Saving Money on Food, Part 2 - Produce Edition

You'll remember a few weeks ago when Frugal Femme started our "Saving Money on Food" feature - she talked about cupboard challenges and using up food before it goes bad instead of throwing it away. I find the most of what I waste is produce, and a lot of that is due to not storing it properly. After talking to local farmers and researching on the web, food storage makes a huge difference. For one thing, if produce is stored properly, it has a longer life. Not only that, but if it's stored incorrectly, you could be unknowingly sacrificing many vitamins and minerals! Here are some tips:

Keep Food Dry

Moisture is one of the biggest reasons we lose fruits and veggies - it causes them to rot and get moldy! Don't wash your produce until you're ready to use them.

Keep Produce Cold

There is an exception to this rule for some items (apricots, avocados, bananas, kiwi, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, pears, pineapple, plums, potatoes, tomatoes and onions), but almost everything else should be kept in the refrigerator. It slows the aging process and keeps produce fresher longer and keeps vitamins in tact.

All Refrigerator Space is NOT Created Equal

Do you know that some places in your refrigerator are better for storing specific produce items than others? For instance, keep berries in the front of your fridge - it's warmer there. Other things that can go in the front? Citrus, melons, corn, and peas. Your crisper drawers are for things that need a little more humidity, like leafy greens and lettuce, fresh herbs, cucumber, broccoli, radishes, carrots, zucchini and other squash, eggplant, green beans, and peppers. Apples, cherries and grapes stand up pretty well so they can go just about anywhere.

USE IT!

It's so sad/frustrating/wasteful when I buy perfectly good fruits and vegetables and I forget about them until they have a layer of fuzz. It might actually be more entertaining to light money on fire. I make sure to use the produce that goes bad quicker (mushrooms, berries and greens) first. For certain fruits, I try to figure out another way to use them if they might be going bad soon. Overripe bananas are the best for a good banana bread, and freezing berries for smoothies or baking would be a good way to use things that might have a quick shelf life.

Any tips you'd like to share about using food up before it goes bad? I'd love to hear!

What's On the Menu?

For the most part, my husband and I are pretty healthy eaters. I get a lot of great recipes from Eating Well, Cooking Light, and Women's Health. As you probably know, it's more expensive to get fresh produce instead of canned or frozen, and you can greatly increase the costs when you buy organic produce. However, I don't consider produce a luxury - I consider it an investment in my health and well-being. And I just love unloading my cart - I have apples, bananas, lettuce, carrots...so colorful and it definitely gets me excited about eating well. I especially love unloading my bags from the farmers' market!

The worst thing about having all of the luscious fruits and vegetables in my house is they have a short shelf life, especially my organic produce from the farmers' market. Nothing is more sad than putting beautiful peppers in your fridge, forgetting about them, and a couple of days later, they're mushy. I have filled up my compost bags with more forgotten fruit than I care to admit, and I realized I had to do something to stop wasting money and great, healthy food.

My solution? A small dry erase board on my fridge. And how does that solve the problem? It serves as a reminder to me what EXACTLY I was going to do with those tomatoes. If I can plan even further ahead, I like to arrange my meals for the week in order of how long the produce will keep. Plus, I love it when friends come over and are impressed with my meals! Someone sees I have "blue cheese turkey burgers and sweet potato fries", we might get into a discussion of how to get the fries to be crispy rather than soggy. It's amazing how many good conversations I've gotten in because of my menu.

My menu for this week:

Besides remembering what to do with the food you buy, knowing how to store produce is key. Check out this article on how to store produce from Martha Stewart. What doesn't she know?

Frugal Femme and BudgetBabe Do the Farmers Market

This Sunday, Frugal Femme and I got together for some quality hangout time in the waning sunshine of late September to cruise one of Seattle's many neighborhood farmers markets. We had so much fun coming up with our weekly menus and ogling the fresh produce, I figured it could inspire some of you out there who have yet to visit a farmers market some motivation! Here are some tips to be prepared, save money and have fun when you do decide to go:

1) Bring CASH - I don't think I saw a single vendor who accepted credit/debit as a form of payment. Cash also keeps you honest. I only load my wallet with what I want to spend on produce for the week because the pastries, fresh flowers, goat cheese, strawberry lavender lemonades, etc., is all too tempting. If I have leftover cash, I might treat myself to a beautiful bouquet, but if I'm out of money, I can't and it keeps me from overspending.

2) Bring your reusable bags/coolers - you'll definitely need something to carry all your goodies in, and don't miss out on otherwise great opportunities to support local dairy farms/fisheries/meat producers because you forgot a container to keep them cool. Then, you'll also have an excuse to stay in the market longer!

3) Do a once-around the market before you purchase anything. So many vendors have different kinds of apples, potatoes, onions, and more, and they definitely charge different prices. Frugal Femme got some purple potatoes at one stand for $2.50 when another vendor was charging $4. Plus, it's fun to see what everyone's got. It's quite the sensory experience!

4) For the best selection, go early - you'll get first choice on everything there and it'd probably be easier to park and manuever your way around the market. But...

5) For the best deals, go late - a lot of times, vendors won't want to take their merchandise back with them so they'll be more likely to slash prices. Keep in mind that vendors may be out of a lot of things if you have particular items in mind.

6) Ask questions - you're most likely speaking to experts here. Ask them if you're unfamiliar with any of the produce, ask how to tell if something's ripe, ask how they like to prepare certain produce, ask what's coming in the next few weeks...the farmers are a wealth of information. It's a lot of fun learning about what flowers won't make your husband sneeze or that Jonagold apples aren't actually in season for a few more weeks...

7) Go with a plan but have some wiggle room - I've gone to farmers markets with and without lists. Without a list, I bring home fresh bread, goat cheese with herbes des provence, and flowers. With a list, I actually get things I can use for meals. But be flexible. Instead of the asparagus you needed, you might find some beautiful zucchini that would make for a great side dish.

Anyone frequent their local farmers market and willing to share some tips? Has anyone not been that's now planning to go?

Eating on the Cheap - Seasonal Produce Edition

Whenever I read articles or listen to people about how to save money on your grocery bill, I hear over and over to buy seasonal produce. Well, that sounds easy enough! But how do you know what's in season? Unfortunately, I have zero agricultural knowledge and I can only gather what's in season by perusing Pike Place Market every two or three months...so I have no idea. And if it's in big numbers at the grocery store, I usually assume it's on sale (there's the value of marketing for you). But I did find out for you! Here's what in season for summer:

Apricots
Beets
Bell peppers
Blackberries
Blueberries
Boysenberries
Butter lettuce
Cantaloupe
Cassaba melon
Chayote squash
Cherries
Crenshaw melon
Cucumbers
Eggplants
Figs
Garlic
Grapefruit
Grapes
Green beans
Green peas
Honeydew melons
Jalapeno peppers
Lima beans
Limes
Loganberries
Lychees
Nectarines
Olallieberres
Okra
Passion fruit
Peaches
Persian melons
Plums
Radishes
Raspberries
Strawberries
Sweet corn
Summer squash
Tomatillo
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Zucchini

What is an olallieberry? No clue. But buying produce on this list will save you money on your grocery bill because they don't take as much effort to produce. Bonus - try to find the seasonal produce in your area from local farmers so it's better for your community and our environment.

For seasonal produce in fall, winter, and spring, visit Fruit and Veggies - More Matters