white potatoes making up for 80% of vegetable consumption in the America

[magical thyme]

28. would you like fries with that?

Fresh veggies are expensive and short-lived, unless you can grow them yourself. Canned veggies have their vites cooked out of them, and are loaded with salt and sugar.

Flash frozen have nearly the same nutrition as fresh -- more if you live in the north and have fresh shipped in from CA in winter.

I live in Maine. I grow the more expensive veggies in the summer, and buy the cheaper ones fresh. Potatoes are the one cheaper thing I grow myself, but that's because I lucked out and got wild purple peruvian potatoes my 1st year and have been able to save my own seed from them. I freeze as much as I can from my garden for winter, but rely on frozen veggies and fresh carrots in the winter.

carrots: fresh organic are $1/pound, otherwise 75cents/pound
frozen broccoli: the small cuts are $1.39/pound
frozen spinach: $1.69/pound
frozen cauliflower: $1.69/pound
frozen corn: $1/pound
frozen peas: $1/pound
frozen squash: $1.25/pound
etc.
Many, many veggies are <$2.00/pound, so that's what I make the center of my winter diet, with the more expensive veggies in small amounts.

Right now I'm making colcannon. I have a pound of purple potatoes and a pound of carrots boiling. I'll be adding a couple other pounds of veggies, bringing the (non-white) potato content down to <25% or so.

It takes some forethought, but it is very doable to eat large quantities of vegetables without breaking the bank.