Hacks To Habits To Increase Fruit & Vegetable Consumption

Consumers are creatures of habit, and as retail dietitians, it’s likely you share the goal of helping individuals improve their fruit and vegetable consumption habits. In the latest research from Produce for Better Health (PBH), PBH Hacks To Habits, PBH identifies ways to help consumers make fruits and veggies the automatic choice as well as showcases food hacks that promote produce habits along the consumption journey from finding and buying to storing and prepping to eating and enjoying.

The following ideas can help you turn the PBH Hacks To Habits research findings into actionable ideas perfect for the retail setting, positioning your shoppers to increase their fruit and veggie habits and consumption.

Keep All Forms On Hand
Promote recipes and meal assembly ideas that can be made with a fresh, frozen and/or canned produce item. Create demos that show how to use different forms in the same recipe.

Enhance Flavor With Herbs & Spices
Create a chart of spices and herbs that pair well with different fruits and veggies using in-store signage pending your retailer’s signage policies. Take in-store “fresh cut” programs to the next level by offering spice packets with them. As a part of healthy living promotions for January 2023, create multiple spice kits and a list of fruit and/or veggies for which each is ideal to encourage one more produce item every day.

Bridge The Knowledge Gap On How To Prepare Fruits & Vegetables In Different Ways
Each week feature a fruit or vegetable, showcasing three different ways to prepare it and three different foods with which to pair it.

Add Vegetables To Sandwiches & Burgers
Move beyond lettuce, tomato and onion, creating new flavor combinations for these favorite foods to suggest to shoppers. Why not kale on a Reuben, thin sliced pears on a classic ham sandwich, or grilled zucchini and peppers on a burger? Suggest new options on an e-commerce landing page or link to veggie ideas from common sandwich meats and cheeses, making it easy for shoppers to add these items to their virtual carts.

Keep Prepped Produce At Eye Level In The Refrigerator
Offer a refrigerator make-over for your shoppers, stressing fruits and veggies to keep in their respective drawers, tips for keeping produce fresh longer, and how to prep these foods in advance and store them attractively in the fridge so they are the first thing household members grab when they open the door. Showcase storage items available through your retailer as a way to increase the ROI of this program.