Imagine how cool and delicious a fruit salad can be after you’ve spent the morning
- inside a hot trailer unloading a load yourself (there are no lumpers here!) or
- waiting in your non-APU-equipped truck in the blistering sun in a place where you can’t idle.
The sweat is dripping off you and all you want to do is cool down.
Lucky for you, because from simple ingredients and just 5-10 minutes of preparation, you have your cool treat waiting on you in your compact refrigerator or ice chest.
You can fix a fruit salad from whatever fruity ingredients you like.
Mike fixed one in June 2010 from ingredients he happened to have on hand in the truck he drives for his trucking company.
Here is his photo journal of the process.
Fruit Salad Photo Gallery
This photo shows all of the ingredients and equipment Mike used to fix fruit salad.
Pineapple chunks were the first layer.
Canned peaches were the second layer.
A sliced banana was the third layer.
A diced fresh apple was the fourth and final layer.
Mike poured a blend of the syrups from the chunk pineapple and canned peaches over the pieces of fruit to act as a natural preservative to keep the banana and apple from discoloring prematurely.
Mike mixed up the fruit to make sure every piece was coated with the syrup, especially the banana and apple.
Pictured at left is the finished fruit salad, waiting to be chilled and then eaten.
Yum!
Ingredients:
- 3/4 can of chunk pineapple
- 1/2 of peaches from a home-canned quart
- 1 banana
- 1 apple, cored
- blend of pineapple and peach syrups to coat
This amount of fruit made 4 cups (or 2 pints or 1 quart) of fruit salad.
We ate off this a little at a time over 4 days.
Even on the 4th day, neither the banana nor apple had discolored.
Furthermore, the apple was crisp to the end.
Equipment Mike used:
- two 2-cup bowls with lids,
- can opener,
- plate,
- knife
- slotted spoon and
- ice chest to keep it cool until eaten.
Cost (estimated)
Money saving tip: While you can buy canned “fruit cocktail” or a frozen fruit medley, neither of them contains fresh fruit.
You can buy both apples and bananas in dehydrated form, but even rehydrated they never taste the same as fresh.
You can also buy refrigerated fruit salad — for a price.
Making your own — especially from the freshest ingredients you can get — is best, from both a cost and health perspective.
Watch for fresh fruit on sale during the summer and for sales on canned or frozen fruit any time.
You can even pick your own if you live in the right location.
In our home state of South Carolina, we have
- bought fresh peaches (picked and packed at a peach orchard near Johnston, SC),
- picked our own strawberries (near North Augusta, SC) and
- picked our own blueberries (near Couchton, SC).
Before we became homeless, whatever we didn’t eat fresh, we either froze or canned.
Perhaps your home support team can help you obtain fresh fruit or can it so you can take it with you on the road.
For other fruit, melon or citrus options, you may choose to take a look at our snack foods page.
Return from Enjoy Easy Fruit Salad for a Cool, Delightful Side Dish or Snack to our Food and Recipes page or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.
