I’ve started grabbing the bruised apples, oddly shaped carrots, or slightly wilted peppers because once you chop, cook, or blend them, you literally can’t tell the difference. It feels silly to pay extra just for “pretty” produce when the ugly ones taste the same. Honestly, I’ve saved a surprising amount over time by doing this. Anyone else shop this way, or have tricks for stretching the savings further?
Do you ever buy “ugly” produce just because it’s cheaper?
byu/JaairoTheCow inFrugal
Posted by JaairoTheCow
27 Comments
It’s all going to the same place. As long as it isn’t mushy and damp when it shouldn’t be
Why wouldn’t you? The food has the same nutritional content.
absolutely
I think Aldi sells oddly sized produce routinely
I definitely would, but no store around me does that.
One store has old produce for cheap, and half the time they are nearly the same quality as the full priced one on the shelf
This is oddbunch’s whole thing.
Yuppers! Ugly fruit is delicious!
Its better for food waste, so yeah
Of course! “Ugly” is just a product of strategies to increase sales and profits. The best looking produce is sold fresh at a premium while produce that falls outside this optimally profitable range is sold at a lower price to processors. If they’re fresh, I buy them. I’ll also check the discounted produce for perfectly ripe avocados and peaches when I plan to consume them immediately. Avocados are almost always sold before they’re actually ready to eat.
Yep, I do that all the time.
Definitely, because unsold “ugly” food otherwise often ends up in landfill. And yes, it is slightly cheaper and it all adds up!
I don’t understand this question. I’ve never been charged less b/c my apple is misshapen.
Also, produce gets sorted where it’s picked during packing. “Ugly” produce goes to be canned, frozen, or made into sauces, powders and mashes that don’t require an individual specimen.
You think your onion powder and paprika was the prettiest one? It wasn’t. It was ugly, they dried the usable bits and ground it up.
I wish stores near me had this option. All the produce is the same price around here, whether it’s ugly or pretty. I shop at Aldi, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Costco, and occasionally fresh thyme. None of them offer deals on ugly produce 🙁
I always check the produce markdowns. I have a freezer full of cut fruit for smoothies and cooking that I just had to trim and prep.
I always check the racks near the back of the store. Sometimes they have nothing. And sometimes they have oranges that are almost indistinguishable from the oranges at the front of the store. They often have rotten bananas that are perfect for banana bread so I will buy two or three packages and peel them and freeze them for banana bread and milk milkshake.
Sometimes. In my area they sell “imperfect” fruit frozen so it’s good for smoothies and baking.
I get #2’s or “seconds” from fruit stands. They’ll know what you’re talking about if you ask if they have any. This summer, over the course of a single week, I got 15 peaches for $3. Then 26 peaches for $3. Then an entire case for $15. We are rich in peaches. Haha.
I also scout the markdowns and then just process the produce that same day. It’s a fun little game!
I always buy ugly. A bump or a bruise aint no biggie. Often get “canning” tomatoes, peaches, etc from the farm at really cheap prices.
If it’s available in your area I recommend Imperfect Foods which delivers exactly that.
All the time!
I get Odd Bunch, a weekly subscription for ugly local produce.
If you go to a food bank, they often have stuff that people refuse due to it being overripe or close to it. If I’ve got time to process it, I’ll take as much as they will let me have.
I don’t think I’ve ever once in my life seen produce marked down because it was ugly.
As long as it’s fresh, of course
Your title and post have very little/nothing zo do with each other. To answer the title: NEVER! The few things I buy I wanna have as pretty as can be!
To answer the post: some people don’t understand what food even is or demand it be trashed if it’s slightly dirty or dropped once. There are plenty weird people out there and for obvious reasons eventually their food mentality became the predominant one.
Always. When in doubt, always check the carts at the back of the store by the freezers in your local Smart & Final. They have there a tiny cornucopia of ugly produce that you may want to use the same day, or is simply too ugly and undesirable to sell at a regular price and usually for $1-2 depending on what they have. Usually fruit is the most expensive of the two at $2.
Yesterday, I bought dinner for four for $5.
Got two bags of four zucchini green and yellow each, $1 each.
A bag of 6 /2 green, red, orange, yellow, purple bell peppers, $1.
And the third bag had a ginormous eggplant in a bag with a couple of big tomatoes that were ripe enough, one head of garlic, and two red onions. $1
The only issue with the eggplant, it was scratched on one side which wasn’t a problem for me because I peeled the part of the skin, cubed it with the zuchinni in rows with onions, tomatoes, garlic and added the orange pepper just for extra flavor lined in a cookie sheet with homemade tomato sauce on it.
Baked it and had it for dinner last night topped with Parmigiano Reggiano, and also a dollar baguette I picked up from the same cart.
Delicious easy cheap Ratatouille. Got plenty for leftovers too!
“Ugly” imperfect shaped food is as nature intended and even better if it’s cheaper.