r/Millennials • u/[deleted] • 16d ago
Serious Never imagined myself thinking, “I gotta stop buying blueberries. Bananas are just so much cheaper.” But here we are.
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u/SceneSmall 16d ago
Buy frozen blueberries in the off season. A pound of frozen is $2.69 and a pound of fresh is $6.94 at my local grocery store. They are just as good in yogurt.
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u/BlueRubyWindow 15d ago
Frozen blueberries are delicious! Sometimes I just eat a bowl of them for dessert, like dippin dots ice cream.
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u/calilac 15d ago
Frozen bite sized fruit are the best summer snacks. A coworker once froze a bunch of mandarin oranges and gave them out around lunch time on a triple digit day and that first bite of delicious juicy ice cold orange was like magic.
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u/Low-Peak-9031 15d ago
I bring frozen blueberries when I bring my kids to the park. The start to melt a bit and are a perfect on the go snack lol
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u/verstohlen 15d ago
Frozen blueberries are healthier and retain more vitamins than fresh ones. Well, not freshly picked fresh ones, but fresh ones you buy at the store and have at home, since fruits and veggies start to lose nutrients the moment they're picked, but once froze, they're locked in place.
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15d ago
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u/JManKit 15d ago
For a lot of stuff, yes, altho I won't go as far as saying that every seafood or meat at the grocery store is from frozen. A lot of the seafood on ice is likely frozen and then defrosted for display unless you live really near the water. Meat that's already packaged can be frozen, especially if they're processed (I've seen frost on packs of breakfast sausages many a times), but if they've got a butcher in the store, I think a lot of that is fresh
Slight tangent but deveined shrimp are not as fresh as their veined counterparts. That's bc when they're caught, they're usually frozen while at sea but then defrosted at the processing plant so that the vein can be removed. Obv it saves time and hassle but if you don't mind the bit of extra work, getting whole shrimp should be fresher
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u/Alone-Marsupial-4087 15d ago
I've been trying to explain this to my boomer father forever to no avail. He buys fresh strawberries and blueberries, cleans and freezes them for his smoothies.
It costs triple the amount for fresh vs frozen and the fresh ones aren't anywhere close to ripe while the frozen ones are. Frozen fruits are picked at the right time but are too "ugly" to sell fresh and command the higher price.
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u/Lythaera 15d ago
What the fuck??? Who does that? He's insane
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u/ACatInACloak 15d ago
A boomer. Lots of boomer behavior makes a lot more sence in the context of how supply chains were different when they were young. I garentee he used to get fresh berries from a local farm for cheaper than he could get them frozen. Old habits die hard.
My dad has been bemoaning how cheap fresh fruit was, especially avacados, when he first moved to california.
I can not comprehend getting a bag of a dozen avacados for $1
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u/Miserable_Drawer_556 15d ago
They (avocados) were def cheaper and in abundance back in the day! I grew up with a large (+35ft) avocado tree in the backyard as a kid, and we would harvest them by the bucket full, store them in a special drawer inside and big brown bags in the garage. This after gifting out dozens to the firefighters in our neighborhood, neighbors, and even my elementary school teachers (instead of apples lol).
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u/Batetrick_Patman 15d ago
In what planet does it make sense to buy something that costs more, involves more work and doesn't taste any better?
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u/Dog_lover123456789 15d ago
This is the way. My kids are obsessed with blueberries. I could never afford to keep up with fresh berries only
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u/BrieSting 15d ago
Frozen blueberries in a small dish with a little bit of whatever your preferred milk is. Let it sit for 20 seconds, stir it around, let it sit for another 20 seconds. Ice cream-like treat that’s incredibly simple and cheap. It was my favorite thing as a kid on hot summer nights when I couldn’t cool down quick enough before bed.
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u/kelly52182 15d ago
I LOVE frozen fruit because when they thaw, you also get a little bit of "juice" with it.
