Food Storage

Getting Started - Vegetables

Step One: Know your vegetables.

MyPyramid organizes vegetables into five subgroups, based on their nutrient content. The following is a list of the subgroups and commonly eaten vegetables in each:

Dark green vegetables

There are many dark green vegetables including bok choy, broccoli, collard greens, dark green leafy lettuce, kale, mesclun, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, spinach, turnip greens, and watercress. Of the dark green vegetables, spinach is the most practical to store either frozen or canned. Other greens can be grown in a home garden.

 

Orange vegetables

Orange vegetables include acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, hubbard, squash, pumpkin, and sweetpotatoes. The most commonly stored orange vegetables are carrots, pumpkin and sweet potatoes. Orange vegetables can also be grown in a home garden.

 

Dry beans and peas

As we learned earlier, dry beans and peas include black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, navy beans, pinto beans, soy beans, split peas, white beans, and tempeh. You may notice that dry beans and peas are included in both the meat and beans and vegetables group. This is a because dry beans and peas contain some of the same valuable nutrients as vegetables such as folate and fiber. Dry beans and peas should only be counted as a vegetable if you have already met your minimum daily requirement for meat and beans.

 

Starchy vegetables

Starchy vegetables include corn, green peas, green lima beans and potatoes. Starchy vegetables are easy to store canned, frozen or dehydrated.

 

Other vegetables

Other vegetables include artichokes, asparagus, bean sprouts, beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, green and red peppers, iceberg (head) lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onions, parsnips, tomatoes, tomato juice, vegetable juice, turnips, wax beans, and zucchini. Many of these vegetables can be stored canned or frozen or grown in a home garden.