The Best Fruits And Veggies To Buy Pre-Cut To Save Time In The Kitchen

Sure, sometimes it's nice to have totally fresh, whole produce and go through the therapeutic process of cutting it exactly how you would like it as you prepare lunch, dinner, or a mid-morning snack. But in a world where we're often all-too-rushed, prep time tends to be one of our biggest enemies in actually consistently incorporating fruits and veggies into our daily diet. Because let's be honest: Coming home at the end of a long day and realizing that you truly don't know how to cut a whole pineapple like a pro might just drive any of us to give up on making a home-cooked meal altogether.

This is where pre-cut produce comes in — although sometimes a little less fresh, a little more expensive, and prone to getting that weird slime on it if you leave it in the fridge for too long, pre-cut produce is still produce and can be a wonderful time-saving asset. This is especially true for certain items that require specialized equipment to cut, are complicated to prepare, or simply take up a big chunk of your day that you don't have time for. So whether you or someone you live with has mobility issues that make it difficult to prepare produce, or you're simply in a season of life — raising young kids, working long hours, etc. — that necessitates time being saved, here's a roundup of five of the best fruits and veggies to buy pre-cut.

Ah, pineapples. Delicious, juicy, and fresh — but notoriously intimidating to cut, from the cylindrical shape, to the spiky outside layer, to the tough core. Thankfully, pre-cut pineapple comes in a versatile array of shapes perfect for any of your cooking or baking needs. If you just want to eat the pineapple like finger food for a midday snack or a summer party, pineapple chunks in a box are the way to go. Meanwhile, canned pineapple rings can be great for pineapple upside down cake or for grilling as a component of fish tacos with a fruit salsa (plus, the sugar-sweet juice inside can be repurposed as a meat marinade for your dish). Of course, you can also find pineapple chunks frozen if you want to use them in a tangy smoothie.

You might think you have a thick skin, but it's not as thick as the skin of a butternut squash. Dense and tough, cutting one of these up practically qualifies as your arm workout for the day — so if you already hit the gym and the task seems daunting, buying the orange cubes pre-cut for your sheet pan or roasted butternut squash soup might be a blessing for you (and your biceps). From a food-waste standpoint, this will also help you avoid the guessing game of how big a squash you need for your recipe and make it more likely that you get just the amount you need for your recipe, without an excessive amount left over. If you do have a few cubes remaining, though, try roasting them and then spreading it on toast for a creative alternative to avocado toast.

Individually, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas or carrots might not take too long to chop or prepare. But if you're planning to make a stir-fry or just serve up a medley of roasted vegetables for a nutritious side dish, being able to reach for a bag of mixed pre-cut veggies is a lifesaver. It'll mean you don't have to store three or four separate bags of vegetables in the fridge at once and will help you get closer to having the right serving size, versus ending up with not enough broccoli and far too many snap peas to spare. Pre-cut, mixed veggies are also a great way to accommodate picky eaters without adding on extra prep time, allowing them to put only the veggies they want on their plate and saving you from doing extra dishes.

Admittedly, pre-separated pomegranate seeds are sometimes significantly more expensive than a whole pomegranate would be on its own. But there's a reason for that upcharge — you're outsourcing the mess. Although there are ways to eat a pomegranate without making a giant mess, odds are high that some of the (highly stainable) juice will splatter on your countertop or even your outfit while you're trying to wrangle them out. Beyond that, the small plastic single-serve cups that pomegranate seeds from the store often come in make them easy to take with you as a mid-morning snack or pack with your kid's school lunch for a delicious and nutritious bite of Vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants.

Of all the vegetables most likely to be forgotten in a dark corner of your fridge, kale might just top the list. Even if you had great intentions to make a daily, small-portion kale Caesar salad to go along with your pasta for lunch, the effort of taking out a head of kale, washing it properly, then cutting it, and then dealing with the mess of clean-up can do a lot to cancel our even our best laid plans. Buying a bag of pre-cut kale, while a little more expensive, is still cost-friendly and much more conducive to the veggie making its way to your plate rather than to your trash can. As an added bonus, it's a lot easier to keep on hand for multiple uses than a head of kale is, sealed up with a bag clip and put away for tomorrow's side salad.