Nutritional value of dehydrated veg/ veggie chips?

[Limabean1975]

DS, 3.5, eats only one vegetable - sweet potato. He eats absolutely no other vegetables...oh, wait, except veggie chips! He likes them, and amzingly particularly favours the green beans.

I found an online source for green-bean-only chips...and other stuff too, like carrots, which he also likes in the veggie chips.

I'm just wondering if they are worth it, nutritionally - anyone know?

[cristeen]

Are they fried or dehydrated? That would make a difference. If they're dehydrated/freeze dried (like Just Tomatoes), then I'd go for it. If they're deep fried, I'd save them for a treat.

[Limabean1975]

They actually have both - plain dehydrated, and deep-fried and salted. BUt aside from that, what I am wondering is how much of the nutritional value of a vegetable remains when it is either dehydrated OR deep fried. I know veggies lose alot of vitamin content in water if boiled...

[cristeen]

They lose some, I'm sure, through the dehydration process, but not nearly as much as if they were boiled. I'd much rather feed my child dehydrated fruit/veg over your average canned any day.

[Limabean1975]

It occured to me to look for nutritional info on the site and it appears that dehydrated keeps more nutrients than fried. I still don't know the comparison to fresh or home-cooked. Canned? NO way, never! Blech.

[Magelet]

If he doesn't eat them other way, they have more nutrients than no veggies, right? I used to think " oh, I shouldn't do this or that, because it will lose nutrients" then I realized that if the choice was between that and nothing, it still had more nutrients than not eating it.

For instance, I store all carrots submerged in water in the fridge. yes, they supposedly lose nutrients to the water, but otherwise they rot so fast I'd never have carrots. Its better to have less nutrients in the carrots than no carrots imo.

[Limabean1975]

Originally Posted by Magelet

If he doesn't eat them other way, they have more nutrients than no veggies, right? I used to think " oh, I shouldn't do this or that, because it will lose nutrients" then I realized that if the choice was between that and nothing, it still had more nutrients than not eating it..

Gooooood point. Really good point.