Eating high-carb, plant-based whole foods, mostly fruits and vegetables, can get expensive depending on what I’m eating. Here’s how I save money on fruits and vegetables.
First, I keep my shopping lists flexible. If grapes are on sale, I might buy grapes instead of melons. If you’re heart is set on something, by all means, buy it. But take advantage of sales when you can.
Also, keep an eye out for marked down “overripe” or “blemished” produce. Bananas are often marked down when they start to get a few brown marks, or are just starting to spot. In actuality, they’re barely starting to ripen. Lots of other fruits and vegetables are marked down similarly, sometimes deeply discounted. As much of a cliche as “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is, people still don’t practice it. Food has to look pretty, and unfortunately, a lot of the prettiest looking food in the supermarket is the most bland and unripe. Look out for produce markdowns.
It’s hard to rely on markdowns, though. They’re fairly sporadic. The best money saving strategy, especially if you can plan ahead and have even a little storage space or go through large quantities is buying in bulk. If you’re in a large metro area, there might be a wholesale produce terminal. There isn’t one in the Seattle area, unfortunately. But to get an idea of what to expect if there is on in your area, here’s a video by John Kohler about the Los Angeles produce terminal.
Even without a produce terminal, there are probably produce wholesalers in your area. Not all of them sell directly to the public, though. If you can get a commercial account, that’s great. Otherwise, give them a call and ask if they do “cash and carry.” Generally, you place an order, and you pay cash when you pick up your produce. Prices change, so make sure you get updated price lists.
There’s a great produce wholesaler in my area, but it’s a bit of a drive. The local grocery store, less than a mile from my door, gets their produce from them and orders for me. There’s a small price markup, but it’s worth it to me not to spend the time and gas money driving out to the wholesaler. And it’s still much cheaper than full retail. The produce manager lets me look through the price lists for what I want.
Buying directly from local farmers is great too. Some things may be cheaper through the wholesaler, while others are cheaper through the farm. Buy in bulk from the farm and usually get a discount as well.
Whatever you choose, get to know the people you’ll be dealing with. Most importantly, treat them very well. People are more likely to help those they like. The farmer I buy a lot of my vegetables from over summer and fall will often hold things for me, or let me in on some awesome deals. At the end of the season, she let me go out into the field and pick whatever collard greens and brussels sprouts were left that I wanted.
The same thing happens with the produce manager at the grocery store in town. A while back, she saw that I was looking at the markdown produce and mentioned that she had a big box of stuff still in the back that she hadn’t put out yet. She gave me an amazing deal on the fruit in the photo below.
Don’t go too crazy if you’re not used to buying produce in bulk. You don’t want your savings to disappear into the compost bin from your produce going bad. Buy what you can use or process for storage, store it appropriately, and eat up.
