One of my favorite things about summer has always been the great variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables. In addition to being delicious, they’re packed with nutrients including fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin A, and folate. The high water content also makes them a perfect snack to help kids stay hydrated during the hot summer months.
Mix It Up With Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables
You can incorporate fruits and vegetables into your child’s diet in a variety of ways to help beat the heat this summer:
- Try freezing grapes, melons, orange slices, or your favorite fruit so it’s still cold when your child wants a snack at the pool or beach.
- Add seasonal fruits and vegetables to water. Include cucumbers, strawberries, lemons, or limes to give it a refreshing summer-time taste. It’s also a healthy alternative to juice without providing extra sugar. Just slice up the produce of your choice and let it sit in water for a few hours.
- Blend fruit with yogurt or milk to create a smoothie. Or freeze yogurt into a frozen pop as a healthy dessert. With the variety of produce available, the combinations you can try are endless.
How & When to Purchase Produce
Fruits and vegetables are available fresh, frozen, dried, juiced, or canned. But the best options are fresh and frozen — and summer is the prime time to get the best variety. Yes, you can still find some summer fruits and vegetables during the winter months, but this produce is often shipped from other areas, usually making it more expensive. During the summer, it’s fresh, tastiest, less expensive, and readily available from local sources.
So, What’s in Season?
Check out your local grocery store, produce stand, farmers’ market, orchard/pick-your-own farm, and/or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms to find some of these seasonal fruits and vegetables:
Summer Fruits
- apricots
- Asian pears
- blackberries
- blueberries
- cantaloupe
- cherries
- figs
- grapefruit
- grapes
- honeydew
- key limes
- limes
- nectarines
- passion fruit
- peaches
- plums
- raspberries
- strawberries
- watermelon
Summer Vegetables
- beets
- bell peppers
- corn
- cucumbers
- eggplant
- French beans
- grape tomatoes
- green beans
- edamame
- jalapeño peppers
- lima beans
- okra
- peas
- radishes
- shallots
- sugar snap peas
- summer squash
- tomatoes
- Yukon gold potatoes
- zucchini
