How to Save Money on Summer Fresh Produce in Canada, Life in canada

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Discover alternative ways to get summer fresh produce and save money. Learn how to grow your garden and buy from local farmers for farm-to-table goodness.

Find out how to enjoy the luxuries of fresh produce at home.

Summer Fresh Produce Savings Tips For Canadians

In the summer, Canadians should grow, sow, and save money on produce that can be canned, frozen, or dehydrated throughout the year.

Take advantage of how your grocery budget will benefit from sharing, community, deals, buying in bulk, wholesale, and growing a garden.

Price Matching Flyer Savings

Take advantage of price matching available at some Canadian grocery stores.

If you’re not using this money-saving tool, you spend more than you must.

Prices on select products rarely decrease without a sale, and with significant price increases, consumers must consider how their grocery budget will be affected.

The easiest way is to price match or let everyone know that you are willing to take any extra produce they have from their garden.

Otherwise, grow some veggies at home or in a community garden.

Freeze or can extras for the winter.

Be flexible with what you eat and buy what’s on sale that week.

Make sure your refrigerator is cold enough so things last longer.

Wrap things like celery in tin foil so it lasts longer.

Elizabeth Whitmore

Buy Local Farm Produce And From Farmer’s Markets

When you buy local vegetables and fruits from farmers, you not only help them earn a living, but you get food from farm to table.

Unlike the grocery store, there’s no transportation involved apart from the farm to your house.

You’re cutting out the middleman (grocery store) when you buy fresh produce from local farmers.

If the farm can save money by having you visit the farm or buy from a produce stand, they can reduce customer costs.

Picking your fresh produce can be even cheaper, although some farms charge a small fee to enter.

For example, we organized a family day at a local apple orchard that cost $5 to enter.

With that fee, there was a wagon ride, an animal farm, fresh corn on the cob over the fire, treats, drinks, and many samples.

List of Ontario Fresh Produce Farms

Stock Up Bushels of Produce Seconds

A few times a year from May until October I visit St Jacob’s market and pack a lunch and snacks.

I stock up on bushels of seconds for peppers, tomatoes, or anything I can fill the freezer with for the winter.

It’s a nice day trip, and the farmers reduce their prices at the end of the market hours so that you can get cheap or free products.

Linda Carter

Fresh Produce Discounts FlashFood App

The Flash Food App has allowed us to find fantastic deals that have been reduced in price from 50-70%.

You’ll find low prices in the Flash Food App because they are close to expiry.

Of all the times we’ve purchased a produce box from FlashFood, we’ve had excellent results.

No matter what time of year you buy produce from Flashfood, the items you get may need to be used within a day or two.

We’ve made homemade apple sauce numerous times in the crockpot to make dehydrated apple fruit leather rolls.

Buying produce at bargain basement prices is a fantastic way to eat healthy when money is tight.

A cool part about the Flashfood App is that many cities have more than one store that utilizes the app, and deals are posted throughout the day.

We’ve even made purchases when visiting other cities or driving through while travelling to appointments or for work.

Combating food waste is a frugal way of thinking regarding pricing and the environment.

• 160 000 000 000 pounds of food in North America end up in the landfill
• The Problem – Food Waste in landfills turns to methane gas
• The Diversion – Retailers stock based on need working with agencies like the food bank.
• The Solution – Keep as much food out of the landfill as possible by offering it at 50-70% off to consumers when it expires.

Grow A Garden

Many Canadians are now growing vegetable plants and herbs in their garden because it’s cheaper, easier, and tastes better than store-bought.

Growing your plants or buying them from a garden centre is an investment of your time and money, which you certainly don’t want to see wasted.

If you enjoy crisp, tasty organic vegetables, learning to grow your favorite vegetables and herbs may help save some money in your grocery budget.

• Start With A Small Garden- Plant just a few of your favorites. Even two tomato plants in a large pot will save you money and time. 
• Plant what you like and know you will eat. For example, garlic is very expensive, so I plant 150 bulbs each fall for the summer harvest. I’ll never have to buy garlic again as I used the cloves to plant for subsequent gardens.

It is more cost-effective to keep harvesting from your herb plants than buying several sprigs of cellophane-wrapped herbs.

