Healthy Tip of the Week:   

 10 Tricks To Save Money and Waste Less on Your Fresh Fruits and Veggies

By Lisa Chiu 

 Adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet is a sure way to eat healthier. But how many times have you had to throw away fresh produce because you didn't plan to use it in time, or you forgot it because it was hiding behind the carton of milk and it went bad? Read on to learn 10 tricks that will help you get the most nutritional value while avoiding spoilage. Plus, they'll also help you save money.

You want your fruit to ripen, but not so fast it loses too much nutritional value. Some produce, such as citrus fruits, berries and lettuce, will ripen too quickly without refrigeration, says vegetarian chef Amy Chaplin. But other produce, such as tomatoes and potatoes, are fine to ripen at room temperature, adds Deborah Madison, author of "Vegetable Literacy." Make sure to always refrigerate apples, apricots, cantaloupe, figs and honeydew. And you can skip the refrigerator for onions, winter squash and garlic, because keeping them in a cool dry spot can help make them last longer.

The best way to prevent spoilage is to wash your produce only as you eat it, says vegetarian chef Amy Chaplin. Keep your blueberries in their containers, and just wash the berries you eat each day. Since this may be hard for people who prefer to plan ahead, Deborah Madison, author of "Vegetable Literacy" urges people to dry their produce as much as possible after washing to cut down on humidity. Chaplin suggests washing leafy greens, running them in a salad spinner and then storing them in cotton bags or towels to keep them dry and aerated. The cloth absorbs moisture and keeps the vegetables fresh longer.

5. Keep the Stems and Tops

The leafy green stems or tops to vegetables such as beets, radishes, turnips, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower usually end up in the compost pile or trash can, but they're actually delicious and nutritious to eat, says Deborah Madison, author of "Vegetable Literacy." Don't lose out on the vitamins and minerals in the leaves and stems, she advises. Simply cut the raw greens into thin slivers and add them to salads or slice and sauté them for a side dish. You can even add them along with the root vegetables to the soup pot to enhance your favorite stock.

Vegetable skins, often discarded, are packed with nutrients and fiber. Deborah Madison, author of "Vegetable Literacy," likes to keep the skins on her carrots, celery roots and potatoes. To get the most out of a vegetable, she suggests, "Don't peel them, just give them a good scrubbing." Vegetarian chef Amy Chaplin likes to wash her produce with a vegetable brush made from coconut fibers. Instead of peeling the skin off cucumbers, she suggests running a fork up and down to tenderize the skin. Madison also likes keeping the skins on winter squash when making soup. When keeping the skins on, it's best to choose organic produce to avoid chemicals that may be present on the skin of conventional produce.

It may be a challenge at first, but one of the best ways to get the most nutrition from produce is to grow it yourself or buy from local growers, says Deborah Madison, author of "Vegetable Literacy." Many mass-market farmers pick produce long before it ripens to avoid spoilage, so these fruits and vegetables aren't reaching their maximum nutritional potential, she adds. The easiest starter garden is an herb garden, as herbs require little space and sprout quickly. "Anything that comes immediately from a garden and hasn't been sitting around will have more energy and is more nourishing," says Madison.

Some produce such as tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, mangoes and dark green leafy vegetables are rich in fat-soluble nutrients that the human body can best absorb with some fatty acid. In a 2004 study at Iowa State University, researchers found that people who ate salads with dressing absorbed more antioxidants than those who ate salad without any dressing. So the next time you toss a salad or roast carrots, add a splash of olive oil. Your body, including your taste buds, will thank you.

Homemade pickled and fermented vegetables are both delicious and good for you, says vegetarian chef Amy Chaplin. When you pickle vegetables in salt, a natural fermentation occurs that "cooks" the food, creating enzymes and probiotics that help your digestive and immune systems. "When you make pickled vegetables, it's a way to extend their life," Chaplin says. "Fermentation is what we did before refrigeration." Try fermenting cabbage for sauerkraut or kimchi, soybeans for miso, or grated turnips, carrots, radishes or onions, Chaplin suggests.