Cheapest Way to Five a Day.

Puddleglum

We too get a weekly veg box from Riverford and it is excellent. I like the variety and being kept on my toes with how and what to cook. If and when we have a bit of money to spare I will add in a fruit box. Fruit is not often bought here atm but I still have a bit of soft fruit in the freezer from last year which is handy for puds.

natlie

Hi we buy

Fruit

Pears and Apples for the girls lunchboxes

Melon - when on offer

tinned pineapple - lots of waste on fresh pineapple we buy sainsburys value - they are good

Clementines/mandarines etc in season (winter) and when on offer

Strawberries - we have 80 plants in the garden for summer buy early british ones in April/May don't buy foreign ones

Raspberries - we do pick your own from end of july on local farm and freeze, we do buy now and again if offer is good

Currants - redcurrants, blackcurrants etc - also only when in season on pick your own and freeze

Bananas - nearly always fairtrade

lemon - ALDI

Grapefruit - tinned its always cheap nice for brekkie in the summer

Veg

Peas Frozen and we grow our own for summer
Sweetcorn always green giant on offer
Tomatoes Aldi - rarely only OH eats them, cucumber, lettuce, spring onions, radish, peppers again we grow your own on these buy do buy as we eat a lot of salad
green beans - on offer
potatoes - grow our own summertime but but sacks from farm shop
carrots - grow and buy
broc - buy rarely
onions - red - value onions
cauli - my daughter loves cauli but we only buy when its cheap - the farmer down the road from us gives the mis-shapes to other farms for animal food last year we managed to get a free crate of cauli which was to be pig munch

Frozen fruit for smoothies etc

We eat a lot of fruit and veg - I am veggie and the girls school has a healthy eating policy and they are not allowed treats in their lunchboxes, most of our shopping is veg and fruit we spend less on meat and snacks

I don't buy expensive things like nectarines, plums, peaches, grapes etc as I find they rot too quickly, if we do buy them we get them tinned

Nat

mummyroysof3

i buy apples, little oranges, bananas every week and something else too depends on what the kids fancy could be pears/stawberries/grapes. veg wise we dont eat much really so buy peas and sweetcorn frozen, potatoes and carrots and sometimes cabbage, spouts, onions plus salad stuff

catkins

Do you have a market near you? I find they are by far the cheapest for fruit and veg and some stalls sell off their produce very cheaply when it is closing time.

I buy most of my fruit and veg in markets but also will use Tesco, Asda and Lidl - I look to see what they have on offer or if they have any yellow stickered items.

Both me and OH are vegetarian so we eat tons of veg. I normally buy:

potatoes
onions - red and white
cabbage - red, white and savoy
cauliflower
broccoli
carrots
parsnips
peppers - red and orange
brussel sprouts
courgettes
green beans
sugar snap peas
spinach
mushrooms - small ones and often the large ones
tomatoes - cherry, on the vine and large
cucumber
beetroot - cooked and uncooked
watercress
lettuce - 2 types
celery
spring onions
radishes


bananas
apples
pears
tangerines
grapes
raspberries (when in season)
strawberries " " "

blackandwhitebunny

I buy all my fruit and most veg from our local market, spending between £12 and £20 a week. I also buy £10 worth for my neighbour who can't get there herself.
This morning for £13 I got:
A huge pineapple (twice the size of any in Sains)
A punnet of strawberries
A punnet of red grapes
8 peaches
7 nectarines
10 or so satsuma type oranges X 2
6 apples
6 pears
2 punnets cherry toms on the vine (an interesting dark red variety)
2 large peppers
lettuce
a cucumber
a bunch of radishes
a cauliflower
2Lbs of plums
6 bananas
and three free bunches of flowers
We've bought from the same people for several years so have a good relationship with them, so we often get extras and freebies. We always have extra in our bags, so 8 peaches for a pound instead of five. If we're later in the day I sometimes get freebies or they'll give us a deal if I want a whole box of cherries or a tray of peaches (£4.00 for 30 a few weeks ago) which I split with the neighbours.
My DH is a fruit bat:rotfl:he has salad for lunch everyday and then 3 to 4 pieces of fruit and a fruit box with things like pineapple pieces and kiwifruit pieces.
I grow lots of salad stuff (at the moment I'm mixing home grown spicy type lettuce with bought stuff for variety) quite a few veg, mainly beans, peas, broadbeans etc and freeze a fair amount. We haven't got a big garden but I've got several raised beds and manage to freeze enough beans for several months from about 6 tubs, we also have 3 apple trees, 2 plum trees, 2 cherries and a pear tree squeezed in and some fruit bushes. I normally raid the PYO farms later in the year and freeze a fair amount form them.

Confuzzled

skiTTish wrote: »

Frozen veg ,same vitamin content ( in most cases) and soooo much cheaper!!
and if you dont use it ,it does not go off
We get a bag of frozen broccoli ,cauli ,peas ,sweetcorn ,green beans ,mushrooms ,peppers .All a pound or less
Think we spend less than a tenner every 2 weeks on veg and we have atleast 3 portions a day each

i'm a big fan of frozen veg too (frozen fruit has more limited uses, usually something sugary so i rarely buy it) you can even get nice blends of veggies fairly cheap (beyond carrots peas and cauliflower!) actually if you have a farm foods check their selection, i know for a fact their pepper selection is far cheaper than the amoutn of mixed peppers i could buy fresh.

i don't have a farm foods near me now but asda has the mixed peppers cheap enough too and they are fine in cooked meals (obviously not for salads though!). if you have issues with time or detexrity or standing up you can even get chopped onions and cabbage frozen and it's not too bad (rarely use these myself). the only thing i def prefer fresh is brocolli because the frozen gets really watery but most frozen veg is fine if you plan to cook the veg anyway.

lauracusack

We are trying to live more healthily and up our f&v intake beyond 5-a-day with a strong focus on raw food. I usually alternate between asda and tesco, but find the fruit can seem expensive as can some veggies, but to as lesser extent. I'm also not sure about the prices of whole foods like dried beans or bags of dates. Should I be shopping elsewhere? What's the best way to save while still buying lots of fresh foods?

Dunroamin

Try your local greengrocer or market.

Sequeena

Do you have a local market? It's cheaper, fresher and you get more.

You could grow some of your own things too. Herbs, lettuce etc.

lauracusack

There is a market about 10 miles from here is Newcastle, but I don't know if it's cheap. Do they all tend to be cheaper than the supermarkets?