# Produce prices in your area



## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

I was just at one of the farm markets in my area buying strawberries since they're in season. I paid $4 a quart ( they wanted $2.50 a pint). They're smaller this year than last year but I tasted one and they're much sweeter. I paid .99 lb for sweet potatoes, .49 lb for cabbage ( as mine aren't ready yet), .75 each for cucumbers ( again I just got mine in the ground) and they had a cart of very ripe small cantaloupes for $2 each so I bought 2 ( don't know if hubby will want any.....man drives me nuts).

They had yellow,red and green sweet peppers and they wanted $1.50 each for all colors. Last year they had them 10/10 ( so $1 each) which I grabbed and froze almost $30 worth since I didn't plant any last year lol
They had their own spinach, kale and lettuces for .99 a container and I've bought some before and they are packed very full and you get a lot for the price.
They had both red and white new potatoes for .99 lb and southern tomatoes at $1.50 lb. They had southern peaches but I didn't check the price.

Most of what they have is brought in from southern states right now. What they are picking from their own land is just the greens, strawberries, and some early blueberries. Our growing season is off to a late and cool wet start so we may be depending on the southern states for a lot of our produce.


I was just wondering what prices everyone is seeing in their areas.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Those prices sound pretty avarage for around here(North Texas) BUT this time of the year we dont pay much attention to produce prices in the stores, we eat whatever is ready from the garden. The bell pepper prices swing pretty drastically though, sometimes they are dirt cheap but often you have to sell your first born to buy them.

Sometimes we may get pretty tired of squash, kale and other things that are in season but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying it all.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Just got back from the grocery store and those process are spot on to what we have here, except Green peppers were $1.29 each and all other colors were $2.50 each.

I noticed the local strawberries were smaller also, but sure are tasty! I made a mistake a month or so ago, when the local ones first were showing up. The store had them both, side by side and the price was about the same. I grabbed a pack without checking first, they were the Cali ones. Got home and they were kind of hard and pretty tasteless, about all they did was look like great berries. Haven't made that mistake since!


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea, the "imported" strawberries are always picked so early they have no taste so thats why I wait until the local ones come in. MUCH better lol
The sweet peppers last year were huge so thats why I stocked up on them. I use them alot. Love sweet peppers lol

Davarm, this may sound like a dumb question but does Texas have any fruit orchards? Doesn't part of it have the same environment as Florida so citrus could be grown?


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## PurpleHeartJarhead (Mar 23, 2014)

Genevieve said:


> Davarm, this may sound like a dumb question but does Texas have any fruit orchards? Doesn't part of it have the same environment as Florida so citrus could be grown?


Davarm, Genevieve hope you don't my me chiming in. My great-grandfather had almost 2000 acres of oranges and grapefruit in _the valley_ (south-south TX).


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## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

I stopped on the way home from work and bought 2 baking potatoes for dinner. They were 89 cents a pound. Didn't look at anything else.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Texas has quite a spread in climates, around here they grow a lot of peaches, our county is the peach capital of the state. A lot of pears are grown locally but not commercially, plums grow quite well but dont think there are any commercial growers around the area. Wild plums are common here and are some of the best tasting fruit you will find but they are small.

Near here, they have some vinyards/wineries that are starting to be recognized for producing very good wines.

In the Valley(Rio Grande) they grow a lot of citrus that is marketed all over the state and country, a trip down there at the right time of the year can be worth the trip.

Watermelons are a big crop in the state and are shipped all over the country, "in season" they are dirt cheap around here and you can buy a truck load if you wanted them. In the early to mid 1900's this county was recognized as the watermelon capital of the state and for years they would send the best melon to the President, dont think that would go over too well now though.

Down between San Antonio and Corpus Christi they grow a LOT of strawberries and they are some of the best I've eaten but the season is pretty short for them, Poteet" is the strawberry capital of Texas.

Sooo, in short, the answer to your question would be yes we do have a lot of orchards in the state but we likely dont produce as much fruit commercially as many other states.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

PurpleHeartJarhead said:


> Davarm, Genevieve hope you don't my me chiming in. My great-grandfather had almost 2000 acres of oranges and grapefruit in _the valley_ (south-south TX).


I've "heard" that many of the large citrus orchards down there are fighting hard for irrigation water from the Rio Grande.

It's been 10 or 15 years since I've been down there so it is only hear say on my part but it's a crying shame that the citrus growers are having that kind of trouble when they citrus they produce is so good.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

ah see I thought there were groves but wasn't sure. nobody grows apples? I figured you all would have more months to grow stuff in too being where the state is located.
from what I can remember the big whole watermelons are either $6.99 or $7.99 each. I like getting the small ones because most of the time I'm the only one eating it and I don't want it to go to waste. Those can run anywhere from $2 to $3 each.
But I have a feeling that those prices will be long gone this year.


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## aknodak (Feb 25, 2014)

You don't want to get me started on the price of fresh produce up here in Alaska!


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Genevieve said:


> ah see I thought there were groves but wasn't sure. nobody grows apples? I figured you all would have more months to grow stuff in too being where the state is located.
> from what I can remember the big whole watermelons are either $6.99 or $7.99 each. I like getting the small ones because most of the time I'm the only one eating it and I don't want it to go to waste. Those can run anywhere from $2 to $3 each.
> But I have a feeling that those prices will be long gone this year.


