10 Tips For Getting More Fruits and Vegetables Into Each Day

Since we were talking about the Basic Seven and getting more of what we need each day, I thought I'd share some tips that work for me to get more fruits and vegetables into each day.

Tip 1

Buy fruits and veggies that you can't resist eating. I love fresh apples. I eat a fresh apple several days per week. I also love fresh tomatoes. So tomatoes make their way into my day whenever we have them. Tangerines are "better" in my opinion than oranges. So I buy lots of tangerines. We often have tangerines as dessert after dinner. So what do you really like? Are you a raw broccoli and dip sort? Do you love a good salad? Is watermelon irresistible to you? Buy what you really love and make a point to have some with your meals every day.

Tip 2

Prep salad ingredients in bulk. Wash enough lettuce for several large salads. Shred a couple of carrots at a time. Slice celery or cabbage enough for a few days. The vitamins that you will lose by prepping these veggies in advance will be outweighed by eating more of them overall. My lunches are super simple to make. I grab whatever prepped veggies I have in the fridge and pile them on a plate. Then I add the other items to my lunch to balance everything out. You may have noticed I had a large salad and a tangerine with my Tuesday lunch. I added over 2 servings of produce in lunch alone. I love a good salad, but I don't like to have to prepare all of the veggies every day. Prepping salad ingredients to last a few days allows me to throw together a salad with minimal effort on a moment's notice.

Tip 3

Make vegetable-filled omelets instead of scrambled eggs. In fact, you can prep omelet vegetables for a few days of omelets in a week like you would prep salad stuff -- slice zucchini, dice red onions, slice red and green peppers, halve cherry tomatoes, wash baby spinach leaves. My favorite omelet filling is a mix of zucchini, red peppers, red onions and cheese. What's your favorite?

Tip 4 

Alternate which weeks you prep salads, soups, and omelets so your meals rotate by weeks. It will be much less monotonous. With even my favorite foods, I can feel like I'm in a rut if I only eat salads at lunch, or only eat soups or omelets. I try to rotate what veggies I'm prepping and thinking through how I'll use them. This week is a salad week. Our lettuce containers on the deck are bursting with leafy greens right now.

Tip 5

Front-load your day with a fruit-veggie-protein smoothie. I don't care much what I eat for breakfast each day. Mostly I just need something to get me going. A smoothie is relatively easy and will get 2 or more servings of produce plus some protein into my day right off the bat.

Tip 6 

Make your own veggie purees. Lightly steam frozen veggies then run through the food processor. Freeze in small containers. This is a fantastic way to get leafy greens into many dishes. I like to puree lightly steamed frozen spinach, then use in chocolate muffins or brownies. Cocoa powder does a fantastic job of hiding the dark green of spinach puree. Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica Seinfeld wrote a cookbook Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. See if you can get a copy from your library. She hides vegetable purees in family favorite dishes. For example, she suggests adding pureed cauliflower to mac and cheese.

Tip 7 

Consider using veggie powders. You can stir veggie powders into a cup of juice, some cottage cheese, a smoothie, prepared broth for a quick hot drink, or batter for baking. I even add a small amount of beet powder to my cold weather hot cocoa. 

Tip 8 

Add chopped or grated veggies to sandwich spreads. Grated carrot mixed into peanut butter. Finely chopped red pepper and celery mixed with purchased or homemade hummus. Lots of finely chopped celery and green pepper added to tuna salad. Finely chopped celery and cucumber mixed in with chicken or egg salad. Adding minced veggies to sandwich spreads will often mean you need less mayo or oil -- win-win!

Tip 9 

Think small. Instead of thinking each time you eat a fruit or veggie that it needs to be a full serving, try to find the many ways you can add a small amount to whatever you cook. Add 2 tablespoons of spinach puree to mashed potatoes. Stir 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree into a bowl of applesauce. We do this often, I add a dash of cinnamon, too, and call it pumpkin-applesauce. Add a couple of tablespoons up to 1/4 cup of fruit or veggie puree to baked goods, like quick breads, biscuits, muffins, and brownies. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable puree to any soup or gravy. Opening a can of chicken-noodle soup? Stir in 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree. Making a beefy gravy to go over pot roast? Stir in a tablespoon of tomato paste. Making pancakes? Add a few tablespoons of pumpkin, squash, carrot or sweet potato puree (along with some spices) to the batter. Or, top pancakes with fruit instead of syrup. Adding a little veggie or fruit to almost everything you eat will add up at the end of the day.

Tip 10 

Juice 'em. I don't recommend getting all of your veggies in the form of juices, as you miss out on other benefits of the whole foods. But, having a glass of vegetable juice with your dinner or lunch will boost your final count without thinking you've eaten a lot of veggies. If you have a juicer, you can make a pitcher (3 to 5 day supply) of fresh veggie juice right in your kitchen. If you don't have a juicer, commercial juices like V-8 are tasty, not overly expensive, and don't add a lot of calories. You can also DIY your own tomato-vegetable-seasoning drink at home, starting with tomato paste. Homemade tomato juice recipe using tomato paste in this link

I use these tips every week. Set yourself up to succeed and buy what you like, prepare some vegetables and fruits in advance, and keep purees and maybe powders on hand. You might be surprised how many servings of produce you can get in each day.