Vegetables with large serving sizes?

Terraforcejenny

So I'm trying to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet; I've realized that I have all but cut them out (not on purpose, but struggle with appetite and they go bad quickly, plus price ).

However, the vegetables I enjoy tend to have hugeeee suggested serving sizes. Spinach, for example! 2-3 cups; a bag of it says it has 3 servings but honestly is usually only a serving or two. How do people usually purchase produce like this? And how do you get through it without getting full?

Also, carrots? They take so long to eat and my jaw muscles end up clenching so much Cucumbers are great but IIRC not as nutrient dense. I like broccoli but often the broccoli I see around here isn't in very good condition...

I guess I'm asking: what are your tips for eating regularly, large sized amounts of vegetables? What fruits do you eat (as a side question) and how often?

Any suggestions for making vegetables palateable, not in the pure taste department but more in combining them together? I am terrible at matching different veggies... (usually just eat a raw bellpepper, something like that).

Thanks in advance!

Christine_72

Terraforcejenny wrote: »

So I'm trying to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet; I've realized that I have all but cut them out (not on purpose, but struggle with appetite and they go bad quickly, plus price ).

However, the vegetables I enjoy tend to have hugeeee suggested serving sizes. Spinach, for example! 2-3 cups; a bag of it says it has 3 servings but honestly is usually only a serving or two. How do people usually purchase produce like this? And how do you get through it without getting full?

Also, carrots? They take so long to eat and my jaw muscles end up clenching so much Cucumbers are great but IIRC not as nutrient dense. I like broccoli but often the broccoli I see around here isn't in very good condition...

I guess I'm asking: what are your tips for eating regularly, large sized amounts of vegetables? What fruits do you eat (as a side question) and how often?

Any suggestions for making vegetables palateable, not in the pure taste department but more in combining them together? I am terrible at matching different veggies... (usually just eat a raw bellpepper, something like that).

Thanks in advance!

Get some broccoli and cauliflower, approx 150g each. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle garlic powder, Parmesan and salt n pepper over them. Bake in oven until golden and crunchy. Dip into mayo or whatever sauce or none that you prefer. You can do this with any veggies, these 2 are just my favourites.

Sued0nim

Spinach ...buy frozen ...I add a lump to my scrambled egg or make saag aloo or spinach and ricotta

Carrots I like roasted (like potatoes) or soup..carrot and coriander etc

I make a big veg stew with onion, mushroom, celery, butternut squash, carrot, red pepper, aubergine (eggplant), courgette (zucchini), tins chopped tomato garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and seasoning ..simmer for an hour ..eat with rice and cheese

Roast veg till charred ..great taste

Mash carrot with turnip

Thai coconut curry ...lentil samba

Sued0nim

Sorry fruits

I tend to eat 150g fresh berries with Greek yogurt each day, sometimes plum or satsumas, rarely apple or banana

jemhh

You don't have to eat 2-3 cups of spinach at a time. It is okay to eat less than that.

ataylorgardner

I add spinach to my omelets in the morning. I also add spinach or kale to my morning shakes. carrots are easier if you cut them into small pieces and put them in a salad. I usually buy baby carrots. I also have a hard time getting through an entire bag of spinach before it starts to go bad. i try to add a little in to most of my meals throughout the day instead of trying to eat one serving in a single sitting. Fruits are easy for me, I eat a banana as a mid morning snack, 2 small clementines in the afternoon and maybe some grapes later in the day. Or sometimes I will eat strawberries and/or blueberries with my breakfast.

Lovee_Dove7

I eat a lb (454g) of non-starchy veggies a day, so 1/3 lb (~150g) at each of 3 meals. So a sample day might look like this:
Breakfast
omelette stuffed with some sauteed onion, Swiss chard, shitake mushrooms, cauliflower

Lunch
Veggie/Beef/Bean soup

Dinner
Chopped salad with beef/chicken/fish

The best way to store veggies is this:
Line your refrigerator's crisper drawer with parchment paper (or open up a small paper bag and use that). Put your naked veggies in the drawer (they're naked because they are taken out of their wrapper or produce bag).Adjust the slider on the drawer so the humidity in the drawer is high.
If you have a bag of spinach, you can take it all out of the bag and store it in a covered, lined container on your refrigerator shelf. For mushrooms, keep them in their paper container, but remove the plastic, or you can cut a small paper bag so it's short and open, place the mushrooms in it to contain them, and place them in the drawer. I have my refrigerator stuffed full of veggies and rarely throw anything away. The veggies keep a loooooong time this way, too.

