Buying Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables taste great and add lots of variety to meals and snacks. Use these buying tips at the grocery store, farmers' market or produce stand.

• Choose produce carefully.
  Avoid fruits and vegetables with cuts, insect holes, mold or decay.
   

• Fresh may not always be the best!
  In the middle of the winter, you can get peaches from Peru, but they are expensive and have traveled for weeks by the time you buy them. Research has shown that frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh vegetables and have less waste. Canned vegetables are still nutritious but often have added salt and nutrients may be lost in the liquid in the can. Fresh vegetables are best when bought in season and locally for maximum flavor and nutrition.
   

• Fruit is widely available year round but ripeness is the key.
  When a fruit is ripe it softens and generally the color changes. Starches turn into sugar although the calories remain the same. The ripening process depends on the fruit. Melons and citrus fruit (for example oranges and grapefruit) will not get any sweeter once picked. Peaches and bananas change color and get sweeter. Some fruits are picked before they are ripe because they bruise easily in shipment (for example: pears and bananas). To ripen, place on the kitchen counter for a few days or place in a brown paper bag. To speed up ripening add a ripe banana to the bag. When fruit is ripe, eat it right away or refrigerate.
   

• Buy fresh vegetables frequently and use them as soon as possible.
  Select vegetables that are crisp and colorful, not limp and starting to turn brown. For maximum savings, select vegetables in season or on sale. Clean and cut them yourself. Prepare them ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator to make dinner quick and convenient. If convenience is very important to you, look for some of the prewashed and cut up vegetables in your produce section. In addition to bags of salad, you will find chopped onions and peppers, grated carrots and cabbage for slaw and ready to cook stir fry vegetables.
   

• Buy frozen unsweetened fruits and vegetables without added sauces.
  Keep frozen until ready to use. Use within 6 months of purchase. Frozen fruits and vegetables are handy for quick and easy meal additions.
   

• Should I buy Organic?
  In order for a farm to be certified as organic, the farm must use only organic farming methods for three years before the organic certification is made. All foods labeled as organic must come from organic farms. This means that the farm uses a minimum of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and no antibiotics or hormones. It does not mean pesticide free. Producers are still allowed to select from a limited list of pesticides that have been used for a long period.