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» 5-a-day. What Counts?
Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your 5-A-DAY. That’s why it’s so easy to ensure you get your five portions. Fruit and vegetables don’t have to be fresh to count as a portion. Nor do they have to be eaten on their own. Fruit or vegetables also count if they're part of a meal or dish. Visit our ‘five-a-day’ page to see what counts towards your five-a-day.
Eating the following will count towards your 5 A DAY:
• Fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Frozen fruit and vegetables.
• Tinned or canned fruit and vegetables. (ONLY those tinned in natural juice or water, with no added sugar or salt.)
• Dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs.
• Fruit and vegetables cooked in dishes such as soups, stews or pasta dishes.
• A glass (150ml) of unsweetened 100% fruit or vegetable juice. Juice counts as a maximum of one portion a day, however much you drink.
• Smoothies. A smoothie containing all of the edible pulped fruit and/or vegetable may count as more than one portion but this depends on how it's made. Smoothies count as up to a maximum of two portions per day.
• Beans and pulses. These only count as one portion a day, no matter how many you eat. That's because they contain fewer nutrients than other fruits and vegetables.
• Fruit and veg in convenience foods, such as ready meals and shop-bought pasta sauces, soups and puddings. Note that some ready-made foods may also be high in salt, sugar and fat.
What doesn’t count?
Potatoes are a vegetable, but they don't count towards your 5 A DAY. That's because the main nutrient in potatoes is carbohydrate (starch). When we eat them as part of a meal, they are generally used in place of other sources of carbohydrate, such as bread, pasta or rice. Therefore, potatoes are classified as a starchy food.
However, other root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, parsnips, swedes and turnips do count. That is because they are usually eaten as a vegetable alongside the main starchy food in a meal.
Source: NHS Choices