Fall Produce Shopping: Harvest Season Deals
Buy fall produce when cheapest. Apples, pears, squash, and root vegetables.
Fall Harvest Peak
The fall harvest is when local produce is at its most plentiful and often its cheapest. Apples, squash, potatoes, carrots, onions, beets and cabbage all arrive at once, and stores discount them heavily. Many of these keep for weeks or months, so buying in bulk during the harvest pays off well into winter.
Storage of Root Vegetables
Root vegetables last a long time if stored well. Keep potatoes in a cool, dark, ventilated spot away from onions. Store carrots and beets in the fridge with their tops removed, or in a box of slightly damp sand if you have a cold room. Onions and garlic like it cool, dry and airy. Check stored vegetables weekly and use any that start to soften.
Apple Season Strategy
Apples are cheapest in the fall, especially in large bags. Buy several varieties: firm ones like Honeycrisp or Gala for eating, and tart ones like Cortland or Granny Smith for baking. Turn bruised apples into applesauce, crisp or apple butter, and slice and freeze extras for winter baking.
Squash and Pumpkins
Squash and pumpkins are filling, nutritious and keep for months on the counter. Butternut squash makes soup, pasta sauce and a roasted side. Spaghetti squash replaces pasta. Acorn squash is great stuffed with rice and sausage. After Halloween, pie pumpkins are often heavily discounted, so roast and purée them to freeze.
Fall Preservation
Preserve the fall harvest by making and freezing soups and sauces, roasting and puréeing squash, freezing sliced apples and making applesauce. A Saturday spent cooking down a big bag of sale produce gives you ready ingredients for months.
Fall Meal Planning
A harvest week: Monday, roast pork with apples and onions; Tuesday, butternut squash soup with bread; Wednesday, sausage and potato sheet pan; Thursday, stuffed acorn squash; Friday, beef and root vegetable stew. Dessert is apple crisp all week.
Featured Cities
Harvest prices vary by region. Browse this week's deals in your city to see which fall produce is cheapest near you.
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