As a Frugal Kiwi Mum, it is important that my children eat the recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables, however cost is also an issue.
The 5+ a-day campaign, which was started in 1994, recommends a minimum of two servings of fruitsand three servings of vegetables per day. However, studies have shown that there are issues relating to the socio-economic groups intake of fruit and vegetables. Less wealthy people have tended to consume less fruit and vegetables.
Although the 5+ campaign does not actively promote including processed for example tinned or frozen fruit and vegetables, Dr Dresler-Hawke reported in 2007 that:
"In fact, research has indicated that fresh, frozen and canned [fruit and vegetables] are nutritionally comparable."
So what does this mean for our diets? And our pockets?
Dr Dresler-Hawke believes that consumers are more likely to meet the 5+ requirement if they include canned fruit and vegetables as there is less of a cost issue.
This means that using a 95c tin of Budget tomatoes to make spaghetti bolognaise will still count as one of your 5+ a day, but you won't have to pay $14.99/kg as I remember tomatoes where last winter!
