The recent global situation has shown us that stocking up on produce can be beneficial. For many or us we want to be more self-reliant for our food. Unfortunately, gardening isn’t always possible so let’s explore ways to get produce in bulk in other ways.
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Before you can start to put-up or store a bunch of food for use throughout the year, you need the produce to work with. You can certainly head to your local grocery store to pick up 20 pounds of green beans to can, but it’s probably not your best option. Not only will it cost you quite a bit, even if green beans happen to be on sale that week, the quality of food at your grocery store is often subpar. Most produce has traveled many miles and was probably picked before it was ripe.
It should go without saying that you should look for produce that’s local and in season in your area. That’s where you’ll find the best deals. Maybe you will even get lucky and have a friendly neighbor who shares his bumper crop with you. If you’re not quite that lucky, here are your best bets for finding great deals on seasonal, local produce.
Hit The Famers Market Late In The Day
A terrific strategy is to head to your local farmers market close to the time everyone is ready to pack up and call it a day. Farmers know they won’t sell much more. The last thing they want to do is pack all this produce back up and take it back to the farm. You can make a deal and buy a lot of fresh food at a fraction of the cost. Just be ready to take it home and start working on freezing, pickling and canning right away.
Get To Know Farmers In Your Area
While you’re hanging out at the farmers market, get friendly. Take the time to get to know the farmers in your area. Talk to them, buy from them, check out the farm if they will allow. As you start to grow that relationship, you’ll find that you’re able to get some great deals on fresh produce.
As you get to know local farmers you may be able to work out a “pick your own” type deal, where you go out to the farm and harvest what you need yourself. Or you may be able to get a great deal on excess produce that the farmer isn’t able to sell in time. As you get to know one or two farmers, they can also introduce you to others in the area.
Don’t forget to look for “pick your own” farms in your area too. Our family has taken advantage of many of these options to fill our freezer at a fraction of the grocery store cost.
Find a Friend and Buy in Bulk
Often the best deals are had when you can buy large quantities of any product. When we’re talking about buying straight from the farmer that may mean far more of any one piece of produce than you could possibly need. Yet, because of the price, this can still be well worth it.
The solution is simple. Get together with a few other families interested in buying and preserving local, seasonal food. Make a plan to buy the larger quantities together and divide them between each other. In the end everyone gets a much more manageable quantity of fruits and veggies to put up while still being able to take advantage of a great deal.
Find a Local Farmer
The next question is of course how you find these people. The easiest way is to go to your local farmer’s market. Do an internet search to find when and where markets are held. Talk to other shoppers as you come across them. Get to know them, exchange ideas and resources, and eventually talk about taking advantage of bulk ordering by going in to buy together. A second option is you-pick farms. Not all farms keep their information up to date but visit this website to see if there are any near you https://www.pickyourown.org/. We found that once we started visiting these farms we were able to find others to expand our produce options.
