You can store it in a deep freezer without losing much nutritional value, which means it’s available on a whim without having to make a trip to the store. In many places that means you have it if you have a hankering without spending 1+ hr tracking it down first (typical if you’re not in an urban center or next door to a grocery store). I usually have some fresh broccoli stocked, but sometimes I already ate it. If you have kids, or are more remote (so it’s 2 hrs round trip or more), that is huge because you just can’t make that trip many times - too many other demands on your attention.

It's really only North America plus possibly Australia and a handful of other westernized countries that have this problem of food deserts.

The vast majority of people in the world live within walking distance of a small neighborhood market.

Most of those markets don’t carry frozen broccoli though?

Definitely not. My local markets only sell fresh produce (that you can freeze yourself). You can only buy frozen food on freeze-specialized small shops or on large supermarkets.

I prefer the frozen stuff almost always. I can microwave it for 3 minutes, drain off a little bit of water, add in salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of butter, shake until emulsified and violá.

The only time I go for fresh broccoli is when making a stirfry or salads.

can you share what makes you think fresh broccoli is better than frozen broccoli?

I can see why fresh would be better if you were planning on eating the broccoli raw or perhaps steamed, but since I mostly use broccoli in soup or stir fries, it ends up fairly thoroughly cooked. In which case I don't believe I would notice a difference.

I purchase frozen vegetables (stuff like brocc, cauliflower, peas, carrots) because they come pre-chopped, last near indefinitely so I don't have to worry about finishing them before they rot, and whatever amount I want at that moment can just be poured out of the bag, pre-chopped, into whatever (usually single pot) meal I am making.

i only eat steamed broccoli (15min for the stalks and 4min for the greens), and the frozen variety never has the familiar "crunch". Maybe I tried only bad quality frozen stock.

Freezing breaks down cell walls (ice crystals form and puncture cell walls, faster freezer leads to smaller ice crystals leads to less breakdown). I'm not an expert but I suspect you may never get the crunch from frozen broccoli.

> fresh broccoli is better than frozen broccoli?

Stir-fry for one. Frozen release "tons" of water that just slams the heat to "0".

Fresh, dump it in and it cooks without adding water.