As Americans, we waste a lot of food. Food waste means money waste. It’s a growing problem in the United States. But the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers have some tips for avoiding the problem.
Buy Colorado produce when possible. Learn about Colorado’s production cycle and what produce is available when. Then, plan your family’s menu’s based on what you can buy fresh. This helps utilize more of the harvest.
Eat some, preserve some. Freezing excess produce is easy. Your county Extension office can provide you with resources to freeze, can and dry excess produce. There’s also lots of information online.
Shop produce often. Find a favorite grocery store, produce stand or farmer and shop them often, so your produce is fresh. If you buy all your produce at one time for the week, some of it is going to be bad by the middle or later in the week.
Plan your menus around produce shelf-life. Produce shelf-life varies greatly. For example, plan to eat green salads with more quickly perishable lettuces first, green salad with longer-lasting Romaine next, and cabbage salad with the best shelf-life following that.
The Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association has recipes, buying information and a produce calendar, all designed to help both consumers and commercial produce buyers understand and best utilize Colorado produce. To help Colorado consumers understand the Colorado produce season, CFVGA has published a Colorado Produce Calendar, available to the public at https://coloradoproduce.org/nutrition-health-2/ This link also enables viewers to click on a produce item and go to detailed nutrition, purchasing, storage and preparation information for each produce item. In addition, CFVGA’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CFVGA/ features seasonal recipes.
Click here https://www.facebook.com/CFVGA/videos/1223235174453519/ for a video on Colorado produce.
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