How much fruit & veg do you buy per week?

[Heythereorangehead]

And have you had to cut back?
Sort of related to a thread on here already.
Our food shop has gone up around €30/40 per week (live abroad) we both work and have one Dd and a dog. I used to buy lots of veg, salad, fruits etc.
This week I got brocolli, cauliflower, carrots, 1 avocado, tangerines & apples. Dd eats nearly all the fruit and has one fruit for school dinners, I don’t tend to get any fruit now. We used to have fruit for breakfast and after lunch/dinner and lunches & dinners filled with veg, I really feel I’m not getting enough.
How much do you buy and how can I get more fruit/veg in without spending even more?

Oh, I forgot spinach, which we buy regularly.

@user1471428569 - we buy fresh berries sometimes as it’s one thing fussy toddler will actually eat. So although we also buy frozen and seasonal veg, I don’t mind the odd punnet of fresh berries.

They are actually being grown a lot more in country where we live now (Central Europe), our blueberries last week were grown here in greenhouses. So cost a bit more than seasonal, but from about 2hr drive away.

You're buying out of season, heavily packaged fruit that must be transported a long way and stored carefully.

Seasonal things are much cheaper.

Supermarkets are more expensive than markets.

I don't stick to the same things every week, I tend to look at what's on offer and plan my meals around that. We changed to frozen broccoli, sweetcorn and cauliflower which seems to have saved us money.

I found a receipt from 2021 recently and seeing the price increases was shocking. I've thrown it away but the ones I remember were 1kg onions 50p and whole cucumber 39p. Both of those things cost double that now, so its unsurprising people are cutting back.

Pre cut fresh mango/pineapple/melon. As it’s only just me a whole one gets wasted before I can eat it and I’d rather pay more for less food waste. Buy at Waitrose or my local farm shop as Sainsbury’s and Tesco fruit seems to go rotten faster. All adds up.

Precut mango = £5
Nice raspberries = £3
Nice strawberries = £3
Blood oranges = 4 for £3
Precut Pineapple = £4

That lasts about two days and is about £72 a week on fruit. Often more though. Then I buy vegetables (eat a lot of them) - aubergines I can get through 7 a week. So that’s £7 right there…

If you like really good quality meat and fruit then it does add up quickly

I buy onions, garlic, potatoes, green pepper, carrots, mushrooms, tomato, cucumber and lettuce every week-
Fruit-strawberries, apples, tangerines and bananas, sometimes grapes and nectarines just depends whats on offer.

We tend to eat curries, chilli, spag bol, chicken, rice and salad etc and dont have meals which include extra veg on the side so dont bother with brocolli, cauliflower sort of things.

@hangingonfordearlife1 bow about spinach in your curry? Or a totally veg curry? Carrots, celery and mushrooms in your spag bol? Stuff that veg in! 😊

I am gobsmacked by people buying fresh strawberries and raspberries in February. You are all mad. They will be super expensive and tasteless.

They're not...

I buy them 12 months of the year - they’re lovely.

They really aren't. Just like out of season apples.

But this is why people think fruit and veg is expensive, buying imported, out of season soft fruit is insane.

It’s not insane if you like them and happy to pay the price.

How are you eating at least an entire punnet of berries, 2 oranges and a punnet of exotic fruit every day ... But somehow claim a pineapple won't last? If you're eating that much fruit, you'd demolish the pineapple in 2-3 days..

And if you're eating presumably 2 punnets of pre-sliced mango (assuming, because you say it's £5) again, you'd eat that much in 2 days... So how come they don't last? A mango would cost you £1.50(ish) ... Not sure why you'd spend £5 on a pre-sliced one?

Also, if you're buying 7 aubergines a week, why would they be £1 each??

just curious! Wondering if it's just a "lazy" habit you've got into buying pre-sliced mangoes and pineapple?

Carrots
Broccoli, two heads
Onions
Celery
Frozen peas and sweetcorn mix, eg
Tinned tomatoes

Apples
Sometimes bananas

I've got an allotment and freeze green beans, plums, blackcurrants, gooseberries, blackberries and raspberries for the winter. In summer I grow strawberries.

