Produce Tips- Eating Fresh While Staying in Budget

I have had the question several times about produce.  "How can our family be frugal when we eat a lot of fruits and veggies?"

We LOVE fresh stuff around here and as I'm writing this, my oldest daughter is polishing off some blueberries.  There are a few things you can do to get your produce at a discount.

1. Watch for coupons.. mostly printable.  I recently used a $2 off $5 in Produce (Food Lion coupon) at Publix.  In the same trip, I used a Del Monte Pineapple printable for $1 off.  These come around every now and then.. I'll keep you posted when I see more!
2. Buy in Season. Blueberries, Watermelon, Peaches, Corn, Green Beans, and Tomatoes are just a few goodies that are in season in July and will feature the best prices.
3. Visit your local Farmer's Market.  Supporting local farmers AND getting a deal... sounds good to me!
   
4. Check Aldi's (or any discount grocer's) produce supply.  I know I keep bringing it up... sorry :)  I just was pleasantly surprised by their selection and prices- I'll definitely watch the sales and go back!

Part of saving money on fruits and veggies is what you do with it when you get it home.  If I buy 10lbs of strawberries on sale and half of them go bad before we eat them, I'm wasting money.  If my kids eat all the fruit as soon as I walk in the door, we won't have anything fresh to last all week.  So here's what we do:

1. Make individual portions in your fridge.  My kids went through a watermelon in a day and a half recently, and at $4 a pop, I could see that was going to be an expensive habit :)  By cutting up about half a watermelon in one big dish and then pulling portions out for the girls in individual containers (and keeping the big dish in the back of the fridge so they can't reach it), they were surprisingly satisfied with their one portion and our watermelon lasted a LOT longer.  Just as a convenience, I like to cut up carrots and celery too so they can just grab them as a snack when they want to.
   
2. Freeze what you can't eat.  (or make jelly... I haven't tackled that one yet!) When freezing berries or bananas, spread them out and freeze them on a baking sheet first and then they will stay separated when you put them in a freezer bag.  I am working on filling my freezer this summer so we will have lots of smoothies this winter!
   
3. Dehydrate for quick easy snacks.  If you have a food dehydrator, watch out because peaches should go on sale really soon.. last year I think we got them for $10-$15 for a 25lb box.  Dried fruit is a great snack (and also a good one to put in individual portions for your kids to grab when they are hungry)

Anybody have other produce tips?  I'd love to hear them!