Save Money On Food By Buying Ugly Produce

It’s probably not news to you, but the price of fresh produce is rising.

Between March and April 2022, the price of food in general went up 9.4 percent. Add to that supply chain and food waste concerns and there are more price increases predicted for fresh fruits and vegetables this year — between 6.5 and 7.5 percent.

With these stats, you need a strategy for buying fresh foods because you still want to eat good-for-you fresh food.

So how can you hack the existing food system, reduce food waste and save on your favorite fruits and vegetables? Think ugly produce, those fruits and veggies with blemishes and less-than-perfect shapes.

Change Your Idea of ​​Good Produce

Too often, we skip over cratered potatoes and packages of strawberries with misshapen ones in the bunch. We lean toward buying baby carrots for snacking instead of average ones because they’re more aesthetically pleasing.

But buying ugly produce and imperfect foods can save you money while reducing food waste.

“If it’s ugly and imperfect just because the shape is weird, it’s still fully edible,” said Linda Ly, founder of Garden Betty. “You just remedy that by chopping it up like you would anyway when you cook.”

Wilted greens aren’t necessarily bad either. Ly said they can be revived by soaking in a bowl of ice water for about 20 minutes. That cold water trick also works for veggies like celery and radishes that are going soft. The greens could also be chopped and added to soups.

“If it’s just a bruise — that’s a surface blemish and you can just cut it off and the rest of the vegetable or the fruit is completely fine,” she said.

Ugly produce is worth a second look, and putting visual preferences aside can help cut down on food costs. From subscription boxes to grocery store shelves to local farms, here’s how you can save money by opting for less-than-perfect fruits and vegetables.

What is Ugly Produce?

Call it ugly, misfit or imperfect — ugly produce…