I wanted to write up a post on how to save money on produce for a long time. We just go through SO much produce all year round, that much of my food budget goes to fruits and vegetables!
Plus, what kind of Mother would ration produce from her children? This one has!
My kids play hard! They all play sports and they play year round. This past weekend we had about 12 different games and 2 tournaments. It is hot in Texas, again, almost year round. Water and gatorade are awesome but many times they just crave cold fruit! They have fruit and vegetables in their lunches each day, they have it as a snack after school, we have it with dinner and again for a snack…
Each morning we eat 1-2 cantaloupes, plus below is what I cut up this weekend to put in the cooler and take to the games. And there is always frozen fruit and fresh greens for juicing and smoothies.
There are also not very many coupons for fruits and vegetables! How do I save money on produce? A few different ways.
By finding some coupons. Target occasionally has Target store coupons for produce, WATCH for them! You can also type “produce” into the coupon database and see what is available. Here are some that are there today:
- $0.55/1 Fresh Express Packaged Salad, exp. 6/10/13 (SS 03/10/13)
- $0.75/1 Fresh Express Caesar Kit printable
- $1 off Klondike Rose Potatoes wyb Johnny’s Seasoning Salt printable
- $0.50 off Vidalia Onions printable
- B1G1 Yucatan Guacamole Product printable
- $0.55/1 Mann’s Fresh Cut Vegetables printable
Find a discount grocer: Thankfully, we just had an Aldi’s open near us and I have been able to get some awesome deals there. they are a little farther away, but worth the drive a few times a week.
Start a fruit and Veggie Co-Op: This might be scary, and you might not think about doing it yourself, but if I can do it you can easily! Find the closest grocery district and check the prices and quality of the different grocers, get a group together and develop a schedule. Click HERE for how we did ours.
Looking for Organics?: Many grocery stores carry a big variety now, so you can start there. Also check out Local Harvest to see what is in your area as far as farmers markets go. I LOVE farmers markets! The veggies and fruits always seem to taste better and look better! Let your kids pick out things they have never had before to try.
Farmers Market or Grocers Market: We have a number of farmers markets in our area. But if I want to do some driving I can head into downtown to the actual grocers markets where the restaurants and stores buy their produce. It is a really cool experience, and you can save a lot of money, but I just don’t have the time to do it!
Start a garden: You can read about how that went for me in my mushroom compost post. Ok it did get better. See the beautiful produce above? That came from my garden one year. If you have the space and the time, I highly suggest it. First, it really does not cost you much. Second, it is good exercise, and third, it is soooo good for the kids to watch, take care and learn how to grow their own food.
Finally, when it comes down to it, I have rationed my kids. There is no reason for us to go through 8 pounds of blueberries in 30 minutes (true story) and 5 cantaloupes a day at $2 each! Sometimes I even have to hide stuff and bring it out when I can make sure we don’t eat an entire bag of Cuties between the 2,4 and 6 year old before the big kids get home and have some!
I would love to know what you do to save on produce!?
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
ALDI has pineapple and strawberries for $.99, Mango for $.39 each.
When ALDI or the 99cent store has their strawberries on sale for $.99, I buy a lot, clean them up and freeze them whole on a baking sheet.
That way we have fruit for smoothies in winter.
We also freeze cut up pineapple. (only when it is $.99), blueberries, mango.
Don’t forget that you can price match AlIDI’s ad at Wal-Mart if it is closer. I do it all the time even with the produce!
Actually they won’t let u do it bc it’s a discount store they say my experience at porter Walmart near humble
Since we moved up to Utah I’ve started doing Bountiful Baskets each week. The regular basket is $15 and the organic is $25 (still an awesome deal, especially for those “dirty dozen” fruits and veggies). They just put a couple of sites in Houston but I’m not sure if they do it every week there like they do here.
They also have add on items each week like cases of oranges, strawberries, and apricots for an awesome price.
We have set our produce budget for around $100 a week, but we eat a LOT of produce. With BB we haven’t had to ration anything. If fact Dan will take three to four organic oranges with him to work and I don’t lecture him because they were so inexpensive and it keeps him from buying soda. We have had lots of greens and little produce treats that I wouldn’t normally buy because of the cost (cherry tomatoes, baby watermelon, etc)
Of course during the fall I do the apple buy through Azure Standard because I’m kind of a stickler for organic produce. We usually get various types (including the expensive honeycrisp) for around $1 lb.
I also watch the sales circulars and stock up on “clean” conventional produce and cheap organic produce. Like the .69 lb organic fuji apples at Sprouts this week. Using the clean 15 and dirty dozen lists save me money and help me feel better about the kids eating certain conventional produce.
There was a blog ($100 a month, I think) where the lady will go around to her grocery stores and ask them for the produce that will be thrown out so she can feed her chickens. She has found that many times the produce she gets is still good and she will feed her family the good stuff and the chickens get the scraps. We don’t do it, but it is just a thought for those who may be brave enough to ask.
The last thing I do to save on produce is to preserve after we’ve stocked up. I have canned mangoes, pineapple, apples, etc without sugar so they are a quick, healthy snack. I invested in a quality dehydrator (Excalibur 9 tray) that I use to make fruit leather, kale chips and dried fruit. Last week we got a case of tomatoes from BB and my kids have been munching on “tomato candy” for the last week.
AWESOME! I knew you would have some great advice Lindsay! I miss you!
In Texas we have a year round organic produce coop. http://Www.yourhealthsource.org. You can save money by hosting, but even if you are just a regular member you can save 10-15.00 over stores organic produce.
They also have a health food dry goods list with over 500 products from vitamins, organic grains, spices, toothpaste, and Eco safe cleaners. If your in Tx, look it up. If there is not already a group in your area, and you can get 15 people to join, you can start your own group. http://www.yourhealthsource.org
I feel so guilty about having to ration out the good snacks. My daughter can eat a whole bag of cuties at a time. At 5.50 a bag it is not often in my budget. I have started driving in the opposite direction of my regular shopping trip just to go to Aldi’s. I can still shop at the other stores and Aldi’s saves me 2/3 rds of what I would have spent on produce at the grocery store. Last week I spent 13.00 versus the 40.00 I would have spent elsewhere.
Sprouts has very good sale on Produce. They are less expensive and good quality. Last week Mangos and Red bell peppers are 3 for $1. Green beans .49. Avacados 4 for $1. This week Strawberries .99, Pineapple $1.
Maybe I missed it, but I dont think you metioned price matching at Walmart. Just last week, I got 12 oranges for $2! Walmart has them for $.50 each! So, I practically saved $4 just on my oranges. I got watermelon for almost half the price.
Here in MI we have a store called Joe Randazzo’s (it sounds similar to what you said about the restaurant grocer) I also hit the clearance aisle at HILLER’s market ( I can get still good items-just a bit “ripe” so we eat them first or for baking) and finally the farmer’s market/our own garden
Driscolls.com… purchase strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries- go to the website, do berry surveys and rate your purchase/experience, after you have done a certain number of surveys (I believe it is 2) they send you a link to coupons off your next purchase!
HEB almost always has blackberries or strawberries on sale so we get whichever one is on sale. I don’t price match fruit to Walmart because our Walmart fruit is AWFUL and we end up throwing it out. I don’t know how all their produce can be so bad, but it is. So we stick to HEB. BUT, an Aldi’s is opening up soon in our neighborhood, so I will check them out!