Bargain Apricots / where to get fresh figs?

[fiddler]

All,

Earlier today I posted that I found a bargain at my local produce distributer. To my surprise, the discounted two cases of ripe, fresh, organic apricots I bought each had 72 apricots (two stacks of 36 count in each box). So, I ended up with 144 apricots that cost me a grand total of $2.00. So, after throwing out about 10 or so of the bad ones I ended up paying about $.03 cents for 2 apricots (1.5 penny per apricot). I should've bought more since I ended up giving Mom a case -- she's still on the Hallelujah Diet and is doing really great too :)

The thing is, I can't recall ever eating a fresh apricot before today. They're pretty tasty. After eating a dozen this morning, I threw six of 'em in a blender with 5 cups of Romaine lettuce and two bananas for a pretty tasty green smoothie.

I've posted about these kinds of produce distributors here on this forum in the past and encourage anyone living near a city to seek out these produce suppliers. Its amazing what great bargains can be found on organic produce.

Next visit (maybe tomorrow) I'm going to ask 'em about organic Figs. All these posts about figs lately has gotten me interested. I've only had dried figs. Can't wait to try a fresh fig. Any suggestions? Can I have them shipped to me directly from California or someplace if my local distributor doesn't carry them? I love trying out new fruit!


Cheers,
Fiddler

[Summerloco]

I wish my grocery store would sell me apricots for that cheap :( They're normally 3-4$ a pound here, and are normally already past their prime and kinda mushy :( Still better price than the cherries thought. I went to Harris Teeter to get some dates, and they were 9.99 a pound :eek: that's why I buy the frozen lol, 2.35 a pound, and already pitted :) do you eat pineapple? How much does it cost where you are? It cost me 4$ for the one I got this afternoon :-/

But it's the most delicious pineapple I've ever had (I've only had 2 lol), so I guess it's worth it :D

[fiddler]

I wish my grocery store would sell me apricots for that cheap :( They're normally 3-4$ a pound here, and are normally already past their prime and kinda mushy do you eat pineapple? How much does it cost where you are? It cost me 4$ for the one I got this afternoon :-/

But it's the most delicious pineapple I've ever had (I've only had 2 lol), so I guess it's worth it :D

Summerloco,

The only reason I got those apricots so cheap was because I found them on a discount truck before the other "flea market" resellers snatched 'em all up. The discount truck items are ridiculously low because the grocery store chains don't want to deal with ripe produce or produce that is slightly damaged. Normally, apricots would be quite a bit more than a couple pennies per apricot :)

Pineapple is awesome. I had been using frozen pineapple in my smoothies (I'm trying to cut down on my frozen food intake though). I don't know what pineapple is selling for since I haven't bought one in a while. I can tell you that organic bananas at Krogers have been selling at $23.50 a case (40lb case). I get 'em not much cheaper than that for $21.00 a case at the wholesaler. Many times though Krogers doesn't have a case readily available for me to buy because they apparently don't sell too many organic bananas.

Cheers,
Fiddler

[yeahbethany]

This intrigues me, Gil...
"Flea market" trucks? Produce flea markets? I've never heard of the concept, and I'm not sure we have it here in Chicago.

Care to enlighten me? =) I'd love to know what this is and how I can find one!

Thanks!

-Bethany

[fiddler]

This intrigues me, Gil...
"Flea market" trucks? Produce flea markets? I've never heard of the concept, and I'm not sure we have it here in Chicago.

Care to enlighten me? =) I'd love to know what this is and how I can find one!

Thanks!

-Bethany
Sure Bethany, I'd love to share what I know here in Northern Kentucky.

Here in Cincinnati (Northern Kentucky actually) we have a couple produce distributors that supply the grocery chains with fresh produce. I know of two companies: Crossetts (my favorite and 15' from my house), and Castellinis. Krogers in this area used to do their own distribution but they started using crossets within this past year (and their produce is much better now as a result).

These wholesale stores have walk-in hours for folks to come and buy bulk produce. The savings can be incredible sometimes. At Crossetts, they have a discount truck where produce gets marked down to extremely low prices. The items marked down are usually going bad or will soon reach past the point of ripeness. However, the flea market vendors really make their profit on these marked down items. The flea market is a place where folks go to sell whatever. We used to have Richwood flea market before the building was destroyed in a storm. There are others around town too.

I bet if you look around Chicago you'll find similar wholesalers. Chicago is only 5 hours or so from Cincinnati so I'm guessing they have distributors to service all the grocery store chains. You could ask your grocery store produce manager where they buy their produce and then call them directly and ask about possible walk-in sales hours.

The other option is a food co-op. However, the food co-op I found in this area just went to Crossetts for their stuff and then they split up the cases. This could be useful I guess but for me I can usually down a whole case of fruit by myself anyway :) And for lettuce, I just go buy it every other day or so since I'm so close to a grocery store right outside my subdivision.

Anyway, hope the above helps. With some small investment checking around town you should be able to find a good wholesaler to work with you. One thing I like about my wholesaler is that you get the produce you want a couple days (or more) fresher than you would've gotten at the store. Not to mention the occasional great BARGAINS. Plus, I can ask the produce manager questions and get unbelievably interesting stories of when produce will be available and why --- such as how bananas are grown, shipped, how the storms destroyed banana crops, etc... Why Florida oranges have a thinner skin and are juicier than the California oranges (because of weather conditions, etc) That guy sure knows his produce since he does much of the ordering around here...

Cheers,
Gil