Holy Produce Bill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else pretty astounded by the amount they spend on produce for their young children? My 3 kids easily eat 90 dollars worth of produce a week. Blueberries, strawberries, mangos, green and yellow peppers, apples, corn (although thats pretty cheap), sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas etc all add up pretty quickly in this house. And Im not even talking whole foods premium here, do a mix between TJ and farmers market.

So, each kid eats $4.30 worth of fruit and vegetables per day?

Kids is expensive.

When you break it down like that, it doesn't seem so bad. It's the aggregate that's overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way I deal with it is that my kids don't get quite that much choice--so one week it's blueberries and raspberries, the next it's grapes and strawberries, etc. They don't need 12 types of fruit to choose from.

Me too.

I don't get how this solves the problem. It's about quantity of fruit consumed.

If I only bought one fruit a week, they would just eat more of that fruit that week. I'd just be buying more of that one fruit rather than less of several different fruits.

My examples might not have been great, but it solves the problem because you can only buy what is on sale that week and spend less than buying smaller amounts of several full-priced items.

Also, to the anti-coupon poster, I guarantee there are things that you buy that you can use coupons on, and you can use the money you save there to offset the cost of produce. Surely you use toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, trash bags, aluminum foil, toothpaste....

[Anonymous]

Make sure you buy in season produce! That keeps the cost down considerably.

[Anonymous]

Try to find a good Asian market. I go to one up the street from me- a pint of blueberries is $1.29 vs $3.99, avocados are $1.20 apiece vs. $1.75 apiece. Vine tomatoes .99 cents/lb, grape tomatoes $1.29 pint.Not everything is cheaper than the grocery store but some of it is WAY cheaper and makes a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Nothing is going to be a deal at a farmers market, it will be fresh & local but not budget friendly. I think you would be surprised at how much your really paying vs what you think the whole foods premium is. We buy all of our fruit at Costco, its cut our bill in half and some weeks 2/3rd.

[Anonymous]

Yep, mine can eat their weight in fruit daily (or so it seems) and I've never been so aware of the fluctuating berry commodity!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try to find a good Asian market. I go to one up the street from me- a pint of blueberries is $1.29 vs $3.99, avocados are $1.20 apiece vs. $1.75 apiece. Vine tomatoes .99 cents/lb, grape tomatoes $1.29 pint.Not everything is cheaper than the grocery store but some of it is WAY cheaper and makes a huge difference.

+1. H-Mart is good and there are several in VA. The quality might be a bit worse (although I've seen some DISGUSTING produce at Safeway) but prices are so cheap, it's totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to find a good Asian market. I go to one up the street from me- a pint of blueberries is $1.29 vs $3.99, avocados are $1.20 apiece vs. $1.75 apiece. Vine tomatoes .99 cents/lb, grape tomatoes $1.29 pint.Not everything is cheaper than the grocery store but some of it is WAY cheaper and makes a huge difference.

+1. H-Mart is good and there are several in VA. The quality might be a bit worse (although I've seen some DISGUSTING produce at Safeway) but prices are so cheap, it's totally worth it.

I'm the Op of that comment. I tried one Asian market and yea the quality was bad enough I didn't want to buy anything. But the one I go to is <1 year old, very clean, and the produce quality is pretty darn good. It can take some hunting to find a good one, but when you do it saves a lot of money!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way I deal with it is that my kids don't get quite that much choice--so one week it's blueberries and raspberries, the next it's grapes and strawberries, etc. They don't need 12 types of fruit to choose from.

Me too.

I don't get how this solves the problem. It's about quantity of fruit consumed.

If I only bought one fruit a week, they would just eat more of that fruit that week. I'd just be buying more of that one fruit rather than less of several different fruits.

It's also about the type of produce consumed. Clementines in season are cheap. Bananas are cheap. Carrots are cheap. Berries in season are expensive. Berries out of season are extremely expensive.

[Anonymous]

We are another family that sticks to costco for fruit. Not that we don't buy other stuff, but given the quantities of fruit we eat, costco seems cheapest (we don't have aldi closeby so I can't speak for that). I am pretty sure we recouped our membership fees from fruit alone.


But the key is to know what you will eat and not waste anything. We got a good handle on that so it is extremely rare for us to throw any fruit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way I deal with it is that my kids don't get quite that much choice--so one week it's blueberries and raspberries, the next it's grapes and strawberries, etc. They don't need 12 types of fruit to choose from.

Me too.

I don't get how this solves the problem. It's about quantity of fruit consumed.

If I only bought one fruit a week, they would just eat more of that fruit that week. I'd just be buying more of that one fruit rather than less of several different fruits.

My examples might not have been great, but it solves the problem because you can only buy what is on sale that week and spend less than buying smaller amounts of several full-priced items.

Also, to the anti-coupon poster, I guarantee there are things that you buy that you can use coupons on, and you can use the money you save there to offset the cost of produce. Surely you use toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, trash bags, aluminum foil, toothpaste....

I'm the PP you responded too. Thanks for explaining. You're right about just buying whatever fruit is on sale or in season!

And I'm not anti/coupon! I'd love it if they started offering coupons for apples.

[Anonymous]

I also felt bad about our grocery bills (lots of produce, much of it organic), but then we went on vacation. Do you have any idea of what it would cost if you were eating out multiple times a week? I figure if we don't go out to eat, we are saving money, even if I am splurging on cherries and berries and organic red bell peppers (holy moly). Carrots and sweet potatoes don't seem that expensive to me, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way I deal with it is that my kids don't get quite that much choice--so one week it's blueberries and raspberries, the next it's grapes and strawberries, etc. They don't need 12 types of fruit to choose from.

+1 it took me a while to figure this out, but now this is what I do too. Two fruits that are on sale plus bananas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure you buy in season produce! That keeps the cost down considerably.

+1. And bananas are dirt cheap. We eat a lot of bananas. Not as healthy as having a variety, but what can you do...

[Anonymous]

FWIW, costco produce seems to stay fresh longer as well. Berries will last longer-I am sure about that. Ones from the grocery store seem to mold in 2-3 days.