Produce can eat a big chunk of your grocery bill. So,when it comes to buying produce, knowing a few tricks will help you to save. Knowing when, and how to buy fresh produce will cut down on the cost of these items on your grocery bill. Here are some simple tips that will help you to learn how to save on produce:
Buy in Season
When you buy fresh produce for your family, always buy the produce that is in season. You'll see significant savings this way! Find more information about buying in season here.
Make Substitutions
If the produce you want is not in season, consider purchasing the frozen or canned version. An example would be mushrooms. When the price of fresh mushrooms rise, and you are making spaghetti, use canned mushrooms instead, or omit them altogether.
Check the Clearance Bin
Most grocery stores will have a cart, or an area, that has produce on it which are considered past their prime. This does not mean the food is rotten; it may only have some blemishes on it. An example of this would be a bunch of bananas that are neither green nor yellow, but may have some black spots throughout the peel. Normally grocery stores gather a bunch of the same products together and offer them for reduced prices. I often find Bananas, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, eggplant, cauliflower and other fruit and vegetables sold this way when they have blemishes that can easily be removed with a knife.
Plant a garden
Planting a garden is a great way to save on produce. Not only will you have plenty of fresh produce to last all summer, you'll most likely have a ton of produce to freeze or can to last all winter!
U-Pick
Find a few local orchards or farms that offer U-Pick. Picking your own produce directly from a local farm ensures you'll be saving a bundle. It also creates some fun memories if you involve the family!
Weigh Pre-Packaged Produce
When a potato sack says it's 5 pounds worth, it may actually be 5.5 pounds and a different bag may weigh 5.9lbs. So believe it or not, not all pre-packaged produce weighs the same amount. So be sure to weigh those bags and take the one that weighs the most!
Remembering these tips when you're shopping is a great way for you to save money on your grocery bill.
How do you save on fruits and veggies? I’d love to learn from you!
Haha I always weigh prepackaged stuff and I always get weird looks but I don’t mind, it’s a win for me!
Great points! I love the make substitutions idea- this is one that I do sometimes but could probably do more! The one place I do it a lot is for soup recipes that call for celery. We aren’t celery fans and so every time I buy it, I only use a bit and end up having to throw out the rest because it spoils. So I started substituting carrots or potatoes etc. for celery in soup (depends on what I’m making.)
One of the things I like to do is to buy from the grower direct. I know not all areas are able to do this but we live in an area where there are lots of produce stands and often I can get produce much cheaper there- not to mention better quality! I also love to can and freeze fruits and veggies. Then I can buy large quantities of in-season produce at good prices and enjoy it all year long. And believe it or not, preserving isn’t as hard as you might think!
I did not know that about the pre-packaged produce! I will have to pay more attention from now on. Thanks for the tip!