How to tell if frozen fruits or veggies are too far gone to be used, or too far gone to be used for certain recipes?

I'm a college student who lately hasn't had a lot of time to do grocery shopping, so frozen fruits and veggies have become super useful for me since they last longer. I know you can tell when fresh produce is too far gone by the smell, texture, etc, but I don't know how to tell with frozen produce.<br><br>This is what prompted my question. This past weekend I made a hot butternut squash/yam soup, for which I used a bag of frozen butternut squash puree that I had had for a while (I had no problem with it in the past, with other soups or baked goods or whatever), and it ended up tasting like cardboard. I tried to add more seasoning, but nothing helped. I'm pretty sure it was the squash, but I don't know for sure. I've lately been using frozen berries and cherries for smoothies, frozen broccoli for stir fries and omelets, and frozen mixed berries and citrus for muffins and cakes. I don't want to ruin anything just because I didn't realize sooner that something was too far gone.