Curious how we afford fruits and vegetables?
How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables
People keep telling me that fruits and vegetables are SO EXPENSIVE. That they can’t afford them. That I’m really splurging when I buy so much fresh fruit every month.
I couldn’t figure out if I was in denial about this or if maybe I’m so used to buying so much produce that I don’t “see the expense” anymore. Or, is it possible that fruits and vegetables really are affordable but the first look at their price scares some people? I really wasn’t sure.
So I did some fruit and veggie math.
We’re currently feeding ten people three meals each day. Our three littlest are ages 2, 1, and 1. Our four oldest household members are adults, so it balances out. :)
Our monthly grocery budget is $1,200. Of that amount, I calculated and was shocked to learn that only about $300 is spent on fruits and vegetables. (I looked online at all my Sam’s, Costco, and Walmart receipts, so handy!) I truly thought it would add up to more than that since my produce purchases are so frequent and big.
So I did the math again to double-check.
Sure enough, only about a fourth of our overall monthly grocery budget goes toward these, and I don’t hold back:
- Frozen green beans
- Frozen peas
- Frozen corn
- Frozen fruit for smoothies
- Frozen hashbrowns
- Fresh spinach (we go through at least one pound every week)
- Fresh spring mix (we go through two pounds every week)
- Fresh carrots
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Fresh broccoli
- Apples
- Bananas
- Clementines
- Berries ( strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries depending on the season)
- Melons (cantaloupe, honey dew, and watermelon depending on the season)
- Grapes
- Kiwi
- Pears
- Canned pumpkin
- Canned peaches
- Canned pears
- Canned mandarins
- Applesauce (a ridiculous amount of applesauce)
Where I landed after doing the math:
Feeding my family a lot of fruits and veggies is not expensive.
I sort of apologize for my geekiness, but as it turns out, I’m pretty excited that I went back and added it all up! Now I feel like I have an actual answer to the “fruits and veggies so expensive” claim!
If I’m spending $300 of our monthly grocery budget on produce – for 10 people for 30 days? This breaks down to just:
$1/person/day.
Which is $0.33/meal.
This, to fill our bellies with lots of fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables in a big variety of forms. That’s actually incredible, I think! Especially when our plates look like this:
Steamed broccoli, corn, raspberries, and nectarine on spaghetti night;
and no, I don’t put sauce on our baby’s noodles because I don’t want the mess. :)
This was our 8-year-old’s first serving. He had seconds of all you see here:
Here’s Matt’s plate the evening we celebrated Asa’s birthday with
smoked chicken, alfredo, and steamed broccoli:
One Sunday lunch was spinach on tuna sandwiches, watermelon, and guacamole.
This was our 6-year-old’s plate. She’s a pretty small eater. Unless it’s cake. :)
(But now, of course, I’ve been putting spinach our the cake so…)
Our three year old asked for spinach on the side with ranch and watermelon with his tuna sandwich that day. Not pictures, his tuna sandwich as he gobbled it down already.
This is my plate filled with Overnight Beef Roast, pears, peas, and baked beans. (In case you need to know, I didn’t actually cook it overnight. I cooked it all day and it was perfect for dinnertime!)
Here’s my plate showing our salmon burger meal with steamed green beans, corn, sweet potato fries, and a tiny bit of asparagus from our garden! (We each only got a little bit of asparagus.) ;)
PSA: The Avocado Mash cups at Costco or Sam’s are worth their cost in that they stay fresh in the fridge for a long time and offer an awesome, easy snack or side dish for babies and adults alike. Our littlest girls LOVE these and will each eat an entire cup with their meal. We bigger people like to eat them with chips. So good!
In case you need to see a chubby baby hand a couple more times:
So, can I afford $10/day to feed 10 people fruits and vegetables?
Absolutely. I can spend a dollar a day on each family member to keep us all nourished. I am shocked that it costs so little to buy so many varieties of fruits and vegetables every month. Is it possible that this food category is what actually costs the least instead of the most as we are all led to believe??
One more veggie-kid photo as we wrap up; here’s Keith after finishing his smoothie (filled with frozen fruit, fresh spinach, yogurt, and milk):
You should try doing the math to see how much you spend on fruits and veggies! Challenge yourself to be sure you’re filling everyone up on all the good stuff – it’s much less expensive than we think!
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So just out of curiosity, what food category do you spend the most on?
Very interesting! I may have to try tracking this for July.
Also, thank you so much for this helpful food series. My family is slightly smaller, but we shop/eat similarly.
Wow wow wow!!!
We spend about $1300-1400 or so a month on food and at least $600 is fruits and veggies. All F&F are fresh or frozen, no canned or dried.
I’m impressed !
It’s been neat and interesting seeing how much you spend, on what and the breakdown.
I think where produce gets “expensive” is if you don’t eat it fast enough and it spoils. This is where it’s smart to have a good repertoire of soup recipes (for veggies reaching their end) and dessert/quick bread recipes for fruits that are about to go.
Also…people forget that, sure, you may be spending “a lot” up front for all that fresh produce. But think about the money you’re saving on the back end in terms of medication and doctor visits because you’re boosting your health and immunity with such a healthful diet. To me, that’s totally worth spending “a lot” on produce.
Wow! This is such an encouraging post. Thank you! Now I have to go check my receipts. :) Thank you for sharing all these money saving grocery tips and recipes. I appreciate your hard work.
The chubby baby hand pictures are my favorite. ??
My heart emoji was changed to the ??
I agree with Green Door. The money you’re saving on medical expenses surely outweighs the cost of healthful foods. Seeing little ones eat fruits and veggies makes me happy. Thanks for taking such good care of our future!
It has been my experience that buying canned and frozen makes the difference when it comes to saving and stretching on fruits and vegetables. On average I eat a whole 16oz tub of spinach on my own for a week. Including myself I have a family of 3 but we are very active. A 3.5 lb rotisserie chicken (not sure what size chicken fed 10) would be 2, maybe 3 servings for my family. With the inflation and unpredictability we have been spending about 1/3 more on our groceries. We have started getting our eggs locally to help save money that way too. Thanks for doing the math because it is possible to afford fruits and vegetables no matter what size family or how active.
The super unhealthy easy grab chips and granola bars that are so easy to get in the habit of “grabbing” are not cheap at all; So there is also that.