How to Get the Most Nutrients from Produce without Spending a Fortune

January 21, 2024

by Cathe Friedrich

Fruits and veggies are pricey, but they sure pack a nutritious punch! That’s why, despite their price tag, they’re still a great buy for your health. Still, you want to maximize the benefits you get from each pound of produce you buy. To get the most bang for your buck, keep these tips in mind when picking and prepping fresh produce.

Choose Your Produce Wisely

When selecting fruits and veggies at the store, give them a gentle squeeze – they should feel crisp and firm, not squishy or bruised. Heavy, plump citrus and pineapple means juicy sweetness! Resist stockpiling perishables beyond your near-term needs or refrigeration capacity. The bounty of berries, tender greens, and other delicate produce at the market may tempt you to over-purchase. Only buy what you can enjoy within a couple of days. Otherwise, you’ll lose precious nutrients and flavor if they sit around too long.

Don’t Chop Prematurely

Slice vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables right before you eat them. As convenient as it might be, don’t pre-chop. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a nutrient that our bodies need but cannot produce on their own. It acts as an antioxidant to boost immunity, heal wounds, absorb iron, and form collagen. Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of this important vitamin.

But here’s the downside. Vitamin C degrades quickly when exposed to heat, light, and air. So, when you cut into produce like strawberries, bell peppers, or broccoli, the vitamin C inside starts to break down right away through oxidation.

Hold off on chopping and slicing berries, peppers, citrus fruits, and other vitamin-packed plant foods until just before you’re ready to eat them. Leave them whole with the skin on until the last minute. That way, the vitamin C stays safely sealed inside and retains maximum nutrition.

Consider Buying Frozen Produce

When fresh fruits and veggies look tempting, but you know you may not use them all before they go bad, consider frozen options. Frozen berries and other produce are picked and flash-frozen at peak ripeness, locking in sweet flavors, vitamins, and colors. Unlike fresh items that you need to use quickly, frozen foods avoid waste from wilting greens or shriveled-up fruit.

Once defrosted, you can enjoy frozen fruits as you would fresh produce. Use them in smoothies, stir-fries, stews, and more. Just be gentle when handling them since they can be delicate. Enjoy summer flavors all winter long with frozen produce.

Sinking your teeth into a frozen cherry or blackberry is like tasting past seasons in a gently preserved form. Another plus – frozen produce is often cheaper. Look for sales and stock up!

Buy In Season

Eating seasonal produce tastes better – those sweet juicy peaches in summer, crunchy apples in fall, or earthy winter squash. When fruits and veggies are picked at peak ripeness, they’re so much more flavorful. Plus going for what’s grown nearby saves money with less shipping.

Hit up a local farmers’ market to grab freshly harvested goodies. You can try new varieties or old favorites while supporting local farms. Joining a CSA (community-supported agriculture) and getting a box is fun too – each week it’s like getting a surprise package of ultra-fresh, hyperlocal veggies, and fruit.

Following the seasons makes healthy eating easier on the wallet. And produce often has higher nutrients when enjoyed straight after harvest. So do your tastebuds and body a favor by exploring what your area grows best during each part of the year.

Cut Back on Produce Waste

It’s easy to waste food and money if you don’t pay attention to what’s in your fridge or pantry. When planning meals, try to use up ingredients before they go bad. Leafy greens that are past their prime are still great for soups, stir-fries, or smoothies. You can blend overripe fruits into sauces or ice cream.

Getting creative with leftovers and produce that’s on its way out saves you cash while also reducing food waste. Compost whatever’s too far gone to eat. Being mindful about expiration dates and finding uses for everything you buy allows you to get the nutritional bang for your grocery buck. Also, try to use all parts of the plant. For example, broccoli stalks are as nutritious as the florets, and they contain more fiber.

Grow Your Own

Why not save even more money by growing your own? It’s satisfying to nurture plants from tiny seeds into bountiful, fresh ingredients. Even with limited space, you can have a small container garden. All you need is soil, a sunny spot, and seed packets to get started.

Seeing those seedlings sprout and grow day by day gives me a real sense of joy and accomplishment. And being able to walk outside and snip some basil, mint, or green onions to spice up my meals is convenient.

It feels good knowing exactly where my food came from and what went into it. Gardening will also make you more mindful and grateful for every ingredient. And there’s something fulfilling about watching nature transform them into delicious, nutrient-packed additions to your dinner plate. Even in a small apartment, it’s a fun, rewarding hobby that saves a bit of money too!

Store Your Produce Properly

You know how avocados and bananas seem to never ripen fast enough when you want them for breakfast? Well, leaving fruits and veggies out on the counter helps them ripen quicker, which is so handy when you need them to hurry up already.

But for foods you want to last a while, like oranges, lemons, or potatoes, letting them hang out on the counter is not a good idea. The warmth speeds up the spoiling process for produce you were hoping would keep for a while.

Instead, popping them in the fridge is the way to go. The chill of the refrigerator slows everything down – the ripening, the decaying – buying more time before lemons get moldy or the potatoes start sprouting eyes.

It’s all about figuring out which fruits and veggies you plan to eat soon and leaving those out to ripen up. And then anything you bought with plans to use later in the week or month goes straight into the crisper drawer when you get home from the store. A few easy tweaks based on each food’s needs, and your haul from the market will stay fresh as long as possible! No more limp celery or fuzzy strawberries after just a few days.

Conclusion

There’s a whole produce aisle out there bursting with delicious, nutritious options just waiting to spark your inner chef! Trying new fruits and veggies is like going on a flavor adventure – you never know what tasty surprises you’ll uncover. Enjoy!

References:

“Maximizing the Nutritional Value of Fruits and Vegetables.” https://fruitandvegetable.ucdavis.edu/files/197179.pdf.
“Vegetables and Fruits | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School ….” https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/.