~This post was sponsored by Fresh From Florida as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central, however all opinions expressed are my own.

Tips to Ensure Fresh Produce

How fresh do you like your produce? I know I like mine to be so fresh I can count of it to last for a long time. Here are a few tips to ensure fresh produce. Its really quite simple all you need to do is Follow The Fresh!

Everyone knows Florida for its year round sunshine, warm temperatures, beaches, and theme parks. That year round sunshine and warm temperatures allows Florida farmers to grow fresh produce year round. The growing season for the produce in Florida is earlier which means I can get fresh in season fruits and vegetables on my table to all year, even in the winter! Which is my first tip, shop locally as much as possible. Getting your food from Florida allows you to get food that isn’t shipped in a container over seas losing valuable freshness. You can follow the fresh right from the farm to your store in hours not days or weeks!

Follow the Fresh from the Farm

The next tip involves knowing where your getting your produce. I head to my local Publix Supermarket to get my delicious produce. I know and trust Publix to have what is in season locally. I also know that the store has a standard for purchasing fresh produce. I believe this to be essential to purchasing produce that will last longer. This time you follow the fresh from the grocery store knowing they have high quality and used those local farms to get you the freshest produce.

Follow the Fresh from the Store

At the store you purchase what is in season. This is my third tip. Knowing what is in season is important to getting the freshest produce. These items are usually at the front of the produce section. They are also placed at the ends of the stands on display. These in season fruits and vegetables are usually local, in season, and cheaper. This allows me to feed my family even more fresh produce. Local grown means less shipping costs which also allows me to get it sooner. Freshness bonus! Right now we have a few of my favorites in season.

Follow the Fresh to Savings

Have you had a Florida Strawberry? Oh my gracious, they are so sweet and already in stores. I picked up a few pints of them. My family gobbled them up before I do could do anything with them. The next batch I picked up at least made it into some chocolate. I simply dumped a bag of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heated it in the microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring in between. Dip in your strawberries and enjoy! I know we sure did. My kids all had chocolate covered, strawberry juice dripping mouths. Even the 22 year old had his mouth stained in that pink strawberry juice.

Another of my favorites is in season right now also. Juicy red tomatoes. I sliced them up, grabbed the mayo, a few slices of bread and ate the most amazing sandwich of my childhood. I put a little black salt and pepper on mine before devouring it! Anyone else love a tomato sandwich?

Follow the Fresh to your Table

Follow the fresh right from Publix to your table with fresh recipes. Have you ever tried to substitute fresh ingredients in a recipe that calls for canned or frozen produce. Needless to say it doesn’t always come out the same. Fresh from Florida has so many recipes that use fresh ingredients. I have made many of their recipes. Have you visited it? I love to use Fresh From Florida recipes because they involve so much fresh food! Freshness really does impact how your dish comes out.

I count on my produce to be at its peak freshness to feed my family the best. I have found that the freshness affects the flavor and that can be the difference in a child not liking vegetables or even fruits. So just remember my tips to ensure fresh produce is simply to Follow the Fresh! You can follow the Fresh to these social media pages with the links below.

#FollowTheFresh