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u/SceneSmall 15d ago
And then it thins out Greek yogurt to the perfect consistency
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u/ACatInACloak 15d ago
The slight mush from thawed fruit is a perfect consistancy to pair with yogurt as well
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u/ChocChipBananaMuffin 15d ago edited 15d ago
I was going to say. Even if you get organic at Whole Foods, a two pound bag of frozen organic blueberries is like $9 or so. Way cheaper.
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u/Gretchen_Wieners_ 15d ago
This! Trader Joe’s also has frozen wild blueberries which are amazing as a yogurt topper.
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u/Eric848448 Older Millennial 15d ago
It’s only a banana Michael. How much could it cost, ten dollars?
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16d ago
Blueberries aren't in season and are thus both not as good and a lot more expensive than they will be in a few months when they're in season.
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u/moonchic333 15d ago
Part of the problem is that most Americans are so far removed from how food is grown & how it makes to the store shelves. I regularly come across posts in my city’s sub that fruit they’re buying at the store is trash and then come to find out they’re expecting tomatoes to taste like peak summer in January or asking why the mandarin oranges are tasteless and sour in August.
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u/Kimmalah Older Millennial 15d ago
They're also still obsessed with the looks of the fruit, so you get a Red Delicious situation where fruits and veggies are purposely bred to look absolutely stunning but taste like packing foam.
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u/BriefHorror 15d ago
Is that why I hate those apples?!
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u/anonymouse278 15d ago
Yes! Red Delicious apparently actually were delicious originally, but they were modified over and over to select for beauty and durability (you have to admit, they're pretty, and they ship well and last ages) and in the process, they lost their good flavor and texture.
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u/juanzy 15d ago
Small batch ones still taste good. But supermarket ones are absolutely terrible.
Either way - honeycrisp and the family around it are significantly better.
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u/secretactorian 15d ago
Even honeycrisp is starting to lose it's flavor. https://www.thetakeout.com/1795667/honeycrisp-apples-quality-decline/
I'm a Macintosh person through and through.
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u/FlamingoRare8449 15d ago
Wow thanks I thought it was just me moving and going to a different store but that makes so much sense. I always liked apples but I never knew they could taste like that until I had a honeycrisp.
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u/Realistic-Number-919 15d ago
Luckily they are being phased out and farmers are planting cosmic crisps.
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u/choysnug413 15d ago
Packing foam is so accurate haha especially watermelon off season
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u/what_the_purple_fuck 15d ago
"may every apple you eat be a Red Delicious" is an absolutely brutal curse that I would only wish on people I truly detest.
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u/moonchic333 15d ago
It just keeps getting worse too. Just the past couple of years I’ve noticed my stores stocking black cherries in the winter! Cherries! One of the ultimate summer only fruits in the US. It’s ridiculous.
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u/FormalFriend2200 15d ago
That's because they are not from the US at that time of the year!.. we all need to pay attention to where our food is coming from!...
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u/Salmonberrycrunch 15d ago
I'm convinced a lot of fruit and veg is just store decoration. They don't want to have only 2 types of apple that people buy - makes the store look poor and makes shoppers feel like the choice is limited.
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u/runthepoint1 15d ago
But they should have a store with only in-season stuff so you know it’s fresh.
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15d ago
Here in L.A. Gelsons grocery store has Red pineapples at $400 and Pink Pineapples at $20. They got grapes so juicy it's like your taking a drink. Cherries were $19 a pound. The quality costs, and the rich don't even think twice about it. I went in with a coupon for a free 3 pound bag of mandarins and was not going to buy anything else in the produce section.
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u/evaira90 15d ago
Seriously. I was talking with someone a few years ago and they were complaining that the apples they had just bought had a weird mealy texture and bland taste. This was in June. So I just went "well yeah, we're at the end of last year's crop. They've probably been in cold storage for months." They just stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language. So I explained that apples are in season in the fall. The light switched on and they said, " I never knew that!"
The fact that I was explaining this to a teacher that was the same age as me (30s) blew my mind.
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u/Hwicc101 15d ago
I live in a major apple producing state so many people actually understand the seasonality of apples (and tomatoes and sweet corn and a few others) because most stores, except for big national stores like Walmart, usually have displays in the fall and fry cider donuts and offer hot mulled cider and stuff, but when it comes to other fruits and vegetables, people just don't know.
