: Canned vegetables are better than no vegetables, and any effort to get children to eat fruit and veggies can encourage healthful family eating habits.
Melissa Word, clinical dietitian with Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, offered tips for busy parents worried about the amount of nutrients their children are eating.
The verdict: Fresh, frozen and canned vegetables can all have a place at the dinner table.

Food fact
Consider:
Fresh, frozen and canned fruits and fruit juices are low in sodium. Most canned vegetables, vegetable juices and frozen vegetables with sauce are higher in sodium than fresh, frozen or canned versions cooked without added salt.

 
Petoskey News-Review: If I’m in a hurry to get dinner on the table, what’s wrong with opening a can of carrots and serving them? At least it’s some vegetables, right?
Word: There is nothing wrong with serving canned carrots at a dinner meal. Canned vegetables will provide some vitamins and minerals, and it’s better than no vegetables. Some tips to decrease sodium content would be to drain, rinse, and add fresh water to the vegetables prior to cooking.
 
PNR: What is the difference between canned and frozen vegetables from a nutrition perspective; is one better than the other?
Word: Canned vegetables usually have more sodium and less vitamins and minerals than frozen vegetables. I usually recommend frozen vegetables or those canned without added salt.
 
PNR: Are fresh vegetables always the best choice? Don’t they have pesticides all over them?
Word: Fresh vegetables are a great choice, especially during our local growing seasons. It is important to incorporate fresh fruit and vegetables into our diet throughout the year, as our budget allows.
As for pesticides, I believe there is residue left on most fresh produce (including organically grown). I recommend washing fresh fruits and vegetables with water and a vegetable scrub brush. Always inspect your fresh produce prior to buying, as those items with cuts/holes have the potential of having pesticides contaminating the inner flesh of the produce.
 
PNR: Are there some vegetables where it might not make a difference how they are packaged?
Word: Not exactly, although looking at tomatoes for instance. Fresh tomatoes are full of vitamins and minerals, but cooked/canned tomatoes make lycopene (phytochemical) more available to the body for absorption. Still, be careful of the sodium content of canned tomatoes and look for reduced-sodium varieties.
 
PNR: What are the healthiest ways to prepare vegetables for your family?
Word: This depends on what you are cooking, but steaming, baking, microwaving, broiling, grilling are all healthy ways to prepare vegetables. It’s what you’re adding to your vegetables when you prepare them, or after you’ve prepared them, that can increase the fat/sodium content. Offering a variety of vegetables prepared in a variety of ways seems to be a good idea.
 
PNR: Have you discovered any new products recently that make serving fresh veggies easier? For example, newer steam-in-the bag vegetables come out great after about 5 minutes in the microwave.
Word: No, I haven’t discovered any new products to make getting fresh veggies easier. I can mention a couple products that have been around for awhile. The first product is a mesh/teether feeder for infants. You can put cold baby carrots, apple slices and other sliced veggies or fruits into a mesh bag that connects to a handle and your child can teethe on the cold fruit/vegetable while getting the nutrition from the fruit/vegetable in it. The second product was recommended to me by a friend. It is called a food mandolin and it allows you to slice, grate, crinkle-cut or matchstick fresh vegetables.
 
PNR: What about canned fruit — better than no fruit? What can parents look for (or look out for) when buying prepackaged fruits such as applesauce, mandarin oranges, peach slices, ‘fruit cocktail’, etc.
Word: Canned fruit is better than no fruit. Look for fruits such as natural applesauce vs. sweetened and those in their own juice or light syrup. Draining off the juice/syrup prior to serving is helpful as well.
 
PNR: Do you have any other tips for parents and adults to get vegetables into their diets and the diets of their children?
Word: With children, just (start) introducing age-appropriate vegetables into their diet when starting solids, and always offer a vegetable choice at meals. They may not eat it the first five times offered to them, but they may gobble it up the sixth time. Also, adults with children need to be good “role models” and eat the vegetables they’re serving at meals as well. Offer fresh vegetables as snacks when home or traveling. Add vegetables to casseroles, pasta salads, making baked potato/vegetable chips and others.
  
PNR: Any other points to make on the subject?
Word: I want to mention that these recommendations are intended for healthy individuals. Those individuals with chronic diseases, who have been instructed to prepare foods a special way, should continue to do what they have been instructed.