How much do you spend on fruits and veggies per week?

amother

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 7:53 am

How much do you spend on fruits and veggies per week and what's your family size and where are you located. I'm in NY so most interested to hear from those that are too but anyone should feel free to respond.
How do you cut down on this expense?
I don't buy expensive fruits like honey crisps or avocado but I still feel like I'm spending too much and would like to hear what others spend.

amother

Blueberry

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 9:04 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I always buy what’s on sale. Example I only buy peaches plums nectarines apples and pears when they’re under $1 a pound. I only buy berries when they’re under 2$ a box. Veggies are heartier and can last longer so I can stock up on hard squashes, potatoes, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes etc. broccoli and cauliflower I only buy on sale (less than 2 a head) I also buy what seasonal (like lots of corn and zucchini in summer for example)

amother

Mistyrose

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 9:07 am

Approx 125. About 80 at the farmers market and then prob another 25-50 throughout the week from other grocery stores. Family of 6. We eat a lot of fruits and veggies. If I purchased everything we needed at a regular grocery store it would probably be closer to 250. Big saving at this market and totally worth the extra stop because we eat so much produce.

amother

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:24 pm

amother [ Blueberry ] wrote:

We week?!?! What on earth do you eat?

2 adults 2 kids. Manhattan. trader joe and farmers market for veggies, a bit of the fruit stand For shabbos fruit. I’d say $40.

$40? What are you buying?
More than 2 kids here but I go through at least
10 oranges
10 apples
10 bananas
10 pears
1 pineapple
1 melon
Bag of cherries or blueberries
5 mangoes
20 kerbies
15 peppers
15 beets
20 kohlrabi
5 sweet potatoes
Bunch of red reddish
10 tomatoes
2 bags frozen broccoli
2 bags frozen cauliflower
2 bags frozen mixed veggies
5 squash
Green beans
1 or 2 bags of baby carrots
Celery
2 Dikon

I'm not even including potatoes, onions or shabbos veggies or fruits for compote. I didn't even think we eat that much fruits and veggies. I just give the kids fruit and veggie salads when they come home in the afternoon and two sides of veggies with supper. We don't waste food and I spend much less on other items.

FranticFrummie

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:32 pm

Wow, OP! I'm so impressed that everyone is eating so much healthy food! Kol hakavod, seriously.

I do my best to eat local and eat in season, but depending on the weather that year, some things are just going to be outrageously high if they had a bad year.

I wish I had more tips for you. I spend the majority of my food budget on fresh fruits and veggies as well, because in the long run it's better for my health than trying to take handfuls of vitamins and supplements. I consider it a medical necessity.

amother

Blueberry

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:43 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

How many kids or people are you feeding?

To me (and my BH small family size) your list seems overwhelmingly large to me. I can hardly fathom it

I wrote above we only buy whats season and/or on sale And plan our menus around that. That’s how I was raised and it’s how I raise my family both by preference and necessity

Average week:
1 bunch bananas ($1)
1 bag of small citrus ($4)
4 boxes of assorted berries for shabbos $6-$8
(It’s my apple or pear season so I don’t tend to buy either in summer
Baby carrots ($2)
Colored peppers: 1.19/each (6-8 pepper a week)
Cucumbers $3 or less
(Things like onions garlic sweet potato aren’t bought weekly since they’re so sturdy and last a long time. Also Things like celery I don’t Ise on regular basis.)
Whatever is on sale: Mushrooms, Green beans etc
(Farmers market)
Huge head romaine $2
Snap peas $4
Radishes $2
Carrots $2
(As corn and zucchini come in season there will be more spent there)

I always buy less than I think I need because food waste (from food gone bad) is an anathema to me

Eta; if you spend less elsewhere then why are you trying to reduce your produce expense. I’m sure it all evens out

amother

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:53 pm

amother [ Blueberry ] wrote:

So I also buy on season, but I guess I should look more for sales. I buy onions and potatoes etc weekly because I go through a lot. I usually make one produce order so I know how much I'm spending. I randomly will buy kiwis or pomegranates but it's not a regular thing.

How often do you eat fruits and veggies and is it more of a snack like an apple here or there or a side?

amother

Leaf

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:55 pm

Two adults and one toddler

$150.00 per week

Fresh produce is something that I don’t scrimp on. For the most part we eat delicious fruit instead of cakes or other snack items. People will spend money for a slice of cake or other dessert item but won’t spend an equivalent amount for wonderful fruit like Rainier cherries or lychees.