I'd love to grow apples but it doesn't get(reliably) cold enough for apples to produce(every year), I do know of some who grow them though. If anyone knows of a "warm weather" apple verity - let me know!

Those $7 and $8 watermelons are mostly around the beginning and end of the season and the ones you get in grocery stores - around here anyway. When the locally grown ones start coming in and are sold from pick-up trucks beside the road, thats when you get the best prices and quality.

If you like watermelons and dont want to eat or waste the leftover, you can make "Watermelon Molasses". Around here that was the primary sweetener from around the Civil War to around WWII - before sugar was cheap enough for the average person to buy.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Davarm said:


> I'd love to grow apples but it doesn't get(reliably) cold enough for apples to produce(every year), I do know of some who grow them though. If anyone knows of a "warm weather" apple verity - let me know!
> 
> Those $7 and $8 watermelons are mostly around the beginning and end of the season and the ones you get in grocery stores - around here anyway. When the locally grown ones start coming in and are sold from pick-up trucks beside the road, thats when you get the best prices and quality.
> 
> If you like watermelons and dont want to eat or waste the leftover, you can make "Watermelon Molasses". Around here that was the primary sweetener from around the Civil War to around WWII - before sugar was cheap enough for the average person to buy.


Davarm,
I said the same thing to a friend about the Midlands of South Carolina.
He gave me this email.
If everything works out I am getting 6-8 apple trees this Fall.
We had candied watermelon rin as a child.

http://www.centuryfarmorchards.com

Please let me know if they work for you.


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## biobacon (Aug 20, 2012)

Tomatoes are 2.99 a pound here in central Ohio. Sweet taters are around .89 a pound. At least that's store prices and what I saw at the amish store today. Our first farmers market is this Friday and I'll let you know, but I don't think its going to be that good as a lot of people were late in getting their stuff in up here. Everything is going petty well in the garden this year for me as well. Im looking forward to carrots. I hope they are bigger this year.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

crabapple said:


> Davarm,
> I said the same thing to a friend about the Midlands of South Carolina.
> He gave me this email.
> If everything works out I am getting 6-8 apple trees this Fall.
> ...


Thanks for the link, didn't have time to go over everything tonight but will tomorrow.

We make quite a bit of candied watermelon rind, took a bunch of it to the last two "Meet-Ups(2012-13)" we had and everyone that had some liked it.

Sad that something like that isn't more popular these days.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

biobacon said:


> Tomatoes are 2.99 a pound here in central Ohio. Sweet taters are around .89 a pound. At least that's store prices and what I saw at the amish store today. Our first farmers market is this Friday and I'll let you know, but I don't think its going to be that good as a lot of people were late in getting their stuff in up here. Everything is going petty well in the garden this year for me as well. Im looking forward to carrots. I hope they are bigger this year.


I dont think I've seen $2.99 tomatoes around here for a long time, we can usually get Roma's in the middle of winter for around $1.50 to $1.75 per pound.

The nice big slicers do sometimes cost that much but the stores dont move many of them when the price goes up there.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

You can't get any tomatoes for slicing here until the growing season. Otherwise the ones in the stores are like cardboard lol Sometimes you can find some romas or grape/berry tomatoes that have some flavor but still, not much of the time.
I think the reason why the tomatoes at my farm market were so low is that they're getting old. They've been there for a while


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## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

We have company coming today so yesterday I broke down and went to the store for store bought milk and bread. Milk over 5 dollars a gallon and bread over 2 dollars. Reject potatoes 30 cents a pound, little 2-3 pound watermelon 5 dollars, lettuce and celery both about 2 dollars and don't even think about the fruit.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

wow. lol I can 1% milk for $3.69 a gallon here of course it's a store brand not a name brand from one of the mega dairies. wish I could find some reject potatoes so I can make some hashbrowns and dehydrate them. Potatoes were over a dollar a pound here for the longest time. I did find some that were slightly below a dollar a pound but we ate those lol the lowest I've seen for celery here is when it's down to $1.50 otherwise it's almost $2 at $1.99 for a very thin ribs ( like only 5 stalks make up the thing)
I have no idea why watermelon went up in price like it did but the last 2 years it's just a major jump.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Do you have a Chef Store in your town.
It is for restaurant supply, we find chicken & steak to at a good price, but you have to buy by the pound.
I buy only vegetable that are out of season & the few I do not grow.
The Chef Store has cook ware & fruits & vegetable, but I bought meat for holiday only.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

yea we have what we call restaurant supply stores. they run the gambit from frozen veggies and meats to canning supplies. they have huge stainless cookware, cutlery even professional meat slicers. big bake sheets and even paper supplies like plates and plastic cups. they have chips,pretzels and even a long rack of candy and lolipops. They #10 cans of things like tomato sauces and big jugs of ketchup, steak sauce,etc. I've even seen 50lb bags of flour there but the price was higher than what I would pay at the Mennonite store. same for the sugar.
they have specials and I get their weekly emails. the food is all restaurant quality and some are even precooked so you only have to heat it up.


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