You know that greens are nutritious—now make them delicious! Wilted, blanched, sautéed, braised or even puréed, these greens add great balance and depth to any dish and pair especially well with garlic, lemon and olive oil. With these shopping and cooking tips, you’ll be turning over a new leaf in no time.

How to Choose & Store Your Greens

When buying greens, look for crisp, young leaves with vibrant color. Discard any bruised, slimy leaves and stems before storage. Most will keep for a few days when tightly wrapped in paper towels and stored in the refrigerator. Wash just before using. Pre-packaged greens are a real time-saver too. Look for pre-washed Sprouts Lettuce in the Produce Department.

How To Eat Your Greens

Bok Choy

Don’t stop at stir-fries! Fold these sweet, vitamin C-packed leaves raw into salads, slaws or even chicken noodle soup. Try making a simple side dish with mushrooms, bok choy and miso paste.

Collard Greens

This fiber-rich favorite is more versatile than you might think. Try collards folded into your morning frittata or added to your homemade marinara sauce.

Kale

Bursting with vitamin C, kale makes a hearty Caesar salad, brightens vegetable soups, and will even supercharge a pesto. Roast small pieces with a little olive oil, salt and pepper for a light and flavorful snack chip.

Mustard Greens

These vitamin A-filled leaves add a jolt of color and flavor to a meal, complementing meat as well as fish. Try them in braises, curries and pastas too.

Dandelion Greens

These peppery, vitamin K-loaded leaves are best served simply: sautéed in garlic and olive oil and given a spritz of lemon. You can also toss into a salad in place of arugula.

Turnip Greens

If you’ve already used your turnips in another recipe and have a pile of tops covering your cutting board, use these dark, spicy greens as you do kale or collards. They pair well with salty meats, heavy cream or fresh garlic. Or, try a fresh green smoothie for a vitamin-packed breakfast.

Swiss Chard

Chard is a nutritional powerhouse. The stems can be used much like celery, chopped and sautéed to add depth to soups. Use its slightly sweet leaves to class up a pasta dish. (Psst! A little nutmeg adds a special flavor too.) We sell red, green and rainbow varieties at Sprouts.

Spinach

Tied with kale as the most nutritious of all the greens, it delivers more than a dozen flavonoids (anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting compounds) and half the recommended dose of vision-maintaining vitamin A.

Radicchio

Sometimes bitter is better! Okay, so it’s not green, but this red-leaf Italian chicory is traditionally used in salads. It’s also excellent grilled and drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Escarole

It may look like romaine, but this bold and bitter green is much more flavorful. It has a delicious nutty flavor and is a wonderful accompaniment to rich meats, a topping for stews or soups, or a wrap for scallops and shrimp. Plus, you’ll find about 65 percent of your daily recommended bone-healthy vitamin K in just half a cup.  

Between green smoothies and colorful salads, green foods seem to be in a league of their own as a healthy choice. It’s a choice that many of us envision our best selves making on a regular basis. What is it about green foods that make it such an important part of a balanced diet? To start, the majority of potassium in our diet comes from fresh greens. They’re high in vitamins A, C and E, plus they are a great source of phytonutrients—compounds that protect and boost your immune system. No need to hold back—add to meals and snacks with abundance as green foods are naturally low in calories and free of saturated fats and cholesterol.

1. Broccoli: This vegetable supports the liver by stimulating bile flow into the digestive tract. Bile helps the body to detoxify and digest fats.
2. Brussels sprouts: This cruciferous veggie supports the phases of liver detoxification. Packed full of soluble and insoluble fiber, it helps fight disease and keeps you feeling fuller longer.
3. Cabbage: Another cruciferous veggie low in calories and high in nutrients, cabbage provides a good source of glutathione, powerful antioxidants, and acts as a liver protector as well as helps expel toxins from the liver.
4. Green tea: Richer in antioxidants than white and black tea, green tea can boost your metabolism and help your body burn extra calories per day.
5. Powder greens: Made from ingredients like spirulina, kelp, alfalfa, wheatgrass and barley, a scoop of greens added to smoothies or juices offers nutrient-rich health benefits that may protect you from disease and help restore the body’s natural pH balance.
6. Wheatgrass: Commonly found in powder form, it improves bile movement, may help lower triglycerides, and provides prebiotic fibers that boost healthy bacteria production. Fresh wheatgrass is now available at our juice bars in Sprouts stores.
7. Mixed greens: An easy and convenient way to make salad, mixed greens can be found in store packaged plastic bags, “clamshells,” and loosely in bulk.  A darker mix contains more antioxidants and nutrients than the lighter-colored varieties.

 

We know you care greatly about the ingredients in your food. However, we get that it can feel overwhelming to know what all the different labels mean. That’s why our culture as a healthy grocer is sharing with our customers the ins and outs of food quality standards. So, let’s start with what GMOs are… GMOs are any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The majority of GMO crops (75–80 percent) are engineered for herbicide tolerance (e.g., “Roundup-Ready” crops). Farmers also cannot save GMO seeds, which means they must be purchased each year. Even though the USDA maintains that food with GMOs are safe to eat, there is still debate surrounding inadequate data and environmental safety.

National Standards for Non-GMO

The Non-GMO Project (NGP) is a third-party organization that offers ongoing testing of all at-risk ingredients as well as builds the non-GMO food supply. It is North America’s primary source for independent testing of GMOs at various stages of production, from field to packaging facilities. In the U.S., GMOs are in approximately 80 percent of conventional processed foods. Have you asked yourself, “What’s the difference between the Non-GMO Project Verified and the USA Organic seal?” When a product has the USDA Organic Seal, you’ll know it’s free from growth hormones and antibiotics. USDA Organic standards also prohibit the use of GMOs in farming and food processing.

Here Are Some at-a-Glance Details About GMOs:

1. Know the most common GMO crops.Remember common GMO crops with two easy mementos. Think of the three C’s—corn, cotton and canola. The other crops can be thought of as the two S’s—soy and sugar beets.
2. Look for the Butterfly! Labels lend themselves to informed decision making while shopping. Look for the butterfly on the Non-GMO Project Verified label on products.
3. Remember USDA Organic. Per the USDA National Organic Standards, GMOs are not allowed in certified organic products. Shopping organic can be a smart way to avoid GMOs.
4. Become familiar with common hiding places for GMOs:  flavorings, vitamins, amino acids, yeast products and high-fructose corn syrup. Reading your labels carefully is a practice that encourages mindfulness and healthy living.
5. Download the Non-GMO Project Shopping Guide. With the Non-GMO Project Shopping Guide, you can have important information at your fingertips! Download the app to access expansive materials on products, brands, key words, common ingredients and more about the mission of the NGP.

 

Raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs can spread illness-causing bacteria to ready-to-eat foods if you don’t keep them separate. Remember these helpful tips to avoid cross contamination:

• Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a different one for raw meat, poultry or seafood.
• Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood or eggs.
• When storing in your refrigerator, place raw meat, poultry and seafood in sealed bags or containers to prevent their liquids from contaminatingotherfood and surfaces.
• If you are not planning to use these foods within a few days, they should be kept frozen.

Visit fsis.usda.gov to learn more tips on why cross contamination matters.