During the summer, we love to eat lots of fresh produce since it's freshly grown, it's at its peak, and it's super yummy. But it can get expensive if you're not careful.
Here are 10 tips on how to save money on fresh produce:
- Buy fruits and vegetables when they are in-season. Typically fruits and vegetables are the cheapest when they are in-season since you save on storage and transportation costs (especially if they are locally grown). At the very least, they will likely last longer and taste fresher than when you buy them out of season.
- Have a rock-bottom price for fruits and veggies. Do you keep a price book? Over a period of time, keep track of individual produce prices to determine your rock-bottom price. You'll likely want to determine a rock-bottom price for in-season and out-of-season for produce you might buy year-round (like apples) to ensure you're paying the best price.
- Shop store sales. Check your store flyers for sales on produce and buy it when it's on sale - especially when it's a loss-leader.
- Use coupons. Although there aren't typically too many coupons for produce, each week you can save 20% off a produce item with a SavingStar rebate (or sometimes with and Ibotta or Checkout 51 rebate). You can also use general coupons such as save $5 when you spend $20 towards produce.
- Shop the Clean 15. If you're worried about pesticides in your food and pay extra for organic, you can save money when you buy non-organic items from the Clean 15 list.
- Ask friends who garden for any excess. If you have friends who garden, ask them if they have any extras. Often friends of ours will bring bags of cucumbers and tomatoes to church to share when it's peak season - they just can't use all the produce that's ripening all at once!
- Shop farmer's markets or roadside stands. You'll want to know your rock-bottom price to see if you're getting a good deal (since not all of them are), but your produce will also likely last longer since it's fresh from the farm. I still salivate when I think about the fresh corn we bought from an Amish roadside stand when we were camping in Ohio - so delicious! Also, find out when/if produce gets marked down later in the day and shop the market then.
- Join a CSA or co-op. If you're adventurous, you can join a co-op where you pay a certain amount to get a box of produce. You usually don't have any control about what produce shows up in your box, so be ready to try some new things and have lots of recipes ready so you can use everything.
- Grow your own garden. If you have the space and the inclination, you could grow your own garden. Be sure to weigh the cost of getting set up, seeds, etc. with the cost of the produce that you plan to grow. You can even grow herbs and veggies in a hanging basket!
- Freeze or can any extras. You can save all the money in the world on produce, but if you let it go bad before you eat it, you won't save any money. So, have a plan for your produce - whether it be lots of great recipes or to freeze or can it before it goes bad.
How do you save on produce?
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