Tuesday, October 19, 2010

About fruits & veggies...

Do you ever feel like it costs more to eat healthier? I do. Here are a couple of tips on fruits and veggies that might help you save a little:
  • If the price on a fresh veggie is high, check it's frozen counterpart.
  • If fruit or veggies are priced by the pound, pick smaller pieces to get more servings. If it is priced by the piece, pick larger pieces for more value.
  • Buy bulk bags of frozen fruit at club warehouses for much less per pound than frozen fruit in the grocery store. (Especially good if you make a lot of smoothies.)
  • Canned fruit (packed in juice, not syrup) can be used for toppings or treats, come on sale frequently, and have good shelf life.
One fruit that freezes surprisingly well is grapes. If you wash them, (I prefer the green ones for this), roll them in a light sprinkling of sugar and put them in the freezer, they are a really yummy treat for a hot day. Make sure to eat them still frozen. (I realize that adding sugar makes them a little less nutritional... but this blog is about saving money, not eating healthy.)

5 comments:

R Clan said...

I didn't know that about grapes. That sounds like a fun summer treat.

Michaela Stephens said...

"If fruit or veggies are priced by the pound, pick smaller pieces to get more servings. If it is priced by the piece, pick larger pieces for more value."

It just occurred to me while reading this that some fruits will be cheaper than others when priced by the pound. For pricing by the pound you want fruit that has as much edible material as possible. For instance, if you are buying watermelon, you have to take into account the fact that part of that weight (the rind) you aren't going to be able to eat. On the other hand, apples may give more eat for the weight, depending on how closely you can eat to the core. It would be interesting to do a study on what fruits have higher eat/non-eat proportions. If you wanted to get scientific with a scale and so on.

Michelle said...

Do the grapes not defrost well or something? I'm just curious about the comment to be sure to eat them while they are still frozen.

I'm new on the coupon thing, but I still don't get the double coupon issue. I don't exactly know what it is or what stores do this. Any hints?

*~Petra~* said...

Michaela, yes. If you are comparing fruits to get the cheapest fruit that would definitely be something to consider. The same principle applies when you are buying meat... (if it is bone in, it is going to weigh more and you have to take that in to consideration when you are deciding if it is a better deal than the boneless.) If you know you are buying a particular kind of fruit though, say apples, and you see that they are priced by the pound, my suggestion is that you go for the smaller apples to get more servings. However, if they are priced by the piece, you would go for the bigger pieces as they would cost the same as the smaller ones. :)

Michelle, I have eaten the grapes defrosted and they have tasted fine, they are just so dang yummy when they are frozen. :) I just wanted to be sure you guys tasted them like that!

As far as doubling coupons is concerned, there are some stores in the United States that double coupons up to a certain amount. (Usually 50c or so.) What this means is when it is scanned at the register they will automatically double it so 50c becomes $1 off. I am not sure what state you are in, but I moved to Utah just under 2 years ago, and have not yet found any store that doubles coupons here. In fact, on a website that I found that lists stores that double by state, Utah was an unlisted state. (You can check this website for your state: http://couponing.about.com/od/groceryzone/a/doublecoupons.htm

I will also put this info in a post as it is a great question. Let me know if you need further clarification. :)

Elaine said...

Great website!!

I find that part of being frugal is also using up what's left over. I guess it's my Yankee frugality, it's a generational thing, as you said.

For instance, I always buy bone in. I cook my whole chicken, for instance, in my slow cooker. I then leave the bones in the slow cooker with water, apple cider vinegar (to extract minerals) and onion, carrot, celery and seasonings and make chicken stock. I cook it until the bones are soft and mash them, leaving it in the slow cooker for another hour after that. (which helps extract more minerals) You wind up with a very nice, gelatin rich broth (good for tendons, calcium, etc - very healthy) Then, I let it cool, skim the fat and add to the soft bones and put into my food processor. The resulting mixture looks amazingly like canned dog food. Make sure there are no bone shards, and feed to the dogs. You get two meals plus dog food.

I get free vegetables and fruits from the farmstand when they're past date, which I use for my animals as well. (chickens, ducks, etc, which then provide us with food) And when I make butter, I am left with the buttermilk, and "dog water" which is the wash water, and very nutritional for the animals.