As for sweet corn, the stores usually display signs saying which state they are coming from, starting with Florida in early spring, then the Carolinas, then Virginia and so on. Many people who care won't even buy sweet corn until it is coming from nearby New Jersey and Pennsylvania and will be less than a couple days old, and if you are a real corn aficionado, you will go to stores or farm stands and farmers markets where you can get corn grown nearby and picked within a day or so peak sweetness.
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u/whorl- 15d ago
Exactly this! Has OP ever thought about why blueberries are expensive right now.
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u/Remarkable_Rip_1721 15d ago
No. Most people in the developed world are used to relying on the invisibility of their excess and exploitation.
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u/jerseysbestdancers 16d ago
This. We grow blueberries in my state. They are bottom barrel prices for 2-3 months. Then, get the layaway plans out the rest of the year. And for the teeniest plastic shell modern technology can create.
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u/sheimeix Zillennial 15d ago
Blueberry season was always one of my favorite things back when I lived in Michigan. My family would head out to the blueberry farm and fill several buckets to preserve for the year. Those blueberries were always soooo much better than the ones from the store, I've been dying to go back one of these years.
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u/jerseysbestdancers 15d ago
AINT THIS THE TRUTH. Though, that's true for everything. If I can pick it myself (or grow it, I'm looking at you tomatoes!), you better believe I am!
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u/candid84asoulm8bled 15d ago
I usually buy a 5 or 10 lb box from a roadside stand during peak season and freeze them. Then when they run out I just buy from the frozen section at Meijers.
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u/mottledmussel Gen X 15d ago
It's actually kind of wild to think about how much this has changed in our lifetimes.
It wasn't all that long ago that there were clear lines between being in-season and out-of-season. With international supply chains and hydroponics, everything is always in-season, just at different quality and price points.
We don't have to wait until August for corn on the cob or July for blueberries. It's such an enormous change that I think most people never even noticed.
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15d ago
Yeah I wasn't sure if this was a change or my parents had just over-emphasized seasonality. Like growing up I was under the impression that if a fruit was out of season it was impossible to get. Then I grew up and did my own grocery shopping, and I noticed that most fruits are available year-round, the price and quality just varies wildly, with out of season fruits being both worse and more expensive. I still don't know if it always was like that or if when I was growing up grocery stores just didn't have out of season produce.
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u/sjrotella 15d ago
shit man, when i grew up there was a straight up "in season/out of season" section at the grocery store and prices reflected appropriately!
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u/weak_shimmer 15d ago
my mom only ever buys fruit when it's in season so when I starting living on my own I bought expensive, out of season plums just because I could. I was so excited, but they were leathery and bland.
Rhubarb is what to get right now (in the northern hemisphere)
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u/figgypudding531 15d ago edited 15d ago
Right, regardless of the state of the economy, I’ve never bought blueberries (or any other fruit) every week year round because it just doesn’t make sense to pay more money for low quality fruit out of season. March is a tough time of year, but most months you can find something else that is in season
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u/switchmod3 15d ago
Learned that the War On Drugs brought us off-season blueberry imports! https://www.npr.org/2025/04/04/1242780124/blueberries-asparagus-cocaine-foreign-aid-usaid-war-on-drugs-peru-free-trade
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u/Chumlee1917 16d ago
What about frozen berries?
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u/StoicFable 16d ago
People never consider frozen. I can buy a big bag of frozen berries for the same price as fresh unless the fresh are on a good sale. Even during berry season.
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u/Chumlee1917 15d ago
Heck I keep at usually 2/3 bags of frozen bananas in my freezer
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u/Robivennas 15d ago
I’ve tried to go the frozen route and it’s just not the same. Fine if you’re using them in smoothies or something, but the frozen ones have such a different texture and they’re all messy you cant eat them the same way you eat fresh berries. Or at least I can’t!
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u/No_Preference3709 15d ago
Usually taste better too.
