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Lazy, affordable, delicious vegetable-eating

Like you, I want to take care of my health, but I’m busy. It’s nice to take the time to prepare gourmet dishes occasionally, but a lot of the time, I just want something quick and easy. Here’s a solution for lazy wannabe vegetable-eaters like me:

  1. Make a healthy salad dressing using my easy, no-fail instructions, and keep some extra in the fridge for the whole week.
  2. Buy a variety of vegetables (different colours, shapes… experiment!).
  3. Cut them up. If they are not organic, you might want to peel them as well – pesticides may accumulate on the peel (especially if they are in the “dirty dozen” – see below)
  4. Wash them in a metal colander (see photo)
  5. Put the metal colander on top of a pot of boiling water, and cover it with a lid. Let it steam until slightly soft.
  6. Drizzle your delicious dressing on top. Enjoy!
Picture of metal colanders and strainers of various sizes at the dollar store.

Metal colanders are the ultimate lazy-vegetable-eating device. Use them to wash your cut vegetables, and then steam them over a pot of boiling water in the same colander. Easy!

If you’re concerned about pesticides (e.g. to avoid certain cancer-promoting chemicals), check out the lists below. The Environmental Working Group makes these lists every year based on their research.  The “dirty dozen” are fruits and vegetables that tend to have more pesticide residue – best to buy these organic if possible. The “clean fifteen” on the other hand, are relatively pesticide-free. So to save money, you can buy regular, non-organic versions of the “clean fifteen”.

For its “Clean Fifteen,” the Environmental Working Group selected the following in 2019:

  1. Avocados
  2. Sweet corn
  3. Pineapples
  4. Sweet peas (frozen)
  5. Onions
  6. Papayas
  7. Eggplants
  8. Asparagus
  9. Kiwis
  10. Cabbage
  11. Cauliflower
  12. Cantaloupes
  13. Broccoli
  14. Mushrooms
  15. Honeydew

Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” for 2019. Try to buy these organic if you can, but if not it’s still much better to eat any fruits and vegetables than not!

  1. Strawberries
  2. Spinach
  3. Kale
  4. Nectarines
  5. Apples
  6. Grapes
  7. Peaches
  8. Cherries
  9. Pears
  10. Tomatoes
  11. Celery
  12. Potatoes
  13. (and hot peppers)

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