Guest Post: How to stretch your Fruit and Veggie Budget

There are so many different ways to stretch your grocery budget. The first of course as most of you know is coupons and there are so many ways to obtain them which some are listed in the link.

However, there are so many free resources as well. One of these I listed not long ago in this post about Mulberries being ready for picking. Your local paper’s free items is a great resource for free fruits and veggies.

We also have a community garden here that they have for the food banks. You can go volunteer and get some fresh veggies for your family for volunteering. So this is another way you can give back and get free veggies for your family as well.

There is also freecycle. You will hear me talk about freecycle a lot while talking about saving on your budgets. This site you can put in your local area and then look for items that your in need of as well as get rid of items that you no longer need.

What do I usually get on freecycle that helps my grocery bills? Well, Canning Jars for my Jelly’s and Jams, Free fruits and veggies that people are giving away extra from their gardens, free plants, Fruits from their trees in their yard that I just go pick and bring home. There is so much to list. You will see once you give it a try! Now the rule on freecycle is that you must give something to get your account started. So, spring cleaning, things the kids no longer need or something you no longer need can be listed to get you started.

There is also your local flea Market/veggie stands that are a great resource. If you have one near you that is only open on the weekend those are the best! Now, let me explain to you why it is. Sunday is their last day so they need to sell all their supply because it will not last till the next weekend. So you can get fruits and veggies for very close to nothing in price at the end of the day!

I go on Sunday an hour before they are closing and just see what’s going on. It costs me $3 to get into the flea market BUT well worth it in my savings! I get crates of corn for $2 each, Crates of green beans for $1 each, Cantaloupe (my kids favorite) for $2 a crate, and other needed items! I usually spend $20 to fill up my van full of crates. These amount of crates will fill many canning jars with Jelly which I make for $.75- $1 each! Will make several shelves in my freezer full for winter as well.

These are all things you could start to think about and use this weekend. These are simple tips but they will save you a lot on your grocery bill.

Thank you Debbie from Frugal Frenzy Diva for providing another wonderful guest post!