Fruits, vegetables and homemade goods consist of spring snacks students cannot live without. Local grocery stores help the search for these delicious snacks an easy task with reasonable prices for a college student’s budget.
Spring is in the air, birds are chirping, flowers are blooming and crops are growing. Gardeners tend to their freshly grown crops to sell to consumers who create delicious, healthy springtime snacks their families and friends can enjoy.
“A delicious spring snack is a snack that is great in flavor and [usually] a snack that I only want to eat in the spring, such as homemade cookies,” Alejandro Gonzalez, freshman, said.
Gonzalez’s list of spring snacks he cannot live without include frozen yogurt, homemade cookies and a bag of fresh fruits like apples, blueberries, strawberries and grapes.
While cookies and baked goods might be a delightful spring snack for some, others believe fruits and vegetables are the ultimate snacks.
“My three favorite spring time snacks I could not live without are golden delicious apples, green grapes and carrots,” Nicole Smith, freshman, said. “Green grapes are my absolute favorite!”
She also shared snacks that are cold and refreshing, like vegetables that can be dipped in a healthy dip.
“A perfect spring snack might be broccoli, celery and cucumbers dipped in a decent dip,” Smith said.
Local grocery stores in the Riverside area provide different kinds of fruits and vegetables everyone can enjoy. Sprouts Farmers Market, located in Orangecrest off Alessandro Boulevard, is a grocery store with a farmer’s market ambience.
Their selection of fruits, vegetables and herbs consists of seasonal and organic pickings from local and regional farms. They carry a supply of assorted apples, blueberries, mangos, lemons, strawberries and bananas, to name a few. All produce is reasonably priced and easy on a college student’s budget.
Trader Joe’s, located in the Riverside Plaza, has a wide variety of spring snacks, like nut mixes, fruits, yogurt and more. They carry a vast selection of fresh and dried fruits, healthy additions to different spring snack recipes or just as tasty if eaten plain. The dried fruit selection includes bananas and mangos while their fresh fruit includes bananas, blueberries, grapes, apples and much more.
Goodwin’s Organic Foods and Drinks, located near University of California, Riverside off West Springs Road, offers plenty of different spring snacks. They have seasonal produce in the store as well as a bakery where quick sandwiches, salads and baked goods are made fresh. Goodwin’s also has a juice bar that provides freshly blended and brewed drinks.
According to Goodwin’s website, one store special they had last month was “Free Fresh-Squeezed Organic Orange Juice” where store members were given a sticker that was to be placed on their car. The member would then take a picture with the sticker and post it on their Facebook wall while tagging “Goodwin’s Organic Food & Drinks.”
The member was then given a free fresh-squeezed organic juice, which helped promote Goodwin’s organic drinks.
For students craving fresh, local fruits and vegetables, why not go to the farmer’s market in Riverside? Local farmers attend the Riverside farmer’s market, held every Saturday and Sunday, where they set up booths to sell their freshly grown crops.
Saturday’s farmer’s market is located in downtown Riverside on Main Street between 5th and 6th Avenues from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday. On Sundays, the market is located at the Tyler Mall in the parking lot in front of Barnes & Noble from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
