Fruits and Vegetables: How to Get the Best Produce for the Right Price

There is no denying the many benefits of getting plenty of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. They can be rich in vitamins, minerals and macronutrients. Produce can be high in fiber, antioxidants and so much more.

But if you aren’t smart and savvy about the where, when and how of produce buying, you can easily spend an arm and a leg on items that go bad or were never great to begin with.

You already know how to best store your produce. Now go a step earlier and learn how to buy the best fruit and vegetables.

Shop Seasonally

One of the greatest ways to get the tastiest and most nutrient-dense produce is to stay up-to-date on what’s in season. If it’s in season where you live, it’s more likely to be local and hasn’t had to travel halfway around the world to get to you. This tactic has the added bonus of having a smaller carbon footprint as well.

What’s seasonal can vary greatly depending on where in the world you live but there are many resources for determining seasonal produce based on location, like Seasonal Food Guide. Generally, for North America, there are some basic rules of thumb.

In her book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, author Barbara Kingsolver refers to what she calls the vegetannual. This is a fictional vegetable plant that would first produce leaves in early spring (such as spinach, kale and chard) and then flower heads in late spring (like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower). In summer, tender young fruit like snow peas and cucumbers would emerge, giving way to green beans, peppers and tomatoes. Later in the summer, it would produce larger tomatoes and peppers, plus eggplant. You would then see larger hard-shelled fruits like melons, pumpkins and winter squash by early fall. And finally, late fall would bring root crops.

While this is a simplified visual, it is a helpful image to use when trying to remember what is in season.

Also, check out this seasonal guide to produce, which includes recipes.

Shop Local Markets

There are many benefits from shopping farmers markets. Depending on where you live and the market, it’s a great place to find local and organic foods. Be mindful that not all farmers markets require foods to be organic or even locally grown. It is always worth asking or checking for signage.

It’s also a wonderful way to meet your local farmers and forge relationships with them. Farmers truly appreciate the support given by their consumers.

Because you are cutting out the middleman, produce purchased at a farmers market can also be cheaper and fresher, sometimes picked earlier that very day.

If you are interested in a CSA (consumer supported agriculture) farmers markets are a way to try out fruits and veggies from a farm before you commit.

CSAs are boxes of local foods like produce that are picked up or delivered weekly or monthly directly from the farms where they are grown. Most CSAs do not allow you to pick what is in your box. And while some people may not enjoy that, it can be a fun way to try out foods you might not ordinarily cook for yourself. And you can be sure it’s fresh.

Some CSAs have you pick your foods from among the farmers market pickings, but many farmers will put aside their best items for their loyal CSA customers.

If you have never tried a CSA but eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, it can be a fabulous option and is definitely the best way to support farmers.

Even in your grocery stores and supermarkets, these days you can often find local produce marked as such. 

Buy Produce in Bulk to Save Money

For better or for worse, buying anything in larger amounts saves you money in the long run. But only if that large purchase doesn’t go to waste.

Whether you do your bulk purchase from a warehouse chain, when you see a sale at your grocery store, or at the farmers market during the end of a season, it’s crucial to have a plan or it’s money and food down the drain. Or composted at best.

What to Do With Bulk Produce?

Consider freezing, canning, fermenting or drying as ways to preserve food in order to make them last.

Freezing will not work for all produce but depending on the water content, can work great for some items. They can then be thawed before use or used frozen for smoothies, and freezing should not damage the nutrients. Prepared soups and sauces freeze well too.

Canning often requires the addition of other ingredients like sugar, pectin and/or vinegar and may damage some nutrients. But canned produce lasts indefinitely. It can be a time-consuming process but offers many different options including pickling, jams and sauces.

Fermenting is one of the few food-saving steps that will actually nutritionally enhance produce by producing probiotics. The amount of hands-on time required is minimal but may take days or weeks for the end product. This can include sauerkraut, kimchi, preserved lemons or pickles.

Who doesn’t love dried fruit? Unfortunately a lot of store-bought dried fruit contains sulfites and/or sugar. Drying can be a delicious and easy way to make your fruit last. And did you know that plenty of vegetables can be dried too? Carrots, mushrooms, herbs, tomatoes and potatoes all dry well to be used later in soups, sauces, dips and more. And while most nutrients are not generally affected by the low temperatures of drying, you do lose the water content. Despite all the fancy contraptions out there, most ovens can dry foods well at their lowest setting and with the door ajar in some cases.

Secrets to Buying the Best Produce

One of the best ways to ensure you get vegetables and fruits you will actually eat and enjoy without wasting them is to know what to look for when you shop.

This does not always mean buying the prettiest produce. There is a lot of information out there pointing to the amount of food waste produced in the United States. But for starters, 38% of all food goes uneaten or even unsold, and 92 billion pounds of food go to waste each year.

While there are a number of reasons for this, a big one is that imperfect crops are thrown away without ever making it to the stores.

Food does not have to be beautiful or perfect to be delicious and nutritious. Think about what you are using the food for and when you might be eating it. If you are using bananas for smoothies, banana bread or baby food, a super ripe piece with brown spots may be the perfect choice.

You can even get deals in some grocery stores and markets on produce that will only last for a few more days. As long as you plan to use them in that time frame, this can work out well for your meal planning and your wallet.

How to Pick the Best Ripe Produce

Know the difference in fruits between soft spots that may indicate if it’s overly ripe or been squished, and spots that may be darker because of higher natural sugar content. Similarly, in melons veining can actually indicate that it is sweeter.

Use all your senses when you shop. Sweet smells from fruit often indicate that the fruit is ripe. Heaviness in melons that also hint to sweet flesh. It helps to know that some items will continue to ripen once picked (like avocados, stone fruit, bananas, pears, plums and tomatoes) while others won’t (like apples, berries, citrus and pineapple).

Vegetables can be a bit trickier since the scent doesn’t help. But there are still plenty of clues to look for.

Generally, firm and taut skin is a sign of freshness. Broccoli buds should be relatively tight with no flowering or browning. Potato skins should not have a green flush, which indicates they were stored improperly and contain high levels of solanine.

Avoid any vegetables that are starting to get slimy, like lettuce, mushrooms or asparagus. 

Whether it’s for holistic nutrition therapy clients or for your own home, knowing the best ways to get the best fruits and vegetables can save money, increase nutrient density, reduce waste and even build community.

What to make with that bounty of beautiful produce? That’s up to you!

Sparked your curiosity about healthy eating? Want to delve deeper and look into career opportunities around nutrition?

The Nutrition Therapy Institute offers weekly webinars to learn about programs, courses, tuition  and much more. Reserve a space in the next webinar to find out if a career in nutrition is the right fit for you.

About the author: Maya Strausberg earned her Master Nutrition Therapist certification from NTI before starting her nutrition therapy private practice. She now offers writing and editing services for nutritionists and other health practitioners around the world through her business, Family Tree Nutrition.

Images: Photo by EllAnne Preble on Unsplash; Photo by Scott Warman on Unsplash; Image by PeterG63 from Pixabay