How to increase your fruit and vegetable consumption?

According to Canada's Food Guide, the ideal plate should be filled with 50% fruits and vegetables. While it's not feasible for everyone to consume these amounts, it's a good idea to eat more to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Wondering how to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your daily routine? Discover some tips to increase your daily fruit and vegetable intake.

Plan meals for the week

If you're having trouble eating them, it's discouraging to think that half your plate should contain them. The first thing when it comes to increasing your fruit and vegetable consumption is to take it a little at a time, as recommended by Audrey-Anne, nutritionist-dietitian and brand manager at the I Love Fruits and Vegetables Movement. Every little step counts to already feel the benefits.

Meal planning saves you time and is especially useful if you're on a budget. In addition to avoiding food waste, planning your weekly meals can save you money since you only buy what you need.

Planning meals in advance also allows you to prepare several meals at once in large quantities. This saves time for the remaining days! For those in a hurry, you can even opt to buy fruits and vegetables that are easy to prepare and don't require spending several hours in the kitchen.

If you think in terms of preparation and planning, you can easily build beautiful plates by making large trays full of different grilled vegetables.

Better storage of fruits and vegetables

Knowing that not all fruits and vegetables are stored in the same way is great for avoiding food waste at home : some can be kept in the refrigerator, while others can't stand the cold and should be stored at room temperature. These last few are also handy for always keeping a snack on hand.

So, better food preservation starts with simple actions. Identifying which fruits and vegetables shouldn't be kept in the refrigerator or which shouldn't be stored together is an important step.

Once you have these elements in mind, when you get back from the grocery store, you can directly wash and cut your fresh fruits and vegetables and then put them in storage containers in the refrigerator. A tip that keeps your raw vegetables fresh and serves as an easily accessible healthy snack. It's something that can be imagined endlessly for pineapples, melon... It's definitive, if you have a bag of carrots in your fridge, a beautiful colorful container, you'll want to eat it!

Just as you can refrigerate certain fruits and vegetables, freezing them can be super convenient for later use and prevent spoilage. Frozen blueberries work well in fresh juices and smoothies.

Have a varied diet

It's not about compensating for the lack of fruits and vegetables, but about adding them. If you're eating a sandwich, ask yourself if you can supplement with cucumber or a side dish. It doesn't seem like much, but when you add it up, it can make a difference. For Audrey-Anne, it's an opportunity to celebrate the opportunities to add more fruits and vegetables to your day!

The I Love Fruits and Vegetables Movement suggests eating a wide variety of colors and making sure to include fruits and vegetables in every meal. The most obvious way to have a rainbow plate is to love what you eat: choose the textures and shapes that you like and feel good about. If you're looking to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet, eating them in all forms can really help: julienned, grated, in vegetable tagliatelle, sliced, cooked or raw, in compotes, or even in soups.

Whether you have a piece of broccoli or just eat a fruit or vegetable, even if it's nutritious, eating should still be a pleasure. Take a plate and compose it according to your current mood: pepper for green, tomato for red... Each color group provides us with different compounds and nutrients. It's a great way to improve your diet!

There's no shortage of vegan, plant-based, or traditional recipe content. They're a real goldmine for stimulating your culinary creativity: from zucchini pancakes to potatoes stuffed with cheese and herbs, there's something for everyone!

Furthermore, according to Audrey-Anne, when we move towards dishes that naturally contain fruits and vegetables, it helps us. For example, we can plan to make a recipe for spaghetti with mushrooms and take the opportunity to double the quantity of vegetables indicated. Adding half a cup or a whole cup of peppers doesn't make a big difference in the preparation time.

After that, you just need to add a grain like quinoa or rice and then a vegetable or animal protein (tofu, chicken, etc.). It's also fun to vary the seasonings, add a sauce for a change or even enhance the flavor by adding lemon juice, olive oil, flavored vinegar, spices or herbs.

The anti-waste basket delivered to your door or to drop-off points 📦🥦

Supported by the I Love Fruits and Vegetables Movement, our basket is anti-waste and allows those on a budget to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at a discount. Starting at $25, it adds color to your plate and helps you adopt healthy eating habits.

With the anti-waste basket, we aim to make fruits and vegetables accessible to Montrealers that would otherwise have been thrown away due to a lack of compliance with current criteria. If you live in Greater Montreal, now's the time to sign up to receive it every Thursday at your door or at drop-off points!

Article in collaboration with the I Love Fruits and Vegetables Movement

Photo credit: Bruno Zara