#3 - let's talk about ways to be frugal when purchasing fruits & veggies

**craftypam** · 05-23-2009, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by mauimagic

It has been fascinating reading all that you do to get fruits and vegetables - very impressive.

Unless it's a VERY special occasion, I only buy what's on sale. Food is soooo expensive here (and being an outer island makes it even more so). Farmer's markets are good as is our Saturday swap meet.

What I woulf really love to find is big, juicy beefsteak tomatoes and small kernel sweet corn - sadly missing from our vegetable offerings.

Can you grow those items?

**CrazyHomemaker** · 05-23-2009, 10:19 PM

My tip is not frugal pricing, but how to get good fruits. If you find strawberries for a good price, make sure they are nice and shiny. This means they are fresher than the others. Otherwise, they will not last very long. Also, if you buy apples, make sure you can see the streaking of color on them. You should see individual stripes of green and red on them. If the apple is a solid color, it has been a long time before it was picked and is old.

**lisetterenee** · 05-25-2009, 10:23 AM

MOST of the time I shop at a conventional store. My typical rule is to not pay more than $.99/lb on things like oranges, pears, grapes apples and stone fruit. I try to get as close to $.99/lb for strawberries too. Usually I can get at least one of those things once a week, and that's what we'll eat a ton of for that that week. The only thing that I'll splurge on is blueberries for the baby. Even still, I like to get them for around $4.00 a lb.

One of my goals is to ACTUALLY make it to the farmer's market for our city. We have a HUGE Kansas City one, but in my experience the prices aren't always super great. There ARE farmers there, but there are also a lot of store fronts that make extra cash by setting out conventional stuff that they've purchased through a vendor. Those prices are not always great.

AND, this year we're planning on making it out to pick blueberries. I'll take a morning off work right around the 4th of July, so we can get this done.

**AspiringToBeFrugal** · 05-26-2009, 12:21 PM

I found bags of organic apples yesterday at the store for $1.65!!!! YAY!!! It pays to shop the day before the specials change!

**nuisance26** · 07-15-2009, 08:24 PM

~Some strategies I'm using this year are to help in someone else's garden(my parents')for a share of the harvest, picking my own on a farm(blueberries $1 lb) and foraging. My parents' property has wild blueberries and blackberries and mine has wild blackberries. I've gathered enough so far to have cost over $30 in the supermarket.
I love the sprouts idea. I think I'll try that.~

**Libby** · 07-17-2009, 10:50 PM

I try to buy what is in season and on sale. The discount racks that I've seen lately are beyond discount. They're outright rotten sometimes.

But I have done the math and one bad pepper in a pack of 4 is still a bargain so I will bring it home and make stir fry lol. I have yet to visit our local farmers market, it may cost more but its supporting our local farms (no offence to the fine farmers of USA as thats where all our fruits/veggies come from all year around in the big chain grocery stores). I also shop in the asian grocery stores...yes its not as pretty but pretty won't feed me so every lil bit more my buck goes...I'm going for it!

Not a big fan of canned veggies except for corn. Frozen I'm ok with but I find the liquid that the canned variety comes in has this tinny taste to it. Blech!

**cab54** · 07-18-2009, 11:33 AM

I am pretty much at the mercy of the stores up here. There is a farmer's market in town on Thursdays, and the stuff is great, but no cheaper.

DH and I have started to eat healthier, too, (for health reasons) so lots of produce is of utmost importance. So, sometimes I just have to buy what they have and pay what they want.

At least we have cut some 'baddies' from our grocery list, and substituted fruits and veggies. It comes out about the same.

**WV_mom_of2** · 07-21-2009, 03:22 PM

I don't have alot of choice here. My family prefers most fruits and veggies raw so I pay what I have to. We have one grocery store near us and their produce sucks! 1.89 for a head of lettuce that is usually rotten on the bottom. Cucumbers that are shriveled and hard, etc. So I travel to the next town (40 minutes away) and I buy what we will eat. Eating in season is great if your family likes what is in season. I do try to shop sales and buy at the store that has the cheapest prices that week.

I try to always have apples, bananas, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and lettuce on hand. I have a small garden but it's not doing much with all the rain we've had. When on sale I buy grapes, cantalopes, celery, squash, etc.

I also keep some canned fruit on hand for weeks when money is tight or I can't get to the next town for produce.

**tracyq** · 07-24-2009, 11:26 AM

I just went to a BIG Farmer's Market here last Saturday that I've wanted to go to for a long time. They're there Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday early mornings until noon. It was INCREDIBLE!!!

The prices were SO much cheaper, and it was neat to support our local farmers. I was really happy to be there, and though I'm sure I could have done better, I'm a work in progress with learning. I was happy to save some money, and get a lot of great produce!!!

Tracy Q.