Fresh Produce

[cardtrick]

Just got back from the store with a bunch of fruits and veggies for eating and jucing.

10 lbs carrots
2.59 lb pineapple
3.75 lb navel oranges
2 big bunches of celery
5 lb grapefruit
8 lb juice oranges
1.5 lb kale
3.5 lb spinach
4.25 lb gala apples

All in cost was $25.07. No coupons were used. Paid with a 3% cash back credit card. Eating healthy is so much cheaper, at least where I live.

Cheap? Outrageously pricey? What do you think?

[disneysteve]

Eating healthy is so much cheaper

I say this all the time, though there are those who disagree. There have been a few threads on the topic.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

10 lbs carrots
2.59 lb pineapple
3.75 lb navel oranges
2 big bunches of celery
5 lb grapefruit
8 lb juice oranges
1.5 lb kale
3.5 lb spinach
4.25 lb gala apples

All in cost was $25.07.


Looks similar to Aldi's. I don't think Aldi's ever has kale, but they have everything else.

Happy eating.

[cardtrick]

10 lbs carrots
2.59 lb pineapple
3.75 lb navel oranges
2 big bunches of celery
5 lb grapefruit
8 lb juice oranges
1.5 lb kale
3.5 lb spinach
4.25 lb gala apples

All in cost was $25.07.


Looks similar to Aldi's. I don't think Aldi's ever has kale, but they have everything else.

Happy eating.

Thanks. The produce at Aldi's here looks so lifeless here. I go to a produce only store (they have a few other items) that moves a lot of produce so I know I'm getting very fresh stuff.

The OJ I made this morning was absolutely orgasmic! You just can't find that taste in a bottle.

[cardtrick]

I say this all the time, though there are those who disagree. There have been a few threads on the topic.

Maybe with couponing, you can get slightly cheaper prices on the unhealthy stuff. I used to go weeks eating only Ramen in college (Ramen + free food at university events). $1 a day would feed me. How do you beat that, without accounting for health costs?

[HalfDozenDaily]

I agree, Steve.. honestly I never understand those who say it's "too expensive" to eat healthy. I eat organic meats & veggies mostly, and it's *still* cheaper than most fast/junk foods!

[HalfDozenDaily]

Also, never in my lifetime have I see a coupon for produce. lol!! Do they actually have those!?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Produce coupons: Last winter several times I found $0.50 coupons for clementine oranges, California grown. I found them once this this year, but have not looked for a couple weeks.

Some organic growers' co-op, also out of CA, puts out coupons once in a while. Sorry, can't think of the name.

Other than that, a close eye on your area stores is the best bet. Our store sometimes has manger's specials on produce. Those can be half the regular price, but unadvertised, as it is only in a single outlet of a chain grocery.

Cardtrick, I remember the first Aldi's I went to had pitiful produce, mostly. And that store smelled bad....But all other Aldi's have been decent.

[pretty cheap jewelry]

Maybe I am lucky but the big (but not super size) grocer near me has GREAT mark downs on fruit and veggies. These are just the things with red sticker 'Manager Special' on them. Sometimes just bagged stuff, sometimes those pre-washed pre-cut things. Examples:

box mushrooms 1/2 off
bag of 2 pomegranates $1
browned banana bunch $1 (peel, slice and freeze for smoothies)
bag of ready pac lettuces $1 or so

The bakery rack is also really good, most stores have if you get there before 5pm. Get the whole grain stuff. Can't remember when I last bought full price bread (years).

[hamchan]

Your experience isn't universal. I would easily pay twice as much here. The carrots alone would be 8-10$. The apples would be 9 for that type.

Some prices I have recently paid for non organic, nothing special produce. Over $10 for 8 medium sized apples. $6 for a 3# bag of oranges. Almost $7 for 2 lbs of plain old green grapes. And that will be gone in a week or less. That's not nearly all of the produce we would buy for a week. In contrast I just got a regular sized decent brand frozen pizza for $2.99. I can almost always find them for that price or less. We'd be spending a lot less if we ate less healthy foods on a regular basis.

[marvholly]

I am lucky to live in an area where I have 3 produce markets, several ethnic markets, 2 Aldi and 2 independent full service markets. ALL generally have GREAT prices/sales on healthy things I want/need. This week steak, avocados, pineapple, clementines, bananas. Next week prob chicken & ? veggies & fruit (ads come later today).

this excludes the dollar stores and national/regional chains. I seldom hit the natl/regional chains. This may vchange when I get a FULL service Walmart & Marianos nearby next year.

Yes, grocery shopping takes 3-4 hours when I add in CVS & Walgreens BUT the round trip milage is only 15 miles. It is SOOOO worth it to me.

[hamchan]

We don't have a car either, so that really limits our realistic options. The Asian market is cheaper for many things, but not produce.

[bUU]

Your experience isn't universal. I would easily pay twice as much here. The carrots alone would be 8-10$. The apples would be 9 for that type.

I suspect that your prices and mine are probably closer to each other than either is to the OP's. However, beyond that, I question whether consideration of the least expensive portions of regular expenses is a reasonable way of looking at the whole. I'm a vegetarian, but even I would balk at the idea of living solely off the protein from kale and spinach.

Some prices I have recently paid for non organic, nothing special produce. Over $10 for 8 medium sized apples. $6 for a 3# bag of oranges. Almost $7 for 2 lbs of plain old green grapes. And that will be gone in a week or less. That's not nearly all of the produce we would buy for a week. In contrast I just got a regular sized decent brand frozen pizza for $2.99. I can almost always find them for that price or less. We'd be spending a lot less if we ate less healthy foods on a regular basis.

The dirty little secret is that food processors truly can make nutrition and food energy available at lower prices than we can manage ourselves, though not every processed food choice is necessarily less expensive than every non-processed food choice. You have to be strategic with processed food choices just like you need to choose produce that is reasonably priced instead of filling the cart with the expensive imported fruits and vegetables which cost substantially more than carrots and apples.

Having said that, the long-term "costs" of capitalizing on more affordable processed food is an open question.

[figuringmoneyout]

Eating healthier is usually cheaper.... if you know how to cook and prepare healthy foods. For a lot of people who claim the opposite they have a lot of waste and the costs add up so it's cheaper for them to buy junk foods that can just sit around for a long time. I love buying fresh produce and have a bunch of places within five minutes of me that sell cheap and sometimes discounted produce.

[bUU]

Eating healthier is usually cheaper.... if you know how to cook and prepare healthy foods.

And have the spare time necessary to make convenience have little or no worth to you.