I also use convenience stuff like bagged salads and prepped veggies because it makes it easier to incorporate. And we probably eat very large quantities of vegetables like a whole bag of salad for lunch for one person with some protein and other veggies in there. Noshing on cherry tomatoes or a whole red pepper.

Reality

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:56 pm

amother [ Blueberry ] wrote:

You sound like small eaters!

How can one head of lettuce make enough salad for the week? Even if it's large that's two salads.

How is $2 worth of carrots enough for the week? I buy 5-10 lbs of carrots a week. Not including baby carrots.

Same with peppers. 6-8 a week isn't enough if you are making salads multiple times a day.

We eat a lot of produce and it's expensive. I cut back a lot on frozen veggies because it was way too expensive. Even so, we for sure spend close to $100 a week or more on produce when all my kids are home.

gingleale

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 12:59 pm

I spend about 50 a week for a family of 5 at a local produce store. I stick to buying stuff that is in season. We often are runing low by the end of the week and I will make a second smaller trip for produce. Here is this week's list just as an example.

4 boxes strawberries
4 boxes blueberries
10 nectarines
12 peaches
3 mangos
1 pineapple
1/4 watermelon
bag of lemons
4 limes
8 red/green/yellow/orange peppers
4 corn on the cob
2 boxes grape tomataos
4 tomatoes on the vine
2 beefsteak tomatoes
1 pkg persian cuccumbers
8-9 kirby cuccumbers
1 bunch celery
1 bag baby carrots
1 bag romaine
1 bunch celery
1 eggplant
2 zuchinni
3 heads of cauliflower
1-2 lb fresh green beans
3lb yellow onions
4 red potatoes

Last edited by gingleale on Sun, Jun 20 2021, 1:00 pm; edited 1 time in total

mandr

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 1:00 pm

I have no idea. I don’t budget for things like produce. I buy what we eat and I don’t scrimp on such stuff. If I’d have to guess I’d say about $100 a week for two adults and 2 young children. I buy the best, expensive peaches for example, not the ones on sale that would be hit or miss in terms of quality and taste. I also don’t like throwing out so I will buy kiwis in the supermarket at a higher price than a 12 pack from Costco which would certainly be cheaper.

amother

Blueberry

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 1:00 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I guess it’s more of a treat. My husband and 6 year old will happily eat fruit as part of their breakfast, like berries I. Yogurt or a banana or apple with rice cakes. Dinner always has 2 sides: 1 veg and 1 carb. Veg can be assorted cut veggies or a cooked veg. Sometimes both if I over bought. Then of course many veggies are used for cooking (but I also menu plan based on sales, so if mushrooms are 1.50 a box there will be chicken Marsala that week. If cole slaw mix is 1/bag there will be many things with cabbage that week. That’s just how I cook. Only 2/4 of us enjoy eating fruit. We don’t have pre Dinner snack (kids get home too close to dinner; they have non fruit snack on way home from school)

amother

Blueberry

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 1:04 pm

Reality wrote:

Yes we only have green salad (2 of them) for shabbos. We are definitely not small
Eaters though. I can’t fathom eating or using 10lb of carrots a week. We don’t eat baby carrots every day, it’s a fill in. Served alongside protein, carb and other veg. A 2lb bag can easily last us a week or almost.

Amarante

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 5:01 pm

mandr wrote:

If produce isn't excellent quality then it is a huge waste of money because it will just sit uneaten until I have to toss.

I do take issue with your evaluation of Costco produce as many times the quality is higher even than the premium grocery store around me although not as high as the real Farmers" Markets of course. I just got a large quantity of cherries from them and they were very very good. Stone fruit from any source is hit or miss because sometimes it looks good but never ripens properly and sometimes it just is the Platonic ideal of a lush fruit. I find that the white nectarines and peaches tend to be better consistently but sometimes the yellow ones are also divine.

Reality

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 5:09 pm

amother [ Blueberry ] wrote:

I make a lot of soups and roasted vegetable medleys. That uses a lot of carrots.

I'm assuming your kids are young. Tweens and teens eat! And it makes me happy when they are eating fruits and vegetables!

I can't imagine only eating salad on shabbos. My goal is to make a salad every day!

amother

Blueberry

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 5:15 pm

Reality wrote:

Yes kids are small. And I don’t have the time to wash and check lettuce daily (BH work full time job) for salads which is why we only eat it on shabbos. Gd willing in 10 years I’ll have to up my budget (or Pls gd if our family size grows! )