How to Find Inexpensive Late Summer and Fall Produce

You want to find inexpensive produce late this summer and into fall. Even though the lazy days of summer are over and the kids are back to school, you still want the family to eat healthy, and be able to live on a certain budget. Gas costs and the rising costs of food have made it tough for the average family to make ends meet. This article will explore how to find inexpensive late summer and fall produce on a budget.

Summer is drawing to a close, but that doesn't mean it's the end of fresh fruits and vegetables. There are just different ones to choose from. You have to know where to find them for an inexpensive price.

Many fruits are available in the late summer and early fall. As summer comes to an end, most berries are starting to go out of season, but you can still find raspberries some places and blackberries. Apples and pears come into season as fall approaches. As for vegetables, you'll find peppers, squash, and onions. Lettuce also comes back into season as the weather gets cooler and the lettuce doesn't dry up in the hot summer sun.

Where can you find these fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices?

1. The best place to start is the farmer's market. Most towns have one. Usually, they take place on Saturday mornings, but some towns have them more than one day of the week. In Hagerstown, MD on the East coast, the city farmer's market is open from 5 am to 12 noon. Some vendors stay open past noon if business dictates. The farmer's market in Hagerstown, MD has all local fruits and vegetables available. If you visit Madison, Wisconsin, you can find an outdoor farmer's market all around the capital building. There are in excess of fifty vendors, selling all kinds of fruits and vegetables. At this farmer's market, you will find a plethora of fruits and vegetables, including ones that are hard to find other places. You'll even find a vendor selling hollow gourds and another vendor selling pumpkins. The prices at farmer's markets almost always tend to beat that of supermarkets and other official stores.

2. Fresh fruit and vegetable stands on the side of the road. Take a drive into a more rural area on a main road near your town, and you're likely to find fresh fruit and vegetable stands. Sometimes, the seller will bring a truck, and just set up a table on the side of the road. Other times, the stand will be outside of someone's house who happens to live there. The prices are the best here of any place you'll find fruits and vegetables. Why? You don't have to pay vendor fees like at the farmer's market and you don't have to pay to have your produce sold at the local market.

3. Local markets. A local market is like a permanent farmer's market. Whereas the farmer's market may only be open spring, summer and fall, the markets stay open year round and are open most days of the week. This gives the feature of added convenience for being able to obtain fresh produce. However, you may pay a bit more for the produce than you would at a fresh fruit and vegetable stand, because of the costs of keeping the business open. Costs would include lighting, accounting, and hiring employees, for example. The prices will still beat a grocery store.

4. Summer and fall festivals. In Washington County, MD you can often find different festivals where fresh produce is sold. Often, the produce is made into something. For example, you might find a peach festival which sells homemade peach pies, as well as fresh peaches. The festivals offer prices comparable to the farmer's market, because often the vendor fee is small or next to nothing. This keeps the costs low.

5. Newspaper ads. You might not have thought of this option. I learned about it because once my Mother found an ad in the paper about where you could go to pick your own raspberries. Often, people who have fresh fruits and vegetables for sale may not want to go to the trouble of setting up a stand or driving somewhere to sell their produce. The newspaper ads will direct you to where you can go to buy the fruits and vegetables directly from the owner. This saves the owner gas money, if nothing else, and so the prices will be lower.

6. The Orchards themselves. If you can't afford to buy picked raspberries or apples even at the fresh fruit stand, the lowest, most budget minded way to buy fresh fruits and vegetables is to go to the orchards and pick them yourself. You can pick the apples right off the trees and pay the owner before you leave. This is a great way to buy pumpkins too!