Other Articles For Growing and Buying Fresh Produce

Save Garden Seeds

Living a sustainable lifestyle is no easy feat, but any effort is worth the blood, sweat, and tears.

Growing tomatoes from seed to harvest has been a summer hobby of mine since moving to Canada.

Unlike garlic, where I plant a clove, removing the seeds from some fruits and vegetables takes more work.

The Agricultural Sustainability Institute details the process of saving the seeds from pepper plants.

Tear open the skin of the fruit and gently rub and shake the seeds from the central cone onto a small mesh surface.

Some seed savers recommend using a blender to separate the seeds from the fruit when saving a large amount of seed from freshly picked peppers.

Agricultural Sustainability Institute

Gardening is a learning process that comes with the successes and failures that every farmer has experienced.

We start our vegetables with seeds for a garden and when harvested we save the seeds again for the following year.

When not gardening we save scraps and freeze them until we have enough to make stock, whether it be vegetable, turkey, chicken, or beef.

We use as much of each vegetable as possible, if not freezing. When peeling potatoes, we wash and dry the peels, drizzle them with oil and salt, and bake them.

Seasonal shopping for fresh produce is another way we save money. Farmers tend to sell large bushels; if you can process them yourself, they taste much better.

Pickles, salsa, blanch and freeze what you want, sauces. I don’t have a pressure canner, but a water bath is what I can use to preserve.

When making salsa, we will dehydrate for shelf-stable foods like green onions, spices, peppers, and tomato peels for tomato powder.

Angela Mainse

Buy Produce In Bulk

Farmers sell fruits and vegetables in bushels at discounted prices compared to buying smaller amounts.

Near the end of the season, farmers, whether at the market or the farm, often reduce the prices to sell the harvest they have left.

Fresh Produce Wholesale

Places such as Costco Warehouse or produce wholesalers selling summer fresh produce at reduced prices.

Perhaps your family likes canning tomato sauce. A great way to save money is to find a wholesale company that offers cheaper prices.

Buy In-Season Fresh Produce

For those who have printed my free 51-page Budget Binder, I’ve added another printable, Seasonal Summer Produce List.

Print this list as often as needed to fill out which summer fruits and vegetables you like and when they will be available.

Doing so means you won’t miss buying in bulk or picking your own at local farms near you.

Almost anyone will tell you that to save money on fresh produce, it would be to buy in season.

You can find the color-coded version at Foodland Ontario.

Ontario Fruits Picking Season

Seasonal Produce Vegetables

Buy In Season For The Best Prices

I buy in season. Right now, it’s blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries.

Soon, we will have peaches and apples. I freeze the berries for later and make jam.

I can make apple pie filling. You can get pretty good apples from August to May for a reasonable price.

Elderberries are in the hedgerows, and we pick them during the first week of August and make jelly.

We grow our blackberries and have a garden of peas, zucchini, collards, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans.

Most of the time, we eat fresh, but I freeze green beans and collards.

If I have enough cucumbers, I make pickles.

Did you know you can dry your zucchini and make flour? – Awesome tip Dagne!

It’s a great thing to do to stretch your regular flour and a way to use all those zucchini!!

Dagne Goodwin

Best Canadian Grocery Stores To Buy Fresh Produce

In Canada, we have a galaxy of grocery stores that range from bargains to high-end food.

Related: The Most Expensive Grocery Stores In Canada

That’s hard to say regarding the best Canadian grocery stores to purchase summer fresh produce.

For example, if saving money is your jam, buy from high-end grocery stores that sell top-tier produce when they have a sale.

Ensure that the price is the best and comparable to cheaper grocery stores.

Grocery stores that allow price matching are another way to reduce the amount of driving you do to buy food.

However, you may find they only sell imperfect produce for a lesser price, which works for us.

Almost 90% of the time, we buy our summer produce from Food Basics and FlashFood, and the remainder comes from our garden.

Related: The Cheapest Grocery Stores In Canada

Take Advantage Of The Summer Produce Savings

Whatever you do during the summer to save money on produce, ensure you get what you pay for.

Always weigh your growing or purchasing pros and cons before investing time and effort.

Get involved, and you’ll see that you can spread the savings throughout the year, reducing the amount of money you spend.

Discussion: Please share the many ways you save money buying produce during the summer in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. CBB

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