The cost of living crisis is affecting how we spend our money. For many people, this means tightening the budget on the weekly supermarket shop. One victim may be fresh fruit and vegetables.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggests Australians were consuming fewer fruit and vegetables in 2022–23 than the year before. The cost of living is likely compounding a problem that exists already – on the whole, Australians don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables. Australian dietary guidelines recommend people aged nine and older should consume two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables each day for optimal health.
But in 2022 the ABS reported only 4% of Australians met the recommendations for both fruit and vegetable consumption. Fruit and vegetables are crucial for a healthy, balanced diet, providing a range of vitamins and minerals as well as fibre. If you can’t afford as much fresh produce at the moment, there are other ways to ensure you still get the benefits of these food groups.
You might even be able to increase your intake of fruit and vegetables. Fresh produce is often touted as being the most nutritious (think of the old adage “fresh is best”). But this is not necessarily true.
Nutrients can decline in transit from the paddock to your kitchen, and while the produce is stored in your fridge. Frozen vegetables may actually be higher in some nutrients such as vitamin C and E as they are snap frozen very close to the time of harvest. Variati.
