Fresh Produce Prices

jillsjourney

If you have an Aldi's near you , it is really worth the time to go. I found baby carrots for $.39 each and green peppers for $.49 and everything else is just as cheap. Aldi's has a double your money back guarantee. If you don't like it, they will refund double the purchase price.

Firefox7275

I went into the store tonight to get some fresh veggies. OMG everything has tripled in price from a week ago! There were signs up that said due to the drought in Florida blah blah blah..... holy crap how can you afford $4.99 a lb for lettuce, apples, grapes, zucchini! I left with some bananas and strawberries.

How do you eat healthy with prices getting like they are?????

I eat frozen, dried, canned as well as fresh, pick my fresh fruit and vegetables carefully according to what is most nutritious and reasonably priced as well as personal taste. Also I shop around, go somewhere different every week or two weeks depending what stocks are getting low and what is best priced. Salad leaves and soft fruits tend to be pricey because they are easily attacked by insects and fungus, so there is a lot of waste at every stage from farm to plate.

Consider pricing things up per 100g in a notebook or on your smartphone if you have one so you are making a fair comparison, some items are ten or even twenty times the price of others. Also bulk buy long lasting items, if I can get through 4kg red onions, 2kg fresh carrots and a whole red cabbage living alone anyone can and these are all super cheap here in the UK.

AmyBoogie

Not that this helps anyone here and now
We have a garden but even if you don't, produce is cheaper in the summer months when it's plentiful and fresh. In the garden we over produce for our needs and we can or freeze. Even now if you see there is a really excellent sale on something that you eat a lot of like broccoli or spinach, jump on it and freeze some.

We still buy some fresh in the stores but it's greatly reduced by what we've produced ourselves. I have bought store bought tomato sauce or pickles in a long time. This all means money in our budget so that the higher prices don't always hurt so much.

If you have even a small amount of space for a window box of say 6 inches by 2 feet you can grow a modest amount of lettuce or spinach indoors. I know it's hard in small apartments to find space but it's pretty cool that you can rent community gardens and such to make up for it in the summer.

IslandDreamer64

Some things I buy frozen, and produce is frequently on sale, you just have to shop around or read through the grocery store ads. Aldi's is also a good choice, although the produce at my local Aldi's isn't that great.

millipedey

I hate how much fresh produce is! I live next to a supermarket but can't get to little markets or anything like that, and I don't have enough space in a shared freezer for a bag of frozen veg, so I have to spend so much on fresh!! And canned fruit is so much cheaper, but the value versions seem to be in syrup rather than juice

RaineyLaney

I am having the same problem here. Not quite as bad as you, but the prices are starting to really jump. The local kroger had romaine lettuce (3 stalks) for $5.89. I laughed and walked away. I checked other stuff out at Kroger (I only havea Kroger and Walmart here to shop and an aldi's a half hr away). I didn't buy anything but a bag of radishes at Kroger. Then I went to walmart (which I despise terribly). There romain lettuce (3 stalks was $2.89) what I conceder to be the normal price. I did notice other stuff jumping up though. Walmart wanted $4.99 for a 16oz container of strawberrys. I walked away. I ended up buying a few banana's at 52 cents a lb. They wanted way too much for any of their fruits. (and I needed t buy fruit too). I ended up getting a few jars of Polar fruit in light syrup. The nutritional values were really good and each jar was 2 servings. Cost $1.00 a jar (so 50 cents a fruit serving) Pretty bad, I had to go that route than get fresh fruit. Grapes were also outrages at both Kroger and Walmart ($2.99 lb).
I also went to Aldi's yesterday and bought a bit of veggies (cukes, baby carrots, mushrooms, oranges,) this was on sale. I have to agree with other posts. Aldi's has come a long way with the fruits and veggies in the last couple years. Looks nice, tastes fresh and the prices are great.

brower47

Most parts of the country have fresh fruit and vegetable coops. In my area, and several others, there's a program called "Bountiful Baskets". For 16.50, I get an entire large laundry basket of fresh produce. It varies every week, depending on what they can get. It's run by volunteers and I haven't had any bad luck yet. Last week I got:

6 Large Oranges
3 Lemons
2 Pomegranates
1 Pineapple
1 Bag of carrots
2 Heads of Leaf Lettuce
1 Bag of Parsnips
5 Avocados (I hope I get more this week)
6 Bananas
6 HUGE Granny Smith apples
1 Bag celery
1 Large Clamshell of Strawberries
6 Huge Russet Potatoes
3 Pomelos (never even had one before)
4 Asian Pears
1 Bag Red Grapes

And a bit more that I can't remember off hand. I get to grab my next basket in a few hours. It's always fun to see what I get next. My grocery bills have been so much lower since I started this and I eat way more fresh fruits and veggies. It's awesome. If your area doesn't have this specific one, there are others. For example, someone one MPF told me yesterday that her area has "Community Helpings" and it is in the ST Louis, South/Central Illinois area. So do some research and maybe you could find something like this too.