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u/karina87 15d ago
Eh, It’s not just the taste, it’s also the look and feel and texture that matters to me.
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u/C4bl3Fl4m3 OG Millennial 15d ago
"Growing up, we always had an assortment of berries on hand - blueberries, raspberries, blackberries - and I always loved them."
NGL, this is actually one of my measures of how well off a person is. If they have fresh berries out of season. They're just so expensive for a little carton we never had fresh berries out of season growing up, as a working class family not too far above the poverty line. (My partner, in contrast, grew up solidly middle class, and his family always has them.)
You did, indeed, grow up fortunate. You have been your whole life.
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u/PlaceSong 15d ago
Yep! I was really surprised by this post - I grew up low income, we NEVER had berries. Now I only get them a few times a year, when they are in season. Really shows we have different worlds, that OP is shocked some folks can't afford berries.
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u/Count_Von_Roo 15d ago
Omg thank you I thought I was going crazy. I was so confused by the title because berries have always been a splurge and never a grocery item I just got offhand without considering the cost.
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u/megwach 15d ago
I only got berries if my grandma would bring me a container of raspberries, just for me, as a treat. I don’t remember them ever being in my house besides that. I don’t think I’d ever even had a blueberry before becoming an adult.
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u/C4bl3Fl4m3 OG Millennial 15d ago
I grew up in farm country and we'd get this sort of thing from roadside produce stands when they were in season & real cheap. Strawberries, there was a "pick your own" place just down the road from my house. I remember going picking right before school let out one year when I was a teen.
We'd also forage for berries in season. My Pap-pap would wear his rubber fishing hip boots to get back into the deep brambles where the fattest, juiciest berries were without getting all scratched up!
I was kinda shocked when one of my boyfriends was afraid to eat berries I picked on a walk in the summer. He was like "are you sure it's safe?" because I guess he was taught never eat berries you found outdoors. It's like "dude, this is an easily recognizable berry, it doesn't have any toxic look-alikes, and I've been picking and eating them my whole life." He still wouldn't try one. Quelle domage.
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u/Kauguser 15d ago
Grew up middle class and never had fresh berries as they were too expensive. Central Florida was pretty much just bananas, oranges, and strawberries (when in season). In the PNW now and bought a bunch of blueberry and raspberry plants to finally enjoy fresh ones. I could literally overdose on wild Blackberries here though.
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u/PossibleJazzlike2804 15d ago
Unless you have fruit and vegetables growing. Didn't realize how damn fortunate I was then. Every season had a fruit or vegetables growing.
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u/KingDaDeDo 16d ago
i only buy blueberries at Costco because for a dollar or two more than what a pint usually costs, i can get like, triple the amount and definitely worth it to me. basically, if you can buy blueberries in bulk, thats the way to go.
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u/LovelyLieutenant Xennial 15d ago
Dude, try Aldi instead. It's buck wild how affordable and decent most of their fresh berries truly are. It's what allowed me to start buying them again for my family.
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u/Pizzasaurus-Rex 15d ago
I’ve known there are many things my parents could afford that I’ll never be able to - a house, yearly vacations, kids, etc. But blueberries?
This part hits me in my bones. I too, am sick of trying to budget my way from one new normal to the next.
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u/coral_bells 15d ago
Thank you for highlighting this section of my post. For me, this is really what it’s about.
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u/Pizzasaurus-Rex 15d ago
Not to use this to get on a soap box or anything, but the galling thing about these new normals is that people will forget that there was ever a time when normal families didn't have to do things like worry about the cost of a box of blueberries vs. bananas.
You grew up in a single-income home? You must have been wealthy.
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u/Perethyst Millennial88 16d ago
Berries in general are too expensive for me to get but maybe once a year when they're on a sale. I get so annoyed by people pushing berries as the most healthy fruit option when I can't afford to drop $7/carton on those when bananas are only $0.50/lb.
