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March
6
How to Shop Like a Raw Foodist and Buy Fruit in Bulk
Filed under Raw Vegan Lifestyle by Frederic Patenaude
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I’m currently traveling in New Zealand where I just bought a big case of Asian pears one of my favorite fruits when in season.
I got a really good deal on the case of pears, and ending up paying half of the regular price that the exact same fruits sell at the regular supermarket.
A lot of people wonder how it’s possible to make this raw food diet work when fruits and vegetables are so expensive, especially these days. Let me tell you how!
As I’ve said many times, you need to start shopping like a real raw foodist by buying food by the case, not by the pound or kilo at a grocery or healthfood store!
Almost anywhere in the world I have visited, I have been able to get great deals on fruit just by finding certain places that can sell to you in larger quantities. Sometimes you won’t be able to find these places with Google, and you have to actually go back to the good old fashioned way of asking around or driving around your city.
As for the pears I just got, I was in a store in Christchurch that specialized in fruits and vegetables. That’s the kind of store you want!
The pears sold for $3.90 a kilo, which is about US$1.32 a pound. This was a great price, but I was able to get an even better one. I was planning on getting more than a bag of them anyways and just thought to ask if they could sell an entire case of those pears to us. Then the guy wasn’t sure, but said he would ask his manager.
He told us we could buy 20 kilos, but that would probably be too big, but he could make us a custom box of 10 kilos. When I asked the price, he said $39.90. I said “You mean there’s no discount for buying a case?” Again, he said he would ask his manager.
When he came back, he said he would sell us the case for $32 (that’s in New Zealand dollars)… which turned out to be about US$1.09 per pound, which for this local type of fruit is very good.
Again, you have to ask! These deals are not advertised anywhere. It never hurts to just ask.
We got the idea because they had large boxes of very ripe plums being sold for 8 NZD. This was a great price! So we got these too and just composted the overripe ones.
As we’re going to be driving around New Zealand for the next week, and pears can keep perfectly in this cool condition in the car, it really pays for us to buy our fruit in advance, in case we end up somewhere where it’s just not affordable or not available. So we have our plums for now and pears for later.
If you find it hard to eat raw because of the costs, make sure you shop where you can get great deals by buying in bulk. Here’s a few tips:
1- If possible, find a big produce warehouse where fruits and vegetables are sold in bulk. You probably won’t find this in Google. The best person to ask would be the owner of an Asian restaurant, as they always know where to buy cheap and fresh veggies!
2- Ask restaurants that serve organic food where they get their produce. Most likely it’s the same distributor that goes to the health food store. To get the organic produce at the same price that the organic food store gets it from, you might need a business account. It’s usually pretty simple and cheap to open a basic business and call it a “Co-op”. If there’s a minimum order, find a few raw-eating friends to buy in bulk with you.
3- Finally, if you can’t find any of the above, do what I did in New Zealand and go to stores that specialize in produce. These stores should sell at least 70% produce to qualify. They probably get their fruits and vegetables from a central distributor, and you could probably ask them where it is. In any case, I’m sure they’ll be able to sell you fruits by the pound if not by the case, much cheaper than the grocery store.
Remember… you can’t succeed eating raw foods if you don’t have a constant supply of fresh, high-quality, affordable produce!
Buying fruit at the supermarket and health food store is for everybody else who consumes an apple a day. I know you will go through a ton of fruit and greens in your green smoothies and fruit meals, so you need to buy in larger quantities.
By the way, I generally only buy fruit by the case, because no matter how hard I try, there is no way I can go through a case containing 40 heads of celery in one week. So I buy a lot of my veggies at the health food store or supermarket in smaller quantities but I still get a good variety.
Farmer’s markets can be a mixed blessing. They are only good if farmers are willing to sell you fruit by the case! If not, then it’s probably a “snobby” farmer’s market where people hang out and socialize for lunch… not a real place to buy fruit week in and week out
Remember to take massive raw food action!