Now you can fill up your fridge with a huge assortment of colorful produce and get creative!

macgurlnet

Something that's been super helpful to me is recognizing that the recommended/suggested serving size doesn't have to be what I eat.

If the spinach serving size is too much for you to enjoy in one sitting, that's fine! Have half the serving or 3/4 of it.

If carrots aren't your friends when raw, that's okay! They're super yummy if you roast them like @Christine_72 suggests. I like roasted cabbage the best because it cooks so fast.

Also, this time of year, I get a lot of bags of frozen veggies. I get the kind you can steam in the bag - 95 cents at Aldi, or a little more at my local grocery store. I can get 2-4 servings of veggies out of one bag. I'll eat some one day, refrigerate the leftovers, and then eat the rest over a couple days.

~Lyssa

Lovee_Dove7

Yes I consider those bags of spinach to be quite puny lol. Chopped up and added to salad I can go through a lot of that stuff.

kommodevaran

I have some vegetables at every meal, some raw (70, recently upped to 80 grams for all meals besides dinner), some just heated, or oven roasted (as side dishes for dinner), some chopped in stews, some pureed in soups. Some bought fresh, others frozen. Or tinned, if tomatoes or beans. I always eat vegetables with fat and protein (butter or olive oil/vinegar etc, or as a side to meat/fish, some nuts, or at least a glass of milk). I work everything into my meal plan, and very perishable items like lettuce and asparagus will be bought in small amounts, and/or eaten really fast, and/or bought rarely.

I eat 3 servings of fruit per day, everything I can get my hands on. Mostly fresh, but I make smoothies from time to time with frozen banana and berries, or lime, or peanut butter/cocoa.

angelexperiment

Your stomache will adjust to the volume over time. I have the serving size most of the time or more.

Peas n carrots
Potatoes and parsnips
Broccoli and cauliflower
Kale onion and mushrooms sautéed with garlic
Sugar snap peas onion and bell pepper

Spinach and kale and rainbow chard
Add in things like Rosemary or sage or mint thyme adds nice flavors garlic and onion and green onions add good flavors

cafeaulait7

They have frozen veggies that have pasta and different sauces on them, too. That's really easy and tasty. Yams and sweet potatoes mixed with a little butter and cinnamon are like a dessert, so those are easy to eat Bruce's canned yams come with Splenda and work well for an easy side dish where you don't even have to really cook the yams.

I find that my veggies last longer if I've already cooked them. So a spinach-ricotta crustless pie lasts longer than a bag of fresh spinach, etc. Roasted veggies work well that way, too.

I like beans and lentils for veggies, too. I think they count, right? I make a lot of Tuscan or Creole bean stew sort of meals with a little sausage, turkey, or ham. Frozen peas are actually yummy in those, and okra for anything Cajun, naturally.

Fruits I have no problem eating! I usually only buy a couple of day's worth at a time. Pears/apples and bananas are staples and others are more seasonal. Or I eat this canned tropical fruit salad if I want lots of papaya. Yum! I like my bananas green anyway, so they keep, but if they get too spotted and mushy, I use them in banana-bran-buttermilk muffins that are really incredibly good. Canned fruits are simple and good (apricots, mmmm), but don't get all that syrup, or drain and wash if you have to.

rosebarnalice

I like broccoli slaw mix (two 85 g servings makes a very filling salad base or sauteed side dish) and it stores very well.

My new favorite veggie is napa cabbage. It can be eaten hot or cold, makes a GREAT salad base, soup or omelet additive, a side dish that can be spiced infinite ways. Best of all it is much milder than regular savoy cabbage and keeps fabulously. A typical serving for me is about 200 g.

lorrpb

No need to eat several cups of spinach at one sitting. Eat what you want and log it as such.