The FRED Blog makes every attempt to offer right-off-the-vine FRED data, from the prices paid by consumers for strawberries, grapes, and bananas to the prices received by producers for apples and oranges. And today’s graph harvests a similar set of data with a focus on freshness.

The graph shows the proportion of consumer expenditures on fresh fruit (in orange) and fresh vegetables (in green) relative to their processed counterparts.

Consumers steadily spend almost twice as much on fresh vegetables as they do on the processed kind—a pattern that has been nearly constant between 1984 and 2019.

The appetite for fresh fruit has steadily grown since 2001: Between 1984 and 2001, consumers spent almost one and a half times more on fresh fruit than they spent on processed fruit. At the turn of the decade, that proportion started to increase and, as of 2019, stood at almost three times as much.

Consider the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s resources when planning your diet. Don’t forget to eat your fruits and vegetables, but also be sure to add a hearty serving of fresh FRED data. We hear it’s high in fiber.

How this graph was created: Search for and select “Expenditures: Fresh Fruits: All Consumer Units.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Edit Line 1” tab to customize the data by searching for and selecting “Expenditures: Processed Fruits: All Consumer Units.” Next, create a custom formula to combine the series by typing in a/b and clicking “Apply.” For the second line, repeat the same steps with the series “Expenditures: Fresh Vegetables: All Consumer Units” and “Expenditures: Processed Vegetables: All Consumer Units.” To change the line colors, use the choices in the “Format” tab.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.