http://www.care2.com/greenliving/3-summer-strategies-for-cheaply-eating-organic-fruits-year-round.html
3 Summer Strategies for (Cheaply) Eating Organic Fruits Year-Round
As I bask in the sunshine at my local farmer’s market these days, I feel the slightest twinge of worry, knowing the delightful organic berries, cherries, peaches are not going to last through fall. But this year, I’m changing my strategy–I’m bringing my favorite fruits right into wintertime with me. I’m starting now, and I’m trying to save money while I do it.
It’s all about preservation. Preserving foods, that is.
Some foods cost way more when they’re organic, but some don’t. My friend Janice did an interesting comparison of organic vs. conventional milk, eggs, OJ, and a couple other staples here in California, and while her results showed that several products are relatively competitive, I’ve found that when it comes to organic peaches and berries, it can be trickier to find a good deal. Since these are my favorite foods and my kids cannot live without them, I’m on a mission to find ways to buy lots–for cheap.
Aside from growing my favorite fruits in my garden, here are three more cost-effective strategies for finding cheaper organic fruit:
1. U-Pick Berries
This is a fantastic event for the whole family. We visit a local organic berry farm with a big group of relatives or friends, and we picked berries until our fingers and feet ached. Last year we harvested 17 pounds of blackberries! We froze about 10 pounds worth and ate blackberries until the end of winter.
It’s SO easy to freeze berries:
Without washing the berries, lay them out one layer thick on a cookie sheet. Freeze until hard, sweep into a plastic freezer bag, seal and store. Repeat and repeat again. When you’re ready to use them, take them out of the freezer, wash them off and let them come to room temperature. Delicious with yogurt and granola!
2. End-of-Farmer’s Market Deals
Although I like to buy most of my farmer’s market goodies at the beginning of the market, I sometimes try to stop by at the end of the day to buy strawberries, raspberries, peaches, cherries and blueberries that haven’t sold. Some vendors are willing to offload berries at a cheaper rate at this time, so I buy whatever they have when it’s at a discount. Then, I bring it home and I freeze them or make jam.
3. Wait for in-store sales and binge-purchase
When food is local and in season, it can be delicious - even from the grocery store. So, when organic peaches hit $1.99/pound, I test one to make sure it’s as tasty as the farmer’s market variety and if it passes the test, I buy loads and loads of them. Then, I freeze whatever we cannot eat in the first 3 days.
Have any other summertime secrets for extending organic produce into the fall? Post them below.
Robyn
Melissa
Deepak
Eric
Dave
Dr. Brent
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Susan
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Wendy
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Hilary
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27 comments
add your comment »I'd also like to know if you can thaw and eat fruit you've frozen, like plums and peaches, and if so, will it taste the same once it's thawed?
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One of my favorite summer treats was to get a gallon of good vanilla ice cream and let it sit on the counter while I went out back and picked some fresh Black berries
Rinse them and stir them into the now softened ice cream.
Stir them real well and re freeze the ice cream Yummy
Hazel.
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Those are great tips for freezing fruit I have used the same tecnique with blueberries, mango, pineapple and anything else of simmilar texture. Something else i have done and thouoghly enjoy. I take a couple of containers of raspberries and put them in the blender with approx. 6 oz. of juice, grape or apple or whatever you like. blend it up thoroughly and stain liquid into a freezer container, if it is still a little tart I put a couple of teaspoons of splenda. It's great on pancakes, in smoothies, on ice cream or whatever you can dream up!
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Would like to know ,if you should blanch vegetables, before you freeze them? The only two items I can is tomatoes & pickles.
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I grow my own garden and grow everything!
I also live where I have access to lots of fresh free produce.
I freeze and dehydrate everything...I juice all my lemons, oranges and grapefruit and freeze the juice.
Hazel
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Hi, I live in a small farming community and I see signs posted
on a lot of produce and date fields saying,"organic, no spraying".
However as I say I live here and I see the planes spraying these fields.I know it to be chemicals being sprayed.
What is with this? What constitutes organic?
Thank you
Hazel
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and if we all eat organic fruits, it will start to drive the price down a bit too! let's get rid of the junk fruit - it doesn't taste for anything and it's grown with a lot of terrible things. we shouldn't mess with nature..
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mmmm.... Thanks Hilary!
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"Maybe it's time to eat seasonally and unplug that extra fridge or freezer." Easy for people that live where fruit & veg grow all year round. Unless I'm going to live on snow and ice during the winter I think I'll take to bulk buying and freezing.
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Great tips for freezing fruit -- I'll be using them!
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