When you’re getting ready to serve food to family and guests at your next seasonal event, it might seem convenient to have the work done for you by purchasing pre-made food platters from Costco. There are several kinds to choose from. However, when it comes to serving fruit, think again. Instead, consider buying the fruits individually and creating your own presentation. While that means more work for you in terms of preparation, there are several advantages of going with this option.
One reason to avoid buying pre-cut fruit at Costco is the cost, as you will save money on produce when you buy it whole and make the platter yourself. Compared to the cost of buying and preparing individually bought fruit, premade fruit platters can be more expensive. The addition of the labor costs of premade fruit can increase the price of your platter by a factor of three over the price of whole fruit.
Making your own healthy and fresh fruit platters
Cost isn’t the only thing to consider when creating an assemblage of prepared fruit. Buying fresh fruit will guarantee that it retains more nutrition, compared to fruit that may have been sitting on the shelf. After being sliced, many fruits will keep well when refrigerated in an airtight container for about five days, but the cut fruit inevitably loses some vitamins over time. This is because the skins prevent oxygen and light from affecting the antioxidants in the flesh of the fruit.
When you make your own platter, choose the best variety of fruits for your guests, avoiding some of the worst kinds of fruit for salads and platters, such as bananas that brown quickly and overly moist varieties. Some fruits to consider are small clusters of grapes, strawberries, small pieces of melon, and diced mangos. Arrange the bigger pieces in a pleasing pattern with splashes of berries on top. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just appealing enough to eat. Keep it simple and fresh. Once served, the cut fruit will benefit from being kept as fresh as possible, and not sitting out too long, as it could be exposed to disease-causing bacteria over time.
