| Continued La Plata County Extension: Health Tip of the Month by Nicole Clark
With no time to cook, make it easy!
- Precut veggies cost more, but the work is done for you. It becomes a grab-and-go snack or an addition to your lunch.
- Improve your cooking skills to spend less time and frustration in the kitchen. Inquire at La Plata County Extension about the next cooking class.
- The base of all good recipes consists of a blend of aromatic vegetables (onion, carrot, celery, fennel, leeks, ginger and peppers). These can be found precut in the frozen section of the grocery store. Add to soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes.
- Fruit and vegetable smoothies made with whole fruit and vegetables (sans seeds), blended with plain yogurt or nut butters, milk or milk alternative and limited added sugar make a quick and easy meal on the go. Plus, they provide multiple food groups: fruits, vegetables, dairy, and protein.
Make produce accessible
- Purchase fruit and vegetables from the sale rack (use within a couple of days).
- Keep produce visible. If the produce drawer is out of sight, out of mind - find another location, preferably on the upper shelves of your fridge (for food safety and visibility).
- Learn to grow your own garden
Reference: Appleton, K. M., Hemingway, A., Saulais, L., Dinnella, C., Monteleone, E., Depezay, L., Morizet, D., Armando Perez-Cueto, F. J., Bevan, A., & Hartwell, H. (2016). Increasing vegetable intakes: rationale and systematic review of published interventions. European Journal of Nutrition, 55(3), 869–896. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-1130-8
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