It’s increasingly unaffordable to eat 5 a day

[HappySnake]

Is anyone else struggling with this currently? I know some veg is not too expensive, but I just find with fruit it’s so expensive now. My kids particularly like blueberries and strawberries - I’m spending about a fiver a day. I feel like others who are less well off financially must be finding it even more difficult.

Any tips on affordable fruit etc and how you ensure you get 5 a day would be welcome!

I often wonder how others on low budgets manage with some prices. Supermarkets have a lot to answer for

From what I've seen the price of fruit and veg in the UK is insanely low compared to much of the world. You really have no idea!

Considering growing your own strawberries if you have a decent soil, space in a garden you can clear and keep clear for them I got free strawberry plants off friend whose allotment is seriously going wild, free stand-alone planters that were too damaged for a charity shop to sell but they let me have for free. Too late to plant strawberry plants this year, but could get it organised for next year.

I store apples in the fridge, they stay crunchy for ages (and I don't buy pink ladies)

I agree. Honeydew melon might look expensive but you get loads of fruit for your money. I peel it, chop it into chunks and put it in a tub in the fridge. One melon lasts me a whole week. And it's lovely!

You need to start shopping at Aldi OP.

One melon lasts me a whole week

Do you live alone?

We spend £20 a week on a fruit and veg box for a family of 4. There is frozen fruit in the freezer (black currants, gooseberries and rhubarb all home grown) plus sometimes other bags of fruit for porridge and smoothies.
We sometimes buy extra if we want something specific but only a couple of times a month.

That’s fine, we can agree to disagree, I’m not stopping anyone from shopping for fruit there.

I am astonished to read here some people buy blackberries. Blackberries are free!

It's super easy, but then we're vegan so always eat way more than 5 a day!

I understand re fruit though - my daughter would probably get through a pack each of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries a day if she had the chance. She knows that I only buy one package of each a week, though, so she has to 'make do' with apples, bananas, and oranges when they're gone.

I'm with you, what an extraordinary suggestion thst Aldi fruit is 'inedible'. It's mostly great in my experience.

Oh really? There are free blackberries available to all?

Admittedly I haven't shopped in Aldi for a few years but I used to find that the fruit and veg went off very quickly compared to stuff bought elsewhere. Meaning that it had already been stored for a long time.

@Banmooo Of course there are. Go to any wood or common area. I live in zone 3 London and there are loads of wild brambles around in woods, parks and cemetaries. We stuff the freezer each Autumn..

Or alternatively this means it hasn't been dowsed in chemicals to keep it from going off.

Some fruit/veg IS quick to go off in its natural state. Learn to incorporate that into food planning/shopping and it ceases to become an issue.

I haven’t noticed any difference between Aldi/Lidl fruit and any other supermarket. Tesco and Sainsbury’s are price matching Aldi on many items now.

I disagree.

The freshly picked veg from my garden lasts for a long time in the fridge. No chemicals involved there!

And bless you for suggesting that I learn to food plan. 😆

Why the obsession with fruit?

We’re not supposed to eat mountains of fruit. You need to up your intake of veg which is possible to buy everywhere cheaply. If you don’t like veg then that is the problem.

Eat seasonally, strawberries now are British, delicious and much cheaper than the foreign bags of water you get in deep winter. Part of the delight of strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, asparagus, peas etc... when I was a child was that you could only eat them at certain times. They taste amazing in season too. Now we get things all year round and largely they taste of nothing.

It's also killing the planet, 12 months of strawberries means over farming and transporting everything thousands of miles. Also worth looking at the dirty dozen list for the worst produce for pesticide residues which affect everyone but can have a particularly awful impact on girl's / women's hormones. I'll get off my soap box now but this is an issue which really bothers me and can be so easily overcome (certainly where berries are concerned anyway!)

Consider growing some fruit, raspberries are great, they will take a few years to get going and need a bit of space but will give a good yield with little effort

This is quite interesting about the difference between supermarkets

https://www.pan-uk.org/supermarkets/

Not all fruit / veg should last a long time, even in the fridge and not should it. Lots of soft fruits don't and storing them in the fridge isnt best for their quality anyway.

Meal planning is great, you're welcome 😁

You need to get what's in season and hopefully local, or else have frozen or canned. Growing your own is even better, although that does requite some effort

5 a day doesn't mean only (expensive and out of season) fruit .... bananas, oranges, apple are relatively cheaper, as is most most veg - cabbage, carrots, leeks

There aren't woods and commons areas full of brambles everywhere. Where I live all the accessible ones have been torn out.

Yes - I'm always amazed when I see the price of them in supermarkets and can't believe people will buy them. Last year was a bumper year for blackberries around here last year round here. I picked tons of the things and still have a couple of bags left in the freezer.