3 Tips For Buying The Best Produce

3 Tips For Buying The Best Produce

To make and eat great food, you’ve got to use the best ingredients. But in order to do this, you first have to know how to find the best ingredients. When it comes to food that’s pre-packaged, you’re basically just left getting what you get. So when it comes to produce, it’s worth your while to learn what you should be looking for in quality food that you’re going to purchase. So to help make this a little easier on you, here are three tips for buying the best produce.

Favor Seasonal Produce

In our modern day, you can find almost all types of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, regardless of what time of year it is. However, this doesn’t mean that you should necessarily be buying all types of produce all throughout the year. Not only are prices higher for produce that’s out of season, but Bruce and Jeanne Lubin, contributors to Quick and Dirty Tips, share that produce that’s in season tastes best, too. Depending on where you live and what time of year it is, the produce that will be in season will vary. So to ensure you’re getting produce that’s in season, educate yourself about growing seasons in your area.

Touch The Produce With Your Own Hands

The produce section of your local grocery store likely contains quite a bit of produce that’s already packaged or bagged up. And while this may seem like a convenient purchase for you to make, this isn’t the best way to ensure that you’re getting quality produce. According to Martha Stewart Living, it’s important that you’re able to touch the produce with your own hands. By feeling the fruit yourself, not picking items that have already been bagged and ready to go, you’re able to see if it’s firm, soft, ripe, bruised, or otherwise going to taste good to you.

Know The Best Time To Shop

To get the best produce from a store, it’s helpful to know when the best time to shop is. During the week, Karla Walsh, a contributor to EatThis.com, shares that there are generally certain days when stores will get their shipments of produce. What you want to avoid is buying your produce right before a new shipment comes in. If you pick the wrong day, you could be getting produce that’s about to be on its way out. For most stores, produce shipments come at the beginning of the week, so you should plan to buy produce mid-week. If you need something on the weekends, try to pick it up from a local farmer’s market if you have some near you.

If you want to pick the best produce to bring home each time you need more fruits or vegetables, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.

Kelly Tate
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