The price of veg?

willhub

willhub

willhub

Caporegime
Joined
3 Jan 2006
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Chadderton, Oldham
I've started to eat healthier but it's a bit of a shock how much veg is, should it be this expensive?

I went to the market to get some veg, sometimes I will get it from Sainsbury's, however the costs seems to vary only a few quid.

For the price of £10, I got some vine tomatoes, a cucumber (small), a pack of beetroot, one single red pepper, a bag of pees in the pod, 2 large potatoes for baking and three pears.

Does this seem reasonable? To me £10 just for veg seems incredibly expensive?
 
What's wrong with standard tomatoes, you pay now for the small vine ones.
Beetroot was it pre cooked and peeled, bit them fresh in a bunch.
Frozen peas are just as good and cheaper.
Probably depends on the type of market, is it a bit standard market or a farmers market.
 
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They were peas in the pod, they taste much fresher to me? Maybe I'll try peas in a bag.

It was beetroot ready done, I've never considered boiling my own beetroot I imagine it's quite a time consuming process.

I prefer vine tomatoes they have a strong sweet flavour, standard tomato's taste so bland to me.

It was like one of those town markets where they have loads of stalls, a few butchers and the one grocery market.
 
£7-9 sounds about right assuming it was all decent quality produce, root veg tends to be a lot cheaper. Fresh peas are nice but frozen are a lot, lot cheaper and almost as good.

Broccoli, cabbages, squash, onions etc. are cheap per kg if you want to bulk out meals. Same for legumes.
 
Supermarkets control much of the fruit and veg trade, they have massive buying power and contracts.

Outside of supermarkets, try to find the large independent fruit and veg dealers in the area instead of market stalls who have the least buying power and buy in boxes from other dealers instead of by the pallet full.
 
Armageus said:
Realistically growing your own is unlikely to be cheaper (it's also incredibly unreliable)
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I can only speak for myself, but it's certainly not unreliable and it's extremely cheap.
Every year I have potatoes, various beans, lettuce, sweetcorn, courgettes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radish etc and every year it grows just great (as it does for many other members on here).
I've just had potatoes, corguettes and broad beans (all home grown) and a pork chop for tea.
 
willhub said:
I've started to eat healthier but it's a bit of a shock how much veg is, should it be this expensive?

I went to the market to get some veg, sometimes I will get it from Sainsbury's, however the costs seems to vary only a few quid.

For the price of £10, I got some vine tomatoes, a cucumber (small), a pack of beetroot, one single red pepper, a bag of pees in the pod, 2 large potatoes for baking and three pears.

Does this seem reasonable? To me £10 just for veg seems incredibly expensive?
Click to expand...

£1.60 250g vine tomatoes https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/vine tomatoes
£0.89 cucumber https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/cucumber
£0.50 250g cooked beetroot https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/cucumber
£0.59 red pepper https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/bell pepper
£1.45 910g frozen peas https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/peas
£0.75 4 pack baking potatoes or £0.80/kg for pick your own https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/baking potatoes
£0.90 2 x conference pears https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/pears

£7.68

That's almost 25% less and you definitely have a sack of peas instead of a sack of pea pods and some peas.

If you want to feel you're getting a lot of "stuff" for your money you want more carrots, potatoes, bananas and less salad. One cucumber = 1.5kg of carrots or 1kg bananas.

Fruit and veg is cheap if you buy the fruit and veg which is cheap to grow and transport.
 
willhub said:
I've started to eat healthier but it's a bit of a shock how much veg is, should it be this expensive?

I went to the market to get some veg, sometimes I will get it from Sainsbury's, however the costs seems to vary only a few quid.

For the price of £10, I got some vine tomatoes, a cucumber (small), a pack of beetroot, one single red pepper, a bag of pees in the pod, 2 large potatoes for baking and three pears.

Does this seem reasonable? To me £10 just for veg seems incredibly expensive?
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we becoming just like usa. thats why so many there eat crap. as crap is cheap fresh food dear. thing is vegetables are actually pretty cheap. or easy to grow.
 
Try baby plum tomatoes instead of vine ones. Much more flavour than larger or cherry tomatoes, but still cheap compared with vine ripened or piccolo etc.

Anything prepared for you it's extremely expensive, and often poor tasting anyway compared to preparing it yourself.
 
JonRGV250 said:
I can only speak for myself, but it's certainly not unreliable and it's extremely cheap.
Every year I have potatoes, various beans, lettuce, sweetcorn, courgettes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radish etc and every year it grows just great (as it does for many other members on here).
I've just had potatoes, corguettes and broad beans (all home grown) and a pork chop for tea.
Click to expand...

it is expensive in time / compost / weeding / space / pest control / digging and all the rest of it

I have been growing for decades and do it for the taste and because I have an interested in the different varieties and their characteristics
 
dave28 said:
it is expensive in time / compost / weeding / space / pest control / digging and all the rest of it
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It really isn't (not for me anyway).
My veg garden (Last year pic)

xDZtAHp.jpg


It takes no time to weed that lot and keep them at bay, and for compost I dig in my chickens poop (and dead chickens) over the winter and have done for years.
It couldn't be any easier, although it's handy to have the set up I have.
 
JonRGV250 said:
It really isn't (not for me anyway).
My veg garden (Last year pic)

xDZtAHp.jpg


It takes no time to weed that lot and keep them at bay, and for compost I dig in my chickens poop (and dead chickens) over the winter and have done for years.
It couldn't be any easier, although it's handy to have the set up I have.
Click to expand...
Your veg garden alone is bigger than the average garden
 
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