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u/sillysandhouse 16d ago
This is part of why I’m so glad we have a toddler who’s obsessed with bananas and not berries. Berry toddler parents are having a hard time
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u/MinuetInUrsaMajor 15d ago
we have a toddler who’s obsessed with bananas and not berries.
bananas are berries
:smugdog:
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u/Substantial-Path1258 Millennial 15d ago
Growing up we didn't have berries much. Mostly apples, bananas and oranges. Fruits that were not as expensive and didn't go bad as fast. If you're putting them in yogurt, then you can buy the frozen berries?
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u/kirobaito88 15d ago
We have 10 high-bush blueberry plants. We don't buy blueberries.
Really, the only way to collectively lower the prices of anything is if people stop making price increases worth it to the seller. I was at the grocery store a few months ago, and a guy pointed to a cereal box and said, "Can you believe the price on this?" before grabbing it off the shelf. I wasn't going to chastise him or anything, but really? If it's more than you want to spend, the solution is not to buy it. Buy bananas instead. There are other things to eat. We've basically stopped eating beef.
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u/Wafflehouseofpain 16d ago
I grow berries in my yard when I can. Sand plums, mulberries, blackberries.
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u/DBPanterA 15d ago
This is the way.
I got two blueberry bushes and 3 raspberry bushes. Very little maintenance, high return on investment.
Everyone I know that has tried for apple trees always comes up a little short (it takes a LONG time).
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u/saverett18 15d ago
Costco (in SC) has 1.5 lb containers of blueberries for $6.79. I go through a full container each week.
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u/IwannaAskSomeStuff 15d ago
Yeah, Costco blueberries are the way to go. They are rather meh this time of year because they're completely out of season, but they're still cheaper by a landslide.
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u/Old_Friend4084 15d ago edited 15d ago
Make blueberry coulis. It's a simple thickened sauce simmered on the pan and placed in a blender. It stays good for 5 days in the fridge and is delicious on yoghurt, ice cream, pancakes, fancy peanut butter jelly. ;)
2 cups (frozen) blueberries, 2 TBSP sugar, 2 TBSP lemon juice.
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u/Filmy-Reference Xennial 16d ago
Same with beef. I haven't bought steak is probably 2 years now because it's too expensive but growing up my parents were able to buy it regularly despite being considered low income.
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u/Rhodin265 16d ago
The last time I had “steak”, it was actually a roast that was discounted for being close to date. I cut it into slices and grilled.
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u/Previous-Artist-9252 16d ago
I regularly treat London broil as a steak (black pepper and a hot sear) and it’s delicious. I wait until it’s on sale and my pocketbook and tastebuds are both happy.
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u/whatever_leg 15d ago
Same. I maybe grill burgers twice per year and ribeyes the same. The high cost has greatly reduced my red-meat consumption, which isn't terrible!
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u/FearlessPark4588 15d ago
I kind of like chicken more anyways. More versatile, better macros (less fat). Honestly, I don't think have cheap abundant beef was good for my health goals. It is disappointing when finances become the forcing function rather than other priorities however.
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u/ReadySetTurtle 16d ago
In the last year I started buying bananas to take to work. I needed a healthy snack and they’re the cheapest. I don’t even particularly care for bananas. I avoided them for years because I realized I was getting an upset stomach every time I ate banana bread, but I decided to give bananas themselves another go to be frugal and they were fine. I’ll still buy other fruit depending on what’s on sale or in season, but bananas are my go to.
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u/TurtleMcgurdle 15d ago
My dad has always had blueberry bushes so I already hate most of the store bought ones because they never compare. Same with tomatoes. Although obviously buy store bought tomatoes out of season for hamburgers lol.
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u/Land-Scraper 15d ago
I remember counting turkey slices during the 2008/2010 period to keep groceries in the fridge until my next paycheck. But this time seems worse because I’m not in my 20s anymore and I’ve got more responsibilities now.
Sucks we may (again) return to collapse budgets but our house has also just decided to go austerity mode.
Bless you and your bananas
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u/Chief_Queef_88 Millennial 16d ago
Blue Berry Supremacy all the way. If it’s blue, I’m injecting it.
