Fruit and Veg Spend

[Deleted User]

my veg is
carrots,leeks,onions potato's lettuce,tomato's cucumber peppers mushrooms.Unless its in season I buy a jar of beetroot.I also like cabbage,brocolli and because they are quite expensive at times, green beens and garden peas I buy frozen as there is less waste
Fruits is always Oranges,apples bananas plums,(tinned or dried prunes if not in season. If in season and on a special offer I will get pineapple but if not tinned in juice is fine Rhubabr if YS or from my garden I have a crown that does quite well in the summer.Blackberries my dgs and I collect wash and freeze in the autum late summer .I do like a lot of fresh veg as it helps to streeetch the meat bill a bit and I am just as happy to make a veggie lasange instead of meat.I also make a lot of soups this also helps to streeetch a meal a bit.Grapes I like but only buy if on offer and use them as a flavour for natural yoghurt as I think these flavoured yoghurts are a complete rip-off I will only buy brithish strawberries or rasberries if in season as they taste a lot better than imported ones.I am lucky I live in a semi rural area where I can get to a farm shop fairly easily but for city dwellers the SM may be the only place they can get to.Aldi and Lidl sell very good value friut and veg and a carrot in a vat of soup is indistinguishable from an Aldi or W8rose one once cooked

paddyrg

Seems high to me, but cutting out grapes (which are really just sweet water without much nutritional value compared with an apple, for instance), swap cherry toms for just plain toms, etc and you're already saving around a third ;-)

On the other side - by having fresh fruit and veg, think what you're saving in pre-prepared/processed food ;-) You could try subscribing to a veg/fruit box scheme where you'll pay a regular fixed amount, but get mostly seasonal veg

System

I could easily spend £10 a week on fruit... Mainly berries which aren't cheap out of season.

My son takes a snack pack of grapes in his lunchbox every day he's at work.

maman

I'd agree with two main points. Buy cheaper fruit varieties, not just to save money but because grapes particularly are very high in sugar. It doesn't matter that it's 'natural' sugar it's still adding to the amount you're eating. IMO veg is healthier overall for you than fruit depending, of course, on how you cook it.


The other would be the stir fry: I never buy a bag of stir fry mix. I just raid the fridge/cupboards for veg I already have planned for other meals like mushrooms, peppers, carrots, cabbage.


What you listed as your frozen veg seemed quite limited. It's worth looking at the cost per kg of frozen veg particularly at various times of the year as it can be far better value. I often use frozen mushrooms for casseroles and always use frozen leeks as there's no waste or time spent prepping. I also make up braised red cabbage and freeze that in portions. Frozen berries can be good value too and ideal for adding to cereal.


Some tinned veg is worth thinking about , especially all tomatoes (passata etc) which is still getting the 5 a day in but more cheaply. And mushy peas are cheap and served in the best restaurants these days!;)


You haven't said where you shop but (in the absence of a market) I'd also recommend Aldi and Lidl and if you have Farmfoods, look there at frozen veg. When I shop I tend to look at the offers on fruit and veg and try to incorporate them into my meal plan.

WantToBeSE

I eat a plant-based diet, so spend about £25-£35 a week on fresh fruit and veg.
I try to keep costs down by buying F&V that are in season, trying out Aldi for their super 6, or Lidl for their offers. Morrisons also seem quite good on F&V.

You can buy frozen F&V, which is lots cheaper and reduces any waste. Almost all of the F&V we eat is fresh- thats just the kind of diet we eat- but if you dont need fresh, then frozen would be the way to go.

Other than that, you could also buy in bulk. My local F&V shop (a local fruitier) does 3k of onions for £1.99. So i buy those and store them outside in my recycling box and they last ages.

purpleshoes_2

I buy a lot of YS fruit and veg, use the super six and Ive just bought 300gs of frozen berries from aldi for 1.49. I also use a local fruit stall who can be often cheaper even than aldi.

Billie-jo

I have just looked at this years spread sheets and our average monthly spend so far this year is £49.11 - this is for 2 adults and I also do mum a meal at least three times a week (occasionally more)
Have recently tried frozen cauli & broccoli but found them not to our liking. Only thing I can think of that we do buy frozen is peas and perhaps one bag of broad beans a year. We try to buy potatoes in sacks of at least 12.5 kg and sometimes we get a bigger sack.
Rarely is any thrown away - so far this month it amounts to about 4 mushrooms and a couple of hairy cherry tomatoes.
We buy carrots, cabbage, cauli, broccoli, leeks, kale, swede, parsnips, radishes, onions, courgettes, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, radish, watermelon, apples, oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, pineapple, plums, watercress, mixed berrys, pears and a few other things.
We are not vegetarians either. Personally I am happy to spend this amount on these items and it does make up around 25% of our monthly budget.

Pollycat

Are you using all of it up?
I would be worried at that spend if I was throwing a lot of stuff away.

Pitted olives at £2.25 sounds high to me, how much did you get for £2.25?
Did you buy these from the Deli counter or in jars?

WantToBeSE

Pollycat wrote: »

Are you using all of it up?
I would be worried at that spend if I was throwing a lot of stuff away.

Was this question aimed at me? Not sure if it was, but just in case:

I rarely throw anything away. If there are some veggies left near the end of the week, i put them all into my slow cooker with some stock and herbs/spices and make a soup.

I also chop and freeze some if they are not going to be used in time.
Things like butternut squash and sweet potatoes last forever, so they dont need to be used quickly.

Pollycat

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Was this question aimed at me? Not sure if it was, but just in case:

I rarely throw anything away. If there are some veggies left near the end of the week, i put them all into my slow cooker with some stock and herbs/spices and make a soup.

I also chop and freeze some if they are not going to be used in time.
Things like butternut squash and sweet potatoes last forever, so they dont need to be used quickly.

Sorry, no, it wasn't aimed at you, not sure why you would think it was.
It was to the OP - hence the further question about the pitted olives for £2.25.

If the OP and her girls are using lots of fruit & veg then that's a good thing and if I were her I'd be looking to find an alternative supply cheaper or cutting costs from her food in another way.

I must admit my veg/fruit list is very different to the OP's.
At this time of year it has lots of 'traditional' veg such as carrots, cauli, cabbage, leeks, turnips, swede, sprouts etc as we like proper dinners and stews/casseroles.
I also buy courgettes, peppers, mushrooms and aubergines.

In the summer it's traditional salad stuff.

I'm not that keen on fruit apart from melon, cherries, nectarines and apricots and they're not that great this time of year.