One way to eat healthy on a budget is to find out what fruits and vegetables are in season for your area. There are two websites that I found very helpful because to be quite honest I had no idea what was in season for summer before I went on my "field trip" for this blog.
Here are the websites I found:
www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/CFS/CFS-755-w.pdf <-summer
If you want the spring version of this website it is the same except change the 755 to 754
If you want the autumn version of this website it is the same except change the 755 to 756
www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=789
I found a lot of fantastic information on these two websites. Not only do they explain what is in season but they also show you ways to prepare, store and shop for these fruits and vegetables.
Speaking of shopping......on my lunch hour yesterday, hubby and I decided to take a field trip and see what was available at our local produce stands. The locations of these particular stands are 30th and Franklin Road on the east side of Indianapolis and the other is located on East Washington Street in the parking lot of Golds Gym near Eastgate in Indianapolis. During our visits, I wrote down the prices to compare the stand's pricing against each other.
Here are the results:
30th and Franklin
Watermelon $2.99 (seedless and quite YUMMY because I had to buy one!!)
Cantaloupe $2.99
Strawberries $1.00 (1LB in the plasticc box container--These red beauties made quite a delightful smoothie)
1LB Green beans $1.49
Corn 6 ears $2.75
Cabbage $0.59
Tomato 1LB $1.99
East Washington at Eastgate
Watermelon $7.00 seedless as well
Cantaloupe $4.00
They were out of Strawberries but had blueberries
Blueberries $3.00 each or 2 for $5.00 plastic box container
1LB Green beans $1.99
Corn 6 ears for $3.00
Tomato 1LB $2.49
Cucumber $0.75 each
Red Pepper $1.50 each
Green Pepper $1.00 each
30th and Franklin seemed to have the better prices along with friendly people. (They were in really friendly moods considering the temperature was above 90 degrees --whew!) On my way home from work, I decided I could not stop at just comparing the two produce stands. I would need to stop by two grocery stores to do more of a detailed price comparison to help my readers.
The two stores I chose were Marsh at Germanchurch and Washington Street and Meijer on Washington Street--again, staying on the east side of Indianapolis. (Keep in mind that Marsh and Meijer are about one block from each other)
Here are those results:
Marsh
Watermelon $5.99 (seedless)
Cantaloupe $3.59
Strawberries $1.98 plastic box container
Blueberries $2.99plastic box container
1LB Green beans $1.69
Corn 4 ears for $2.00
Tomato 1LB either $1.28 or $2.49
Cucumber $0.88 each
Red Pepper $1.99 each
Green Pepper $0.88 each
Cabbage $0.69
Meijer
Watermelon $5.99 (seedless)
Cantaloupe 2 for $5.00
Strawberries 2 plastic box containers for $3.00
Blueberries 2 plastic box containers for $5.00
1LB Green beans $0.88
Corn 5 ears for $2.00
Tomato 1LB either $1.49 or $1.99
Cucumber 3 for $1.00
Red Pepper 2 for $3.00
Green Pepper $1.79 each
Cabbage $0.39
After doing the comparison shopping I came to this conclusion:
#1 Shop the season
#2 Know your local produce stand's prices
#3 Check your local weekly grocery store ads
all BEFORE you head out to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables.
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