Trouble Finding Fresh Fruits

[Leigh]

In the last 6 weeks, I have had a terrible time finding fresh fruits...Cantaloupe, strawberries, pears, blueberries, you name it. They're rotten on the shelf in the store. Today, I DID find some good blueberries, for $4.98 per pint! I bought one for my own child, bur DCK's would go through 3 in a day (2 months ago, they were 99 cents a pint!). I know that the season is coming to a close, and that prices will go up, but we're eating lots of apples and bananas right now because it's hard to find anything else that is good.

I have tried some frozen fruits (mango, strawberry, fruit ****tail type mix), and the kids were not impressed (except for the frozen blueberries-they did like those).

Does anyone have any recommendations for me on what to serve right now? I've never seen such a poor selection of fruits as I see in my local stores right now (even the farmer's market hasn't been great lately, probably because I can't drag myself out of bed at 5AM to get there when they open!).

[MissAnn]

I learned about freezing grapes and whirring them in the blender here....kids love this! I also freeze bananas and add maple syrup and a little milk to make " ice cream". I am still buying fresh pineapples and oranges but no more tangerines.

[AcornMama]

I'm still finding good prices and good quality on peaches. Grapes are priced okay at one store, but not others. Blueberries I only get at Costco. Way cheaper.

Aldi is also a good choice for affordability if you have one near you.

I'm sure regional differences could affect fresh fruit pricing and availability.

[Hunni Bee]

I agree...the fruit was great at the beginning/during the summer, but now...

I bought some peaches from Kroger the other day...they rotted and molded on my table overnight

[Leigh]

I learned about freezing grapes and whirring them in the blender here....kids love this! I also freeze bananas and add maple syrup and a little milk to make " ice cream". I am still buying fresh pineapples and oranges but no more tangerines.

So you just put whole grapes in the freezer, and throw them in the blender straight from the freezer? I never would have thought of the bananas/maple syrup either! Thankfully, they all love bananas, but I don't want to give them to them every day...I never thought of dressing them up!

[LK5kids]

I am still having luck getting blueberries, strawberries, melon, raspberries, peaches, & nectarines at good prices. Grapes were $1.59 @ Aldi's and $3.99 @ Wal-mart. There was only one pkg. at WMart of grapes and when I got them home they had seeds in them...ugh!

I bought the $1.59 the next night at Aldi's and we will be having grapes again next week!

I am sad to see the fresh fruit season end. It seemed like it took forever for the fresh fruit to be good in the spring/early summer.

[MissAnn]

So you just put whole grapes in the freezer, and throw them in the blender straight from the freezer? I never would have thought of the bananas/maple syrup either! Thankfully, they all love bananas, but I don't want to give them to them every day...I never thought of dressing them up!

Yes about the grapes. It's loud but the kids make a joke about me needing to fix my radio every time I make them. Not sure how that got started. oh, and since I freeze the grapes right away, they don't spoil before we use them.

[NeedaVaca]

I would look at a different store! I am still finding a lot of great produce. Nectarines, peaches, plums, grapes, pineapple...

[Size18]

I feel your frustration. Fruits and vegetables. I'm finding (lately) that I need to visit two or three different supermarkets/grocers in order to get what I'm after.

[Evansmom]

I noticed the store right near us has just awful produce (we just moved). But the one where I used to go (in the richer part of town no less) has beautiful produce. I have been driving to the store with the fresh produce but I think it's weird that it's like that. And it's the same store, same chain.

Anyways maybe you have to shop around? It may be worth it.

[butterfly]

probably doesn't help you now, but what I do is stock up when things are dirt cheap then freeze, freeze, freeze. I shop the farmer's market near closing time and I typically get great deals, because they don't want to take things back home with them.

I also do a lot of canning, but I can't feed it to the daycare kids (food program rules), but it saves my family grocery budget so I can spend a little more on the daycare budget later in the year when my food stock pile runs out.