It’s been an amazing week for fans of Animal Crossing New Horizons, Not only has the biggest update ever hit the game but also a new paid expansion too.
Part of the new content includes both farming and cooking. Players can now grow more vegetables that can be used to make some delicious new recipes.
How to get vegetables in Animal Crossing
Open Leif’s Shop on Harv’s island
If you’re looking to start cooking in Animal Crossing New Horizons, you might want to expand the types of vegetables growing on your island.
Thankfully, Harv has opened up his island to 7 new shops. This includes a permanent setup for Leif, but of course, there’s a catch.
Players must be willing to pay Harv 100,000 bells, per shop, to build them, and then wait till the next day for construction to complete.

If you focus on building Leif’s shop first, by the very next morning, you will be able to head on back to Harv’s island and purchase vegetables from Leif’s shop.
Once you have the vegetables starts, they work the same way that most other plants do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you simply need to plant them, then water them for the best crops.
What if I don’t have 100,000 Bells to Spare?
If you don’t have the cash to get Leif’s shop open, then the only other alternative would be to wait for Leif to turn up on your island next, but as this isn’t very often, you would be better off finding ways to make the money to have his shop built.
Check out our Animal Crossing guide to making bells.
What are vegetables used for in Animal Crossing New Horizons?
Vegetables are used in the new cooking recipes, since the Animal Crossing 2.0 update, players are now able to start cooking and earning new cooking DIY recipes.
Many of these dishes will require the player to grow many different types of vegetables, as well as gather fruit, or fish. As you gather ingredients, you will start to unlock new cooking recipes.
You can also find cooking recipes from visiting villagers on your island, when you see them in their kitchen, simply ask them what they are doing, and they will give you a recipe, much like when they are working on a DIY project.
Go on Boat Tours
Another way to get vegetables is to go on one of the new boat tours, if you’re lucky you will land on an island with vegetables and will be able to take these home with you to plan on your own island.

You can only do one boat tour per day, so this might take a few days before you’re lucky enough to find some vegetables, but if you don’t want to fork out the money for Leif’s shop, this might be a cheaper alternative.
Visit a Friends Island
If you have some friends that are willing to give you some of their vegetable starts, the most simple solution would be to visit them and have them dig up some of theirs and drop them for you.
This of course doesn’t help if you want to expand your vegetable patch, but at least for now, will give you some to start with, while you save up to open Leif’s shop up on Harv’s island.