My best eating season is summer. Fresh fruits and vegetables are widely available locally, and they are colorful and inexpensive. In summer, I find it easy to make daily salads, grill veggies, make my plate look like a rainbow and nibble on sweet fruits throughout the day.

Now that days are colder, and I can no longer pick my salad ingredients from the garden, my palette naturally switches to warmer meals and the ingredients change. It becomes a little tougher to meet the recommended servings of fruits and veggies, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture website confirmed I am not alone.

The current dietary guidelines for Americans for 2020-25 recommends most people need about 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables in their daily diets. USDA food consumption surveys have found the average U.S. consumer falls short, consuming only 0.9 cups of fruit and 1.4 cups of vegetables per day.

I need to remind myself it doesn’t matter whether I eat fresh, canned, frozen, dried or juice to meet the numbers.

Cost has been cited as a possible barrier to higher fruit and vegetable consumption. USDA has calculated the average cost per cup of many fruits and veggies and determined there are several inexpensive options.

Fresh bananas, apples, cantaloupe, grapes, pineapple and watermelon are cheapest when in season. Canned applesauce and pineapple, dried grapes (raisins) and cranberries and most fruit juices (possibly in concentrated form) were well below $1/cup.

Sometimes you need to do a little research to see if an item is more cost effective in a different form. For example, canned or frozen green beans may be cheaper than fresh, but one is not more nutritious than the other.

For those who prefer to eat fresh produce year-round, I recently discovered a great seasonal produce guide on the myplate.gov website under Recipe Resources. You see each season, click on any fruit or vegetable and learn more than you thought was possible about that item, including recipes!

I’ll leave you some tips from the USDA WIC Works resource system.

Since fresh produce can spoil, try to plan ahead and buy only what is needed.

Prewashed and precut varieties of fruits and vegetables are convenient and available in many stores but usually need to be used more quickly and may cost more than the original.

Purchasing fruits and vegetables in larger quantities may cost less per pound than buying individual items. For example, a 3-pound bag of apples may cost less per pound than purchasing apples individually.

Frozen foods can be just as nutrient-dense as fresh and can be heated quickly in the microwave, on the stovetop or added into mixed dishes.

Canned options are a great way to store foods longer and are also a quick way to add a vegetable or fruit to a meal or snack. Choose low-sodium canned vegetables whenever possible.

Dried fruits are shelf stable and do not require additional preparation to enjoy. They can be a nutrient-packed snack alternative or grabbed quickly when on the go.

Editor’s note: This column was written by Jenn Dietz.