Brian on Health

Like I always say, to succeed on a healthy diet you need to have an abundant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand. Especially if you are like me and eat a diet based on fruit, you will want to become very in tune with the dynamics of shopping for produce that you enjoy and that makes sense for your lifestyle choices, tastes, and budget.

Learning to shop smart for fresh produce takes practice, and you have to love it. There definitely is a learning curve, but nothing the interested health seeker cannot handle. For me, even many years into eating this way, it truly never gets old to see what will be fresh at the market or where I can find the ripest fruit whose taste is only sweeter when I get a good deal.

First and foremost, let’s make something clear. The way to get the best quality and quantity for your money is to BUY WHOLESALE by the case at large produce terminals. Yes, I’m serious! The places that supermarkets, restaurants, and other large operations buy their produce is where you will want to look.

These large locations are right where the boats and trucks come in with farm-fresh stuff right from California, Mexico, Chile, China, and other regions where fruit commonly is grown. Many facilities allow walk-ins without a merchant account, and if you are nice to the vendors and explain to them what you’re looking for, they will be thrilled that you are interested in their products. (More on this later.)

This is my favorite way to shop and I have had some of my best fruit hauls with this method, as the only fresher way would honestly be picking the fruit right off a tree in your backyard. But I understand this is not realistic or convenient for some people, and is a topic for a whole other article. So today we will be discussing how to source bulk produce at supermarkets and other “regular” consumer stores.

This article will focus particularly on fruit, because vegetables are relatively cheap and easy to find anywhere. Fruit takes a bit more practice and is a much more calorically significant food category that calls for its own method of shopping. Here are 10 important tips to remember about shopping for bulk fruit, and after you’re done, be sure to check out my supermarket reviews.

Tip #1: Remember, fruit is not packaged food.

The most important idea to understand with fruit that precedes any tips for actually purchasing it is that fruit is NOT a packaged food. What I mean by this is that fruit does not have the consistency, or in my opinion, the dullness, of products that stay stocked on shelves for a long time. Fruit is always different each time you buy. No two bags of grapes are the same, and every mango or banana will ripen a little bit differently.

This presents a unique set of challenges for the new buyer, but again is nothing that can’t be figured out with a bit of practice and observation. It makes things interesting to say the least. For example, there will be times when you pick out the PERFECT pear, and there will be also times when you buy a whole bag of them and they’re chalky and rotten. And there will also be times when you buy a large bunch of them, and half are great, half are rotten, and the others are just okay. That’s the fruit industry (and mother nature) for you!

The one fruit I can think of that is almost always reliable and comes ready to eat or is easy to ripen is the banana (eat when spotty), as well as most apples and dates. Grapes, berries, oranges, figs, cherries, melons, and pineapples are all examples of fruits which do not ripen off the tree, so be aware of these. Even so, there is always a difference in the nuances of a fruit’s taste, texture, juiciness, and much more that you can discover.

Tip #2: Understand fruit ripeness.

In general, aim to know how a fruit should look, feel, smell, taste, and even sound when it’s ripe. I will be posting a guide to ripening common fruits on the blog soon, so stay tuned, or just do a quick internet search if you’re not familiar with a given item. It pays off to eat ripe fruit! Your taste buds, digestive system, and body in general will thank you.

To this end, avoid buying any significant quantity of a more expensive fruit if you’re not familiar with its quality just by looking (or trying) before you buy. There certainly have been times I’ve made the mistake of buying some produce that doesn’t ripen or is inedible in other ways. This not only wastes money, it can totally ruin plans for recipes, entertaining, or having enough in stock for the week, especially if you can’t return the items or need to drive far to do so.

Tip #3: Familiarize yourself with seasonality.

Everyone knows that fruit varies by season, yet most people do not pay attention to the importance of seasonality when it comes to the quality and quantity of fruit available. These days, most people enjoy the luxury of almost all types of produce shipped to their markets all year round, but anyone who has lived in more rural areas, has grown fruit themselves, or was there “back then” will know that seasons do matter.

Many seasonality guides are available online and it is fairly intuitive to get to know the seasons. You may already know a few: Oranges in winter, strawberries in spring, cherries or mangos in summer, and apples in the fall. (Another fall favorite for me is persimmons). Check out this link here for more information on seasonality to help you plan your shopping excursions, or find other charts available in many recipe and nutrition books.

Tip #4: Scope out what’s available where.

Without a doubt, different fruits are more popular at different types of markets. You will usually find all standard fruits (bananas, apples, oranges, etc) anywhere you go, but quality, price, quantity, and freshness all will vary. This topic spans an entire other article, and lucky for you I’ve done the work for you right here: Definitive Guide to the Best Supermarkets for Fruits and Vegetables. There you will find comprehensive reviews of the top 10 most common types of supermarkets and produce markets and what you can expect for each one.

Tip #5: Shop at the right time.

With fresh produce, the time of day you shop really has an affect on the quality and quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables you’ll be able to find. Unlike packaged foods, (see #1) which merely matter in terms of if they’ll be on the shelf, produce changes not only in ripeness and freshness within a given day, but the actual choices you’ll have vary hugely.

In other words, you might head to the market fresh and early in the morning and find a lovely display of your favorites, but come 4 or 5pm the same day you might be left with slim pickings. Or contrarily, you might find that your market is hardly even stocked towards the beginning of the day and boasts fresher, more abundant choices in the afternoon. It really depends.

