Pealing the veggies "in advance"

Iristxo

So if I was to, say, prepare at lunch-time my veggies for the dinner roastie (peal them and cut them) am I right to think they will start to loose vitamins after I peal them so it would be better to do it on the spot instead of doing it "in advance"?

dxhound2005

I don't know about the science but I bet if you did a blind tasting you would be unable to tell the difference. I see plenty of advice on Google about peeling veg for Xmas dinner the night before. Unless you have your own garden the veg are likely to be weeks old anyway so if you peel them a few hours in advance it is hardly important.

claralara

I just logged in to ask a similar question.

I prepare my salad for my lunch the night before because I'm a get-up-and-get-out gal in the mornings. I normally have a lunchbox full of chopped whatever's in the fridge - tomorrow it will be spinach, red and yellow peppers, carrot, sugar snap peas, broccoli, chick peas and tomatoes from a quick glance.

Where does the 'goodness' go if it's all diced in my lunchbox? Does it evaporate?? It's annoying that I'd be losing out from being organised :mad:

Sapsorrow

The antioxidant vitamins on the cut surfaces will be lost, the solution is to dress them in some lemon or lime juice and store them tightly packed in an airtight container in the fridge. same principle as stops avocado or apple from browning when rubbed with lemon.

Sapsorrow

claralara wrote: »

Where does the 'goodness' go if it's all diced in my lunchbox? Does it evaporate?? It's annoying that I'd be losing out from being organised :mad:

Certain vitamins are sensitive to oxygen in the atmosphere and react with it and lose their biological activity in the process, it's not that they disappear but they're inactivated in a chemical reaction.

claralara

khrystyna100 wrote: »

The antioxidant vitamins on the cut surfaces will be lost, the solution is to dress them in some lemon or lime juice and store them tightly packed in an airtight container in the fridge. same principle as stops avocado or apple from browning when rubbed with lemon.

Cool, thanks for that. I love an easy solution.

It's so interesting learning all this stuff. It really makes you think and be more aware of what you're eating!

Spanish Eyes

Frozen veg is the way to go folks. The ones I buy have nothing but the veg as the ingredient. Put them in the steamer and they keep their colour and taste really fresh.