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The following is a guest post by Yolanda. Yolanda blogs at Cuponeando, a blog dedicated to highlighting coupons and deals in the Spanish language. Enjoy!
One of the true and proven track records when saving money on groceries is to buy fruits and vegetables that are in season! Why? Because this is the best time to get them at great prices from your local grocery store or farmer’s market.
Here is some of the produce that you can peaks in Fall: Acorn Squash, Apples, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Butter Lettuce, Butternut Squash, Cauliflower, Chayote Squash, Cranberries, Garlic, Ginger, Grapes, Guava, Huckleberries, Jalapeno Peppers, Mushrooms, Passion Fruit, Pear, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Pumpkin, Sweet Potatoes, Swiss Chard, Turnips and Winter Squash.
My top 5 tips to save money when buying fruits and vegetables in season are:
- Check the tags at the grocery stores. Most grocery stores will display where the produce comes from. Have you seen those “Imported from Chile” signs? Buy locally grown produce and save $$.
- Check with the produce manager at your local grocery store to find out when they start their markdowns. Most of the time you can get perfectly good produce at much lower prices!
- If you can spare a few additional minutes in the kitchen, wash your own lettuce, peel carrots and dice your veggies. This can save you 30% – 60% for just 5 minutes of work.
- When buying prepackaged bags of produce, weigh them! Not all bags weigh the same. Also check that there are no bruised or spoiled spots in the bag.
- To get maximum savings, take advantage when your local grocery store has these on sale and stock up, yes stock up! You can freeze the produce or prepare a dish in advanced and freeze it for those busy nights when you don’t feel like cooking.
As with coupons, keep in mind though, buy what you’ll use or freeze because otherwise you are literally throwing away money.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Please stop over by Yolanda’s blog Cuponeando. If you have been looking for a blog that covers deals in Spanish please consider subscribing to her blog.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Watch for $/$ coupons for your grocery store produce department and do separate transactions for the total needed. (i.e. buy only $5 worth of apples and use the $2/$5 coupon to get them for $3) I love my Giant of PA and Food Lion because I can often find these printables for their stores. Combining the coupon with a great sale will get you great produce prices. Also, many consumers are unaware that veggies and fruits from your freezer section often have a higher nutritional value than those in the produce section because they are flash frozen so soon after being picked. By the time you get produce home and get a chance to use it, especially after waiting for it to be marked down, it may still be fresh but the nutrients are no longer as high as when it was picked. With a great sale and coupons, frozen veggies/fruits can be purchased REALLY cheap. This week at Weis I got Birds Eye veggies for $.50 per bag.
My grocery store NEVER has discounts on older fruits/veggies. Every banana is either green or perfectly yellow without a hint of brown. What do you think they do with the browning bananas? Why wouldn’t they sell them at a discount?
My grocer frequently has sales on produce like green/red peppers, onions, and various berries. All these can be easily frozen for long term storage. Berries can be frozen whole but I usually slice strawberries before freezing. Peppers, onions, and squash should be sliced/diced before storing in the freezer.
Great tips – a lot of them are new to me. I especially like the one about asking an employee when produce is going to be marked down – clever!
In addition to buying veggies and fruit in season to save money, I simply compare prices and see what is on sale. I also go for produce that is easy to prepare, like squash (split it open, slice a tbsp of butter in each half and bake) or sweet potatoes (cube, toss with oil or butter, and bake).