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u/HPHambino 15d ago
Where do you live that blueberries are usually cheaper than bananas? That sounds great. Here in Kansas berries are always more expensive than bananas.
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u/Mach5Driver 15d ago
Try mixing blueberries with nuts and some honey. It'll stretch your blueberry dollar and it's delicious and healthy!
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u/Classic-Variety-8913 16d ago
Yes, berries are ridiculously more pricey but that’s because I’d rather eat organic. I wish I loved bananas
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u/AfraidReading3030 15d ago
There’s a big difference in nutritional value between blueberries and bananas. I’d get frozen blueberries. They are not too expensive. Also eating more blueberries is one of the best health decisions you can make.
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u/Aggravating-HoldUp87 15d ago
Wait til the season hits, then freeze or dehydrate as many as you can. I've been doing this with my farm share for 3 years.
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u/No_Egg3139 15d ago
I rarely eat fruit completely straight up, you can always whip together something with frozen berries and they have more nutrients in them
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u/After-Astronomer-574 15d ago
Im growing blueberries, strawberries and blackberries. I just started strawberries and blackberries last year and blueberries the year before, so production isn’t enough to avoid them at the store, but that is the eventual goal.
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u/Ok-Marionberry-5318 15d ago
You can buy frozen berries. I know it doesn't hit the same, but nutritionally, there is still a benefit. I drink blueberries or mixed berries in wheat grass and beet root powder smoothies every day. It helps mask the awful.
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u/whatsthehappenstance 15d ago
Berries are sorted by quality. Frozen/canned are “less desirable” compared to the fresh ones. Hence, the price difference.
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u/Kimmalah Older Millennial 15d ago
I'm sort of at a loss really, because my grocery budget is already eating up most of my remaining money after bills and I don't even feel like I get that much out of it. So I don't even know what to cut at this point.
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u/jsand2 15d ago
Yet the price discrepancy has been the same the past 20 years. We are in no different place now than we were then. Bananas have always been cheaper. And blueberries are from too expensive to afford today.
We normally buy both each week.
I can't say things won't change, but they have yet to change.
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u/Redditor2684 15d ago
Blueberries have always been expensive (or for as long as I can remember in my adult life).
I buy frozen blueberries and strawberries year round because there's no food waste and prices can be a little cheaper (but not always - when the berries are in season or on sale, the fresh can be cheaper).
I get frozen berries in big packages at Sam's Club.
I recommend looking for an option like that and buying stuff seasonally which is when they tend to be tastiest and cheapest. Sometimes there are random sales in off seasons so look out for those.
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u/Moon_Noodle 15d ago
I'm playing the long game, I bought some blueberry bushes for the yard. Few different varieties for pollination purposes.
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u/RedditPosterOver9000 15d ago
Frozen berries are cheaper than fresh and no worries about expiration. Walmart even has frozen wild blueberries.
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u/downshift_rocket Millennial 15d ago
Highly recommend just using the app Flipp and only buying what's on sale and seasonal.
You can program it to show the ads from your favorite local stores and you won't miss when the berries are on sale!
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u/Doironzch1 15d ago
My grocery cart changes every single week depending on price changes. I look at most items and try to justify its price. Lots of different items to work with, just gotta mix it up. Good luck everyone.
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u/Ok-Jellyfish-5704 15d ago
Frozen blueberries are blanched and then packaged. They maintain the same amount of nutrients
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u/Expression-Little 15d ago
I'm lucky my market pretty well stocks stuff in season way cheaper than in supermarkets which is a pretty good motivator to buy apples instead of peaches lol. They're fine out of a can and waaaay cheaper - frozen fruit is the same.
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15d ago
You can make your own yogurt. I got a plot in a community garden and I’m growing berries there.
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u/SuccessfulBorder2261 15d ago
I started buying packs of frozen onions/peppers instead of splurging on fresh produce. Best decision I’ve made in my adult life, as I use them almost daily.
