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Fresh Vegetables for Delivery or Pickup
Tips on how to buy fresh vegetables
Fresh vegetables are a healthy and delicious addition to your kitchen. Since they have a limited shelf life, you need to purchase most vegetables within a few days of eating them. Fortunately, you don't have to keep making time-consuming trips to the store to keep your house well-stocked with vegetables. Order through Instacart, and you can enjoy convenient same-day produce delivery.
FAQs about fresh vegetables
U.S. dietary guidelines recommend eating between 2-2 1/2 cups of vegetables daily, depending on your age and gender. Fresh vegetables contain essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to help you stay healthy. Some of the benefits that you can enjoy from vegetables include:
- Healthy eyes and skin from Vitamin A in carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, and cabbage.
- Healthy teeth and gums from Vitamin C in bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli.
- Healthy bones from calcium in kale, okra, spinach, and rhubarb.
- Proper digestion from fiber in broccoli, spinach, and Brussels sprouts.
- Faster wound healing from folate in asparagus, peas, spinach, and broccoli.
- Healthy blood from iron in spinach.
- Healthy blood pressure from potassium in potatoes, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.
There are many ways to prepare fresh vegetables. Experimenting with different methods can yield delicious results, making it easier to get your recommended daily servings. You can enjoy fresh vegetables:
- Raw: Raw vegetables provide a satisfying crunch. Combine them into flavorful salads.
- Steamed: Steaming veggies is the best way to retain all their nutrients. The process of heating vegetables this way can make it easier for your body to absorb some nutrients.
- Boiled: Boiling vegetables can leach away some nutrients like folate and Vitamins C and B1. However, this gives you a soft dish that's easy to chew.
- Sauteed: Sauteing vegetables in extra-virgin olive oil maximizes their flavor and increases absorption of nutrients like carotenes and phenols.
- Baked or roasted: Baking or roasting vegetables can change their texture and flavor considerably. You can add a great deal of flavor this way using herbs, spices, oils, and vinegars.
Proper storage methods vary by vegetable. Onions, garlic, potatoes, rutabagas, and hard squashes prefer a cool, dark place with low humidity. Your refrigerator's crisper drawer is best for the vast majority of vegetables including corn, leafy greens, carrots, radishes, parsnips, turnips, beets, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and summer squashes.
You can store tomatoes on your countertop. This is preferable to the refrigerator. Refrigerating tomatoes gives them a grainy texture.
Vegetables are at their best when they have a bright color that's free of spots. Bruises or dents don't necessarily indicate that the vegetable has gone bad; however, these can occur during transport. Common signs of decay include wilting leaves, wrinkled skin, or mold.
Give the vegetable a gentle squeeze for another key assessment of freshness. Potatoes and onions are fairly hard when they're fresh. Zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers should feel firm. Lettuce, tomatoes, and mushrooms will have a slightly springy feel.
Vegetables will also smell good when they're fresh. A pungent, sour, or musty odor can indicate that the vegetable is no longer good.
Fresh vegetables are great when they're available. Still, their limited shelf life can make them problematic if you're going on a long trip or you want to stock your kitchen in case you're snowed in or otherwise unable to go shopping and get deliveries. You may also find that it's difficult to get high-quality produce when it's out of season. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to fresh produce that are still delicious and healthy. Consider:
- Freeze Dried Vegetables: Enjoy a similar texture and flavorful with a long shelf life and compact size.
- Frozen: When frozen at their peak, vegetables will retain their quality exceptionally well.
- Canned: Canned vegetables lose some water-soluble vitamins like C and B but they're easy to store and offer a long shelf life.
You can order vegetables in any form through Instacart. Stock up on fresh in-season vegetables for a flavorful addition to any recipe. You can even leave a note to let your Instacart shopper know just how you like your produce. Start filling your cart online or in the Instacart app now!