Everyone’s schedule is different, so get to know when your local supermarket restocks and with what. On the whole, avoid going shopping right at closing or opening time, and head towards those time ranges when things are busy but not already picked clean, as this is when they’ll be coming in and out with more to stock.

If you have to shop at odd times or find yourself stuck looking around a lame produce department with an empty cart, assert your abilities as a customer (read: be a pest) and call for the produce manager to get out the new shipments. Let them know that it is important for you to get good quality fruit and you’re not just buying one or two pieces here, you want the good stuff and lots of it. Remember, they are not your friend, they are being PAID to serve you and make sure you find what you need from the store!

Tip #6: Know your prices well.

Long story short, if you don’t know your fruit prices, you’re going to screw yourself over and end up complaining that fruit is too expensive or too much work. Save yourself the frustration and dollars and take a few minutes each time you go to the supermarket to see how the prices change or stay the same for your favorite products. Write them down in a notebook, take a picture on your phone, or memorize them to keep a mental inventory of what fruit ought to cost, so you don’t buy when it’s cheaper elsewhere

Prices can vary not only for the same fruit types, but sometimes LITERALLY for the same companies and freshness (so all you brand-name or organic snobs got nothing on me here!). An example of this: The SAME Dole pineapples at Wegmans for me are $2.99 for a large one when another one at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods that half the size is also $2.99. Unless you’re short on time or transport, why spend more for less? Know your prices.

Tip #7: Ask! For deals, discounts, special orders.

Get involved with the people who run the place to work the system and get the deals you desire on fresh produce. You are shopping for produce, at a supermarket, in real life. You’re not at an online store or an expensive department store. Like I mentioned in #5, take advantage of customer services at these markets because just like everyone else shopping, you have a right to a pleasant and productive shopping experience too.

Like with any social situation, rudeness will not get you far, so show your interest in a more appealing way by asking about ways you can arrange a win-win situation with you and the market. If it’s a regular supermarket, you can ask what they do with over-ripe (or what I like to call, actually ripe) produce, especially bananas, for starters.

They may have a discount available for you which is sometimes denoted with a yellow sticker or placement in a special bin. Supermarkets sometimes keep to particular protocols for donating unsalable fruit to soup kitchens or other facilities, but you may be able to take it off their hands for free or cheap, especially if it’s a more local supermarket without the regulations and liabilities that come along with larger corporations.

Another option you might look into is to order cases of fruit directly through the produce department of the supermarket itself. I assume this would be a good choice if you live in a more rural area and a supermarket is your closest connection to a good supply of produce (i.e. you don’t live near terminals or larger markets). I know many people who have succeeded doing this and have talked to some produce managers myself. It is merely a matter of them checking off an extra box on their order sheet and arranging an exchange, which might be easily pushed along with a smile or a couple dollars for a tip.

Be persistent with your requests, and seek to talk to the manager or person in charge of produce, as opposed to people working on the sales floor just stocking and pushing products, as they may not know how to best direct your inquiries. That being said, remember that all they can do is all they can do. You might just need to cede to their system and buy by the pound after all, but it never hurts to ask.

Tip #8: Be familiar, consistent, and friendly.

This tip is pretty straightforward: familiarity helps. When you are a consistent, loyal, respectful customer, your position is only better off, especially at local markets where you’ll see the same vendors or even the farmers who are growing the food themselves and want it to go to people who enjoy and know how to appreciate it.

Be that friendly face who comes in every week leaving with a big cart full of fresh, brightly-colored produce. Own it, because most people aspire to be healthy and you can be a positive example! And let the challenges that good produce shopping can sometimes bring be an encouragement to work on your self improvement and get your fitness, bargaining and interpersonal skills up to par so you can get where you want to be with your food supply.

Tip #9: Buy enough to avoid constant shopping.

If you love it and eat it, produce goes quickly. This is something I had to learn the hard way after many a repeated trip to the market to load up on more of the same favorites instead of buying enough at once. When you buy in bulk, particularly at wholesale markets, a fruit and vegetable diet becomes a much more pleasant, fulfilling part of your life instead of a bothersome waste of work.

Budget definitely comes into play with the size of your shops, but you’ll actually most likely save more money the less you shop. The more you go, the more gas you use if you’re driving, and the more random things you’re likely to pick up along the way that you really didn’t need. Load up on your favorite fruit if it’s good and cheap when you go, because you never know if it might be gone tomorrow! That brings me to the next pointer…

Tip #10: If necessary, opt for more of one good thing.

In other words, if your budget is more restrictive and you are faced with buying a little of a lot or a lot of a little, I’d recommend from experience buying a lot of one fruit, IF it’s ripe and good. It depends what you are looking for, but I personally think that it is more worthwhile and appealing to relish in one delicious (preferably seasonal) fruit than to pick at little bits of this and that and end up unsatisfied.

So there we have it.

There are many strategies you can use to save money on fresh produce that I will talk about in the future, such as getting to know farmers, starting coops, freeganism, and so on. But the reality is that most of us shop at regular markets and need tips for getting the most bang for our buck to make food shopping in bulk simple, productive, and enjoyable. Hopefully these pointers will help you get on the right track including the fruits and vegetables your body craves and deserves into your diet, right from the supermarkets you already go to regularly.

Question of the day: What questions do you have about buying fruit? What is your favorite fruit to look for at the market?

Reminder: Be sure to check out where to shop for what at my Definitive Guide to the Best Supermarkets for Fruits and Vegetables.