Eating healthy on a budget: Eating seasonally

It’s easy to tell people to eat healthy and suggest adding more fruits and vegetables to their diet but the truth is that eating healthy can be expensive. In Richmond especially it can be hard to find a grocery store that can fulfill your fresh produce needs.

There are ways to make eating healthier a little less expensive. In addition to easy tricks like preparing food in advance to freeze or freezing individual food items to last longer, many nutrition experts recommend buying fresh produce while it’s in season.

‘Eating seasonally’ as it’s called cuts back on your costs because you’re buying items that are being produced in bulk (since fruits and vegetables can grow faster and in higher quantities during their natural growing season). They usually don’t have to be shipped from other parts of the world or country and so are cheaper once they’re on the shelves of your local grocery store.

The quality of the produce also increases when you buy seasonally. Vegetables retain more of their nutritional value when they can grow naturally in addition to being cheaper.

Below is a list of some produce in season in the coming winter/spring months. Be sure to also ask your local grocer what’s in season, as this is not a complete list.

Winter:

• Beets
• Cabbage
• Citrus fruits
• Kiwi
• Clementines
• Pears
• Turnips
• Sweet potatoes

Spring:

• Artichokes
• Asparagus
• Grapefruit
• Strawberries
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Mushrooms
• Radishes