Yes or No: Pre-Chopped Herbs

There are two features I’ll be running regularly on the blog.

Cutting Corners will highlight the little tricks that are worth the time they save. (For example, I often use pre-grated parmesan. Gasp!)

Worth the Time will focus on those things that are definitely worth the extra time and effort. (There are some recipes where I’m definitely buying a wedge of parmesan, no question.)

But for those that seem to fall in the middle we’ll have a poll and decide: is it worth the time or should we cut corners?

Today’s subject is the new pre-chopped herbs you may have seen in the freezer section of the grocery store.

Are fresh herbs picked from your own garden ideal? Of course. But there are reasons to consider these frozen herbs. Let’s go over some pros and cons.

Pro

• You don’t have to spend time picking the herb off the stem
• You don’t have to spend time washing the dirt off your herbs
• You don’t have to chop or mince the herbs
• You don’t have to see any unused portions go to waste.

Con

• You can always freeze extra herbs yourself
• Because they’re pre-chopped, you can’t use larger pieces
• The herbs themselves often clump up into frozen chunks
• Freezer burn is a possibility

So what do you think?

I caved and bought the frozen cilantro because I tend to use it only sparingly in my cooking, but I’ve had lots of recipes lately requesting it. (Mexican casseroles, chicken chili, etc.) And because I am SLOW, chopping herbs tends to take me ages.

But do you think it’s worth cutting the corner or would you rather stick with fresh?