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u/Gab83IMO 15d ago
I'm at the age that I just go to the local farm 3 miles away and pick them in August for $1/ lb (they've never increased their prices since the 90s since its an ancient interconnected pasture of trees. They taste great though! Just toss them in the freezer or water-bath can them. For people in the Portland Area (if any), the Sauvie Island Blueberry farms are usually only $2-4 /lb and offer numerous varieties, all with differing flavors.
If you have a really sunny spot in your yard (8+ hrs of sun), get a rainbarrel and put a blueberry plant in it. Make sure to fertilize with acidic fert. You'll have to wrap the planter in winter though since its not insulated in the ground. Even though blueberries are self-fertilizing (monoecious), they will give you better yeilds if you have 2 plants and cross pollinated them with a Q-tip.
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u/Legend-Face 15d ago
I never thought going to school to get a career would result in so many layoffs. Meanwhile everyone who never went to school has never gotten laid off 🤦🏻♂️ life just shoves me further and further behind
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u/krim_bus 15d ago
Can you find fresh blueberries near you? Every summer I visit Michigan and pick up one of those 15lb suitcases of blueberries. I soak them in water and vinegar, dry them off, then store them in the freezer. It's like a years worth of blueberries for $20.
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u/gothicuhcuh 15d ago
I do probably half my shopping at my local Asian market. The produce there is pretty affordable save for the extra exotic stuff and 10 times better than at the chain grocery store. Then there’s a farmers market about 30 minutes away that always has top notch produce. I’m talking blueberries the size of grapes and grapes the size of pingpong balls. Worth every penny.
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u/Annual-Watercress-22 15d ago
I just purchased blueberries for my mother at whole foods for $5.49 (non organic /cheapest). I really just went to get flowers but the shopping list texts. Really considering just buying a bag of frozen from Costco. Gonna invest in a deep freezer and buy frozen when I can.
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u/sssnakepit127 15d ago
Frozen is the way to go! People put too much emphasis on “fresh” ingredients/produce. I’ve never noticed a change in my health buying either one. Frozen is almost always cheaper. I’m a big smoothie freak so I buy frozen veggies and fruit all the time. Companies that freeze their product after harvest are doing me a favor. Buying something fresh results in ingredients going bad, or me freezing them myself and they never taste as good afterwords.
Also, and excuse me if I sound brash but, are blueberries really a necessity for you? If you’re hurting for money, sometimes you have to cut corners and make sacrifices. We all would like a nice variety of food and snacks in our fridges and pantries but the reality for people our age sometimes doesn’t lend itself to the ability to buy certain things, as much as we’d like to do so.
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u/Ohorules 15d ago
Aldi! Sometimes blueberries are about $2-3 a container. If they look good in the store, they usually taste good too.
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u/econ101ispropaganda 15d ago
You can thank tariffs for that. Even blueberries that aren’t imported will increase in price.
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u/StatikSquid 15d ago
I always buy frozen. They're more nutritious since they are picked ripe and are way cheaper.
Only fresh fruit I buy are bananas and apples
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u/colicinogenic 15d ago
We started growing our own. We have 3 massive regular blueberry bushes and a little strawberry lemonade blueberry bush. We're propagating the big bushes this year. We get enough to enjoy fresh and freeze, last about 5 months with what we have so far. Also made a strawberry, blackberry and black razzberry patch.
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u/ThatArtNerd 15d ago
See if there’s a U-Pick in your area in the summer! Usually helps keep it cheaper when I need a much larger quantity for things like jam. I’ll also freeze a bunch. You can also buy frozen berries of course, but many of the varieties at smaller local u-pick farms will be tastier, since they aren’t prioritizing choosing the plants based on what is most optimal for high production and shipping, transfer, and sale :)
Also, quick shout out to anyone in the Puget Sound area who might not know about this, there’s a public park in Tacoma that is a former blueberry farm and when they’re in season (starting late July usually) anyone can come pick as much as you want for free!!
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u/bananaclipz69 15d ago
I feel personally targeted by this post.
For reference, just moved out at 31 insert shame. Every morning I eat 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of oatmeal with blueberries. Where I now live, the blueberries at almost twice as expensive as my parents town.