11 Responses to “How to Shop Like a Raw Foodist and Buy Fruit in Bulk”
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Frederic: Really great blog/email on Buying Your Fruits in Bulk. That is the best way. You are one of the few who actually gives people practical advice. The rest should be ashamed (God bless them anyway lol).
By the way I found that sweet potatoes, steamed, are the only food that I can “not suffer” from in terms of gas, lower performance, non-restful sleep, increased body temp, breath, etc. I find it much much better to just eat another 800 calorie fruit meal. Why eat cooked if it lowers your enjoyment of life. It does for me. So I do not want to eat any cooked. But I can see that in a pinch, in extreme cold, or when a person just has not bananas to eat and they are literally starving then okay- have some sweet potato or even “good quality” white potatoes if simply calories is all that they are after, not nutrition.
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Kahu says:
Kia ora Fred,
Are you still with us in Christchurch (pretty crazy time to be here)? Do you have plans for any public talks here or elsewhere in Aotearoa?
Noho ora mai,
Kahu -
Ami says:
Hi Frederic,
Welcome to NZ, I am a mostly raw foodist living in New Plymouth, NZ.
I have been eating all raw for 4 months and have now adjusted to mostly raw. I have your latest book and am a little way thorugh it. I am enjoying it.I was surprised and happy to hear that you are here in NZ. I hope you are enjoying yourself. Farmers’ markets are the place I buy most of my fruit and veges, especially from people who aren’t certified organic, but they don’t spray.
NZ people are generally pretty honest so I can trust them! Also there are three organic shops in NP so I’m pretty lucky. I seem to be in the minority here, however there is a great vegan restaurant here that also serves some raw food. There are at least 3 or 4 others in NP who are eating raw food… so it’s changing, slowly.Thanks for your blog and your book, very valuable. Let me know if you are planning to come to NP.
Kind regards,
Ami -
Fer says:
Hi Frederic
Thanks for your article, as always
I want to ask you a couple of questions:- How do you make sure the fruits you buy by case taste sweet? Do you try them before buying?
- Is it a risk of fruits rotten if brought in large quantities and not consume in time?
Thank you
Fer London -
Fer says:
I missed another question:
- Do you need a large fridge?
Huge thanks Frederic..
Fer
London
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Frederic Patenaude says:
Just passed through Christchurch, but could not stay. No talks were arranged in New Zealand this time around.
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Farmer’s markets in NZ have been great!
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I usually try the fruit before I buy, if it’s something different. Good shops will let you try. Usually no problems with spoilage with experience.
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You don’t need a large fridge. Most fruits don’t need to be refrigerated, however a decent-size fridge is a good investment for a dedicated raw foodist.
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Excellent article, even some humour, unintended I am sure, “If there’s a minimum order, find a few raw-eating fruits to buy in bulk with you.” Yeah, “raw eating fruits”! lol
With this article in mind I walked into a store today and saw a sign saying, Papaya, $1.97. They are usually $4.97 each. I grabbed three and went to the cash to pay for them. It was a mistake, and such mistakes go in the customer’s favor. They really were $4.97, and they let me have them for $1.97, but were going to fix it right away.
But it doesn’t stop there. I went back hours later and the old sign was still there! I bought 4 more.
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Frederic,
Thanks for these great ideas. As a wife and mother, I’m always looking for ways to eat healthy and save money. I noticed what you said about the farmer’s market is very true in my area. For some reason, the farmers are unwilling to sell by the case at the market.
I stumbled on the solution when I decided to drop in on one of the farms when driving past one day. At the farm itself, the farmer was more than willing to give me a discount on a large case of fruit. I guess it saved him the cost of transportation to town. And I got a great deal by splitting the case with some friends.
Since then, we’ve organized many many such “splits” using an online tool called SplitStuff (http://splitstuff.com). This way we can easily decide who’s going to pick up the produce and how much each person wants. And it’s turned out to be a great way to connect with more vegans or raw-foodists in my area.
(And actually, we could make group deals with a health food distributor that way, too! Thanks for the tip!)
Annette
