Do you eat five portions of fruit/veg a day?

Agree with the ripen at home.
Mine never seem to ripen, they go from hard to gone off.

Have you got a garden @usedtobeaylis as a few fruit and veg planted out can save a lot of money.
We save loads on our berry bushes for example.

I had a nectarine and apple with Greek yoghurt for breakfast today. Then a chorizo and charred corn salad for lunch which had (obviously) sweetcorn, a handful of cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a leek in it. Strawberries after. Dinner tonight is chicken in a sauce made with passata and it contains onion and garlic, I don't know whether it would constitute a portion though. I'm using up the fridge and don't really want another trip to the shop otherwise I'd get a green veg to go with dinner and fresh herbs too. But a typical day for me will be fruit at breakfast, salad at lunch and some veg with dinner so easily five or more different types. I don't weigh to check if each one is a serving though.

I'm pretty sure I eat tomatoes or cucumber (or both) every day at least and the rest varies.

Why or how are people oblivious to accumulated cost of fruit and veg. Is a single apple cheap? Yes. Are multiple decent-sized, decent-quality apples every single week for multiple people along with multiple other fruits and veg cheap? No.

Poor quality fresh fruit and veg is also a real issue as you can buy very little of it in small useable amounts easily. Supermarkets are all about the prepackaged shit you get home and find half of it is inedible. Nearly £2 for 3 peppers and they're currently no bigger than an apple. Don't even get me started on 'ripen at home'

I've just looked at my app (I track everything at the moment). My lowest day over the last week was 3.5, but for some reason it doesn't include Cauliflower rice in the total, so it was closer to 5. My highest day was (and this surprised me too) was 17. 17 is very much an outlier. It's usually between 4 and 11. I figure out averages out about 7, so I don't worry about the days I don't hit 5. Today is 10 at the moment, but I might have some fruit after dinner.

Whilst taking a supplement if you’re not a lover of fruit and veg is better than nothing
Its not the same

No 😊

I think carrots, parsnips, apples, onions, broccoli, easy peelers, a packet of frozen peas (I know it’s a legume) are inexpensive.

But also what is 'cheap veg' is really subjective. Fresh fruit and veg makes up a huge part of my weekly shopping and more than once I've thought I might not bother. Fresh fruit and veg for three people, for the entire week, is even worse. Tinned veg is honking and I have actually noticed the selection in my local Asda has at least halved. I will buy frozen if I need to buy I prefer fresh. It's not cheap.

A lot of fruit and veg is pretty cheap. We cut out meat Monday - Friday and have saved a fortune despite increase our veg intake.

Most days yes.

usually have 3 veg with dinner and a salad a lunch.

so a glass of fruit juice or piece of fruit usually gets me to 5.

Same here better with veg but have to avoid anything really acidic which restricts things

@JaninaDuszejko you buy seasonably, buy what is on offer, buy frozen which all help with the cost. You can cook a number of veg in a steamer for the hob so you are only using one ring. Fruit and salad obviously don’t need cooking.

I do agree that not having the skill set to cook basic food stuffs has become very concerning. In some cases we are now moving into the third generation who can’t cook which is very sad and alarming.

I eat way more than that.
Four different fruits in my breakfast, plus salad or veg based lunch and sides with dinner, plus other fruits as snacks.

Yes but I also eat a lot of nuts & pulses, typically around 15 plant based foods each day, more if I include herbs & spices.

For lunch today I had a humous open sandwich (home made sourdough) with salad; lettuce, courgette ribbons, haricot beans, tomatos and walnuts.

I’ve just had an apple & some grapes as a snack and we are having chicken salad later with new potatoes and coleslaw.

Way more. Low on the fruit but plenty of veg three times a day plus snacks such as carrot, cauliflower and hummus

But you a) need to also be able to afford the pots and pans and gas/electricity to cook them and b) have the skill set to do that. That's the real difficulty, not how cheaply you can buy root vegetables and apples and bananas. And if you want a big variety you inevitable start buying more expensive options.

Yes, this time of year it's very easy. But I always have overnight oats with fruit for breakfast on workdays, always have some fruit with whatever I'm eating for lunch, ( which will normally include some kind of veg) always have some kind of salad with my dinner if I'm not cooking veg.
In winter, I often have a vegetable soup on the go for snackers to help themselves to, or so that whoever is home at lunchtime has instant healthy lunch available.
I also eat nuts and oily fish quite regularly, I should be really healthy, not 4 stone overweight!

Hm, I'm trying...not sure if I make it to the actual amount of a "portion".
Today, I've had

• lettuce
• carrot
• tomato
• plum
• nectarine
• strawberries

For dinner, this will probably also include

• cucumbers
• water melon
• courgette

I do find it easier in the summer. I'm also currently trying to cut out too much snacking of unhealthy stuff, hence an increased amount of fruit to begin with. I did snack on carrots but I think I've had too many of them...😂🤦‍♀️
I've now bought a water melon and have portioned that into different containers. I'll try and snack on those instead.

I don’t count portions any more but have around 15 types of fruit and veg each day, I’m really into it!

Lots of veg is really cheap.

In recovery from Chemo . 5 portions a day here! Feel a little inadequate now ,with tales of 9 or 10 though

stayathomer Thought raw green beans may be toxic? they contain Lectins which can cause digestive problems /Tummy ache .diarrohea .States online best to cook first. esp if giving to children

@User2454664 ‘Unpopular opinion but I believe a lot of people who are chronically ill with non-specified symptoms (long covid, POTS, fibromyalgia, MCAS, chronic fatigue, IBS, SIBO) may have terrible diets that exacerbate the symptoms and eventually lead to a situation where they cannot stomach fresh fruit & veg which only makes the cycle worse.‘

Some perhaps, but as there is no cure for these sort of illnesses (which have very clear symptoms in most cases), a lot of people including myself eat extremely healthy in the hope of not making our situation any worse and hopefully improve our lot.

I easily eat into double numbers of veg, salad veg and fruit a day and have well over 35 different varieties a week (including grains, nuts etc). I certainly eat the rainbow and eat very clean with minimal ultra processed foods.

I wat a lot of vegetables but don’t eat any fruit unless its been cooked or baked or whizzed up in a smoothie, which is not that often.