I tend to buy seasonally so at the moment lots of root veg that ends up in soups and casseroles, I’ll buy tinned tomatoes and sweetcorn, frozen green beans, peas and broccoli and always have onions and potatoes/sweet potatoes in the house.

Fruit wise I’ll buy bananas, apples, easy peelers and blueberries fresh and frozen berries for smoothies and to have for breakfast with yoghurt and granola. I’ll occasionally buy fruit to make a dessert eg cranachan or a fruit pavlova but otherwise fresh soft fruit is a summer treat.

A family pack of recipes mango is £5 in my local Waitrose. It’s 450G. I have mango as a snack and in salads. So it really doesn’t go far. Ditto with pineapple which I add to my meals and have as a snack.

Without fail every whole mango I have bought has always been black inside. I prefer to pay more and know I am getting something good. With pineapple at 450G a pack which is £4 lasts two days. A whole pineapple would either be rotten or end up rotten before I ate it as one is about 1KG

An aubergine in my local Waitrose or farm shop is £1 per aubergine. I have stuffed aubergine as as a meal (with Moroccan spiced lamb mince and it’s incredible). I have that seven times a week either as a big lunch or dinner…

I could get cheaper from Sainsbury’s but quite frankly the quality of their veg is average at best and rotten at worst. The pre-cut fruit is much the same! At least in Waitrose or my farm shop their precut isn’t rotten. Admittedly I could buy cheaper but good quality food and not wasting food are my big things I’ll never let go!

This week we got:

Bananas
Oranges
Strawberries
Apples
Tomatoes
Red peppers
Cucumber

But we eat a lot of frozen veg on top of that.

Just 2 adults here.

I spend around £20 -£25 a month on fruit and veg which is a third of our weekly shop of £60 - £75.

Bananas
apples/pears
Satsumas or nectarines
1 punnet mixed grapes
1 punnet of blueberries or raspberries/strawberries
Occasionally a melon
Frozen berries in freezer

Salad is usually lettuce, spinach or rocket with cherry tomatoes and occasionally cucumber and celery.
I buy onions, carrots, broccoli, peppers and mushrooms
Potatoes
Broccoli and courgettes occasionally. Sometimes red cabbage.

Frozen peas and sweet corn and butternut squash.

We manage our 5 portions a day from that usually more.

I am vegetarian so fruits and vegetable make most of my food shopping.

I have decided to start a small vegetable garden in my back garden to try to grow my own and also some berries. I bought a lemon tree too.

Basically I thought it might be a good way longer term to cut down on my food costs.

@Devilshands you are spending £200 a week on food for one person and you eat stuffed aubergine every day? I mean I love stuffed aubergine but it isn't exactly an expensive meal. Your budgeting is insane!

People have come to expect to eat seasonal fruit/veg all year round. I agree that imported fruit/veg that has been picked and stored and then flown miles to the UK is tasteless.

When I was growing up in the 60s/70s, we used to go to "pick your own" strawberries in the summer, then later on it would be plums and my mum would make jam and plum pies. Then at Christmas it would be satsumas. Now you get these all year and people moan about the COL and climate change. Of course out of season fruit and veg are expensive you're paying for the luxury of it being imported.

I live alone and tend to buy:

apples
oranges
pineapple
dates
fresh or frozen blueberries
plums
lettuce
tomatoes
beetroot
peppers
olives
peas (frozen)
spinach (frozen)
baked beans
courgettes
Aubergines
potatoes
sweet potato
celery

Some of the above I’ve grown and will grow again. Stepdad has an allotment and gives me anything he has a glut of so chard, courgettes etc.

Same here bought blueberry bushes, cleared a part of garden for simple fruit and vegetables.

I buy the same every week;
I don't really eat fruit at all.

Carrots
Onions
Celery
Mushrooms
Garlic
Cabbage
Broccoli
Leek
Potatoes sweet potatoes
Chillis
Tinned tomatoes

This week I also bought
Cucumber
Salad tomatoes
2 bags of iceberg

Forgot sweetcorn!