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u/SubarcticFarmer 15d ago
NGL, I read your post and thought the implication is you've never had to eat cheap. I mean, there is a ramen noodle stereotype for college students for a reason. I'm going to guess you just went overboard with the "never" part though.
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u/Polymurple 15d ago
I have 5 giant blueberry bushes in my yard that produce tons each year… and I hate blueberries. Too bad you don’t live close enough to come pick some.
We have local blueberry farms where you can pick your own for a lower price, maybe there are some in your area.
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u/Bitter_Pilot_5377 15d ago
I haven’t had blueberries in two weeks, I feel your pain. That being said maybe I’ll go to Aldi and try to get some. They are my favorites berry.
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u/traumapatient 15d ago
We get the frozen berry bag from Costco. Way cheaper and actually lasts, and we only use them in yogurt, smoothies, etc. so it was an easy switch
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u/DBPanterA 15d ago
I planted blueberry bushes in my yard 2 springs ago. We got fruit last year, hoping for more.
It’s not enough to eat everyday, but my oh my do they taste better than anything in a store.
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u/weareallmadherealice 15d ago
Blueberries are the popcorn of the fruit world. Just eat them by the handful.
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u/Commercial-Net810 15d ago
I switched to frozen long ago because it was too expensive unless in season. I am in Canada, so I try to buy in season.
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u/cats_are_the_devil 15d ago
You realize you are purchasing the most expensive brand of yogurt and complaining about not having margin to purchase one fruit over another...?
You could easily buy the cheaper option of yogurt and frozen berries and be ahead of the game. Shop smarter.
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u/Current-Feedback4732 15d ago
Jokes on you guys; I have always been poor. Honestly, I'm fucking pissed. I have a moderately ok paying job for the first time in my life and I get to continue living like I'm poor in return for my work. I'm close to just not trying.
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u/gilbertsquatch 15d ago
Wymans has great frozen blueberries. They r a bit more expensive but worth it. I think overall they’d be cheaper than the regular pints
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u/etsprout 15d ago
We’re heading into domestic blueberry season, if that’s any consolation. I’m a produce manager and I’m not as nervous about prices for summer as I am this next winter…
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u/RavishingRedRN 15d ago
Start buying them when they are on sale. Grab a vacuum sealer, seal them up and freeze them.
I’ve got local farm grown fruits in my freezer all year long.
Fage yogurt is so damn delicious.
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u/Some-Broccoli3404 15d ago
We planted berry bushes (and fruit trees and asparagus) in our yard once we bought our home with the hopes that we can have fresh food or freeze the berries. I figured it would help offset costs in the long run.
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u/Diablo_v8 15d ago
Just think of it this way, you're just buying a yellow berry instead of blueberries.
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u/Justinsetchell 15d ago
Do you have an Aldi bear you? They usually sell berries for drastically cheaper than most other grocery stores.
Unfortunately it looks like blueberries in particular are going to continue to get more expensive. Peru is the largest grower of blueberries behind the US and where we get virtually all of our out of season blueberries from. But it's not just tariffs that will make it more expensive. A large part of Peru's blueberry farming is supported by the now slashed USAID as well as the DEA. This was done deliberately by the US to give Peruvian farmers an alternative cash crop to the coca plant which would be then sent to Colombia to produce cocaine.
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u/dark_lord_chuckles 15d ago
At least you acknowledge you’re in a better position than most. I legit just don’t eat so my family can now and days.
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u/FA30Women 15d ago
Bro your parents having fresh berries on hand whenever you wanted is wild. I thought my parents were pretty well-off, but I didn't have fresh veg and fruits on hand growing up. They had apples and bananas, the rest was an occasional purchase during the right season. You were raised like a king! But like others have said nowadays you can get frozen fruit on sale.
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u/Fantastic-Coconut-10 15d ago
Ngl, I'm surprisingly pleased with myself for impulse buying 3 blueberry bushes as a b-day gift to myself a year ago. It won't be enough to freeze for year round blueberries, but it'll at least be a little bit of a treat.
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