Healthy Habit: Empty The Fruit Bowl
How many of us have a beautiful bowl full of fruit sitting on our counter…that never gets eaten?
My fruit bowl is always full. It’s overflowing usually. Depending on the season and what’s on sale you can almost always find apples, oranges, bananas, lemons, limes, tomatoes and an avocado or two. (the rest of the fruit I buy gets stored in the fridge…pears, peaches, grapes, berries, etc). I tend to go overboard when I’m in the produce department apparently.
Lately I have been buying a ton of citrus, oranges and grapefruit to be exact. My family LOVES oranges and when clementines were popping up on sale in the stores we were going through those little guys like candy…the fact that they are super easy to peel makes it that much better. Now that we are past the clementine season, I am finding that my family (and I) are still craving our citrus, but someone (Mommy) has to do some work for anyone to eat it. I realized that it all fell on me the other night when it was after dinner, the kitchen was cleaned up and we were settled in to watch American Idol and my son asked for an orange. I groaned. I did not feel like peeling and slicing up an orange at that point in my night so I just asked him to go get another snack…and it may or may not been as healthy as a piece of fruit.
So here’s my solution. I took about 5 minutes the next morning and peeled and cut up a big bunch of grapefruits (who are only enjoyed by me by the way) and oranges and put them in tupperware containers in the fridge. We’ve been picking at them the last couple of days, they’ve made it to lunch boxes, and it only took me one quick cutting session to put a big dent in that fruit bowl. How I like to cut my citrus is by using a sharp knife, slice of both ends of your fruit, then starting from the top, carefully cut the peel down the sides of the fruit following the curve and taking as much as the pith off. I then cut straight down the middle longways, then slice across into a sort of “half-moon” shape.
Cutting your fruit in bulk ahead of time is obviously not a new idea…but it’s just a good idea that I needed to be reminded of. Sometimes those little reminders make all the difference 🙂
Is there anything you do to make it easier on yourself when it comes to developing healthier habits as a family?
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Cutting up the fruit is such a great idea!
I found that the best way to get my kids to eat fruit was not only to have it cut up ahead of time, but to have it on the table with every meal. It’s something I picked up from my mother-in-law. Any meal she served, there would be fresh fruit on the table with it. Not for dessert, mind you, but with the main dish. I’m talking a bowl full of chunks of orange or cantaloupe on the table with roast beef or chili. It was a practice that was foreign to me, but I noticed that everybody ate fruit when it was on the table that way. So I started doing it, and lo and behold, no more fruit going bad in the big fruit bowl on the table.
I absolutely love this!! And am going to remember to do this often. It’s simple habits like this that get us moving in the right direction…and will stick with our kids too. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Yup….I have to cut my fruit in the morning so that we snack on it throughout the day. Otherwise, I ended up throwing away more than we will eat!
I’m in the cut everything up ahead of time crew as well.
I don’t keep a fruit bowl for this reason. I felt like I was never getting through it. I love the idea of cutting it all right away, and I’m much better about it in the summer. In the winter I tend to shove things in the refrigerator and shut the door as far as possible to try to stay warm. (I’m such a baby.)
when the fruit is staring at me in the bowl uneaten I tend to stress out a bit, lol. I’m the same with cantelopes and watermelons too, so pretty and delicious…but got to get them cut up to enjoy them!
Amen! I eat SO much fruit…its unreal. Josh will only eat it if I give it to him (he’ll rarely grab it on his own), so I’m always making an effort to slice up a piece of fruit with him. I think its always important to have a fruit and a vegetable with dinner.
Great post! Love the pictures. I buy a lot of my fruit at Costco (in the Midwest there’s a limited resource in the winter at the grocery)… If I buy cherries, grapes, etc. I always wash them and put them in a container in the fridge so they are ready to eat. But I NEVER thought to go ahead and slice the citrus. GREAT GREAT idea. My kids love them but always ask for help peeling them. This would be perfect to have them ready to go, so they can grab them whenever! THanks!!! Great tip!!
What a great idea! I like to wash and freeze berries, make baggie packets for quick morning smoothies!
that is a great idea! I love frozen berries especially for smoothies, it makes the smoothie so deliciously cold!
All it takes is a little time to be healthier!
so true! a few minutes here and there make a huge difference. thanks for stopping by!
This post definitely spoke to me because I, too, have been guilty of not wanting to peel that orange after the kitchen is closed. I do try to always have some fruit washed and/or cut up in the refrigerator. And, when I make a little try of fruit or vegetables for dinner, I will often leave it on the bar until bedtime so that hungry littles can go back and graze on it.
We love smoothies and have it for snacking all the time. I always freeze small baggies with all my smoothie ingredients (seasonal fruits), portioned. If I need a fix, thaw it out in the microwave for 30 seconds and add it in blender with almond milk, and I have smoothies in no time 🙂
This is a great idea! I do it with veggies for morning omelets – I wash/cut up bell peppers, scallions, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, etc. and put them in little containers, so my husband and I can just crack an egg into the pan, toss in some veggies, and have a yummy breakfast. I love the idea of the cut up fruit and the pre-made smoothie bags! We’ve been making a lot of green smoothies lately to use up what’s in the fruit bowl – I’ve snuck avocados, apples, and citrus into our smoothies without any complaints from the hubby. Lots of great ideas in your post/comments – thanks!
that is a GREAT idea for quick morning omelets! My husband always makes eggs for breakfast and we are really trying to get in some more veggies earlier in the day…I need to do this! Thank you for sharing!
I serve fruit at almost every meal and as snacks in between meals too. I also go overboard when buying produce but I love finding creative ways to use it. I bought a 4lb box of sugar pears at Sam’s {for $1.98} and plan on making pear sauce this week.
I am all about making fruit and veggies self-serve for the kids. I slice up celery/cucumbers and wash grapes ahead of time so they can help themselves. We are at the end of our clementine season and have really enjoyed them again this year as well!
oh that pear sauce sounds great! I don’t think I’ve ever had sugar pears before. I started cutting up celery too and it’s been a great snack, even my kids are loving it.
This post sooo spoke to me this week! I’ve been buying fruits galore and have it all in the middle of my table… But then I grumble when the kids want me to peel or slice it! My mom actually came this week and cut some of it into a fruit salad for the kids. It was a total “duh!” moment for me! Lol thanks for this post, it’s just reinforcing what I need to do!
Oh I’m so glad I’m not the only one! 🙂 Thank goodness for moms right? My mom does that when she comes over too and it always is a “duh” moment for me! thanks for stopping by my blog!
We are really good at finishing off the fruit that is in the bowl on the counter, but the stuff in the fridgte gets forgotten about a lot. I love this idea to cut up the citrus – I’m sure we’d eat it all this way!!
healthful fruit
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