5 Ways to Add More Local Fruits & Veggies Into Your Life

BY MONIKA JACOBSON, REGISTERED DIETITIAN NUTRITIONIST, EAT MOVE THRIVE SPOKANE

This is not an article written by a Registered Dietitian to tell you WHY you need to eat more fruits and vegetables. You already know that fruits and vegetables are whole, unprocessed foods that come from the earth and eating them prevents disease and adds years to your life. Right? Now that we are all clear on this, let’s chat about 5 realistic ways to add more local produce into your life and onto your plate!

1. Get Shopping!

Here in the Inland Northwest we have an incredible growing community of local farms, farmers markets and community-supported agriculture. We are so fortunate! Make it a fun outing to visit local farm stands, farmer’s markets or join a CSA program. It’s a win-win when the produce you purchase is coming from a local business. You’ll get all the freshly-picked nutritional goodness and support local businesses. We like to pick out a new vegetable we’ve never tried and find a way to cook it at home. Make it fun and get everyone involved.

2. Grill ‘em Up!

Grilled veggies are so delicious and very easy to make. Asparagus, peppers, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, summer squash and even lettuce are just a handful of examples that grill up nicely. Simply season veggies with some avocado oil, salt, pepper and a fun seasoning like those from Spiceology. If you’re grilling burgers this weekend, grill up a bunch of vegetables too. Meal prep done!

3. Try having a bonus breakfast

It can be easy to add fresh berries, cherries or stonefruit to yogurt or with eggs and toast in the morning, but I always consider it an extra win if we can sneak some vegetables in at breakfast. Try adding some tomatoes, onions or greens into an egg scramble or top off your avocado toast. Fruits and veggies like spinach, kale, berries, peaches, apricots, mint and beets can easily be blended into smoothies in the morning. Also try baking shredded carrots or zucchini into muffins or quickbreads.

4. Veggify Family Favorites

Try adding a handful of fresh local arugula on top of a pizza. Toss some lettuce, fresh chopped tomatoes, scallions or fresh sweet corn over some nachos. Add microgreens, caramelized onions, heirloom tomatoes or make a slaw to garnish your cheeseburger. With some creativity, fruits and vegetables can be added to almost anything. Try mixing mushrooms, carrots or zucchini into meatballs, taco meat and meatloaf. My personal favorite is adding handfuls of spinach or kale to marinara sauce on weeknight “spaghetti night.”

5. Do the prep work and clean often

We are much more likely to eat the grab-and-go foods and those that are prepared for convenience. But, this does not need to translate into processed snack food. With a little effort up front, we can set ourselves up for lots of fruit and vegetable consumption! As soon as you can after shopping, chop up the veggies into snack bags, wash your produce for the fruit bowl and plan meals around what’s in the fridge. When fruits and veggies are around and accessible, we eat them-and kids will, too. I often cut up a big plate of fruits and veggies and leave it on the counter for the kids to graze on. Guess what? When it’s out there, they eat it! It’s all about the prep up front and making it easy.

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