Disclosure: I was compensated for writing this blog post.

Feeling like you waste a ton of your grocery budget on fruit and vegetables each month? You’re not alone.

With fruit, it felt like I either purchased too much or didn’t purchase enough. Fresh vegetables and salad were always going bad.

I had a goal of getting my budget down to $100 per week for my family of 5 and wasting food each month wasn’t going to get me there.

These are the things I do to save money on fruit and vegetables each month.

Purchase fruits and vegetables that are in season

We all have our favorite fruits and vegetables, but you’re going to pay more purchasing fruits and vegetables that are out of season vs getting ones that are in season.

If you’re unsure what you should be purchasing, this free tool lets you know what’s in season based on your location. You may also find it helpful for deciding to incorporate new options.



Use a grocery list when shopping

If you shop using a grocery list, you can limit the amount of over purchasing that you do.

I use to always end up with way too many fresh vegetables before I started meal planning and using the free version of the Mealime app.

Also, to avoid impulse food purchases start using online grocery pickup or delivery services.

Tip: Mealime will give you access to a variety of healthy recipes, while also importing the needed ingredients. Plus, you can also add in your own additional ingredients to the digital grocery list.



Purchase a mixture of fresh and frozen

Fresh fruit and vegetables are usually best, however, frozen can work in some things.

Therefore, I always recommend doing a combination of fresh and frozen.

For most fruit and vegetables, frozen usually costs less.

For example, I recently fell in love with making kiwi and strawberry smoothies at home.

There isn’t really a difference in taste regarding the strawberries. However, price-wise 1 lb of fresh strawberries is $2.38 and 1 lb of frozen strawberries is $1.98.



While saving $0.80 per week may not seem like much, that adds up to $41.60 per year shaved off of my grocery budget and it doesn’t cause me any discomfort.

I still get my smoothies and I’m not sacrificing the taste.

Imagine how much money you could save per year on fruits and vegetables by swapping out to a lower-priced option, even if the savings are just a few cents per purchase.

Store fruit and vegetables in Rubbermaid FreshWorks

FreshWorks are microwavable, dishwasher safe and BPA free containers that come in three sizes – small (suggested for small berries), medium (suggested for strawberries), and large (suggest for salads and other leafy greens).

These containers help you save money because they allow your fruits and vegetables to stay fresher longer thanks to the Rubbermaid FreshVent technology.

This technology regulates the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide to ensure that they have the optimal environment to stay as close as possible to just as fresh as to when they were picked. This in return results in you throwing away less food because your fruits and veggies won’t go bad in just a few days.

Did you know that Americans waste $24 billion worth of produce every year? This means that you could be throwing away a minimum of $192 each year.**

The best part is they are easy to use. All you must do is remove your fruits and veggies from their store packaging before putting them inside of the Rubbermaid FreshWorks container.

No cutting or washing required!

Rubbermaid FreshWorks review

I was provided with a set of three containers for review from Rubbermaid. I decided to use mine to keep my salad fresh. AND IT WORKED.

When I leave the salad in the bag it originally comes in whether I even get around to opening it or not, it never fails, the salad goes bad within 4-5 days every time.

Well, things have been busy for me, so when I purchased salad I didn’t get around to eating it as planned.

Good thing I had FreshWorks on hand!

I left the salad inside of the container for an entire WEEK before I finally got around to using it.

And guess what?

It was still just as fresh as when I took it out of the bag.

And it still is!

Comparison shop

When I say comparison shop, I’m not referring to running from store to store.

Grocery shop online to get the best deals on your groceries, avoid impulse purchases, and save time.

Plus, when you grocery shop online, you can compare the prices of different fruits and vegetables to see what works best for your budget.

If you’re new to online grocery shopping I personally recommend Walmart Grocery Pickup/Delivery or the Food Lion To Go app.

By online grocery shopping via Walmart Grocery and using these tips provided I’m able to not only save money on fruit and vegetables but get between 50-60 items each week for no more than $100.



It’s easy to save money on fruit and vegetables each month

By doing these five things I’ve been able to successfully cut back the amount of my grocery budget that goes to fruit and vegetables each month, while also making sure that we’re eating balanced meals.

What do you do to save money and fruit and vegetables each month?