Berries

ROAAAR

Why are they so expensice in the supermarkets? Blueberries and raspberries seem to be sold at an extortionate price.
Anyone know where they can be sourced for good value?

Gyalist

Because blueberries are marketed as a superfood.

Graces7

ROAAAR wrote: »

Why are they so expensice in the supermarkets? Blueberries and raspberries seem to be sold at an extortionate price.

Anyone know where they can be sourced for good value?

They are out of season? Try the freezer section?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Because good quality berries are coming from half way round the world. If you want fresh and grade A berries out of season, they are going to be costly.

goat2

one way to beat this craze, is pick your own during summer months, we have loads of blackberries during autumn, I usually pick these and make jams and juices and freeze, at least I know they are not treated with herbasides and are nautral cost nothing, just great exercise picking them, and these days enjoying them, the blueberries look too perfect for me in the supermarkets
I do grow my own black currants, gooseberries, raspberries, they are in my flower garden, I use my grass cuttings around their bases, so they are really organic and you can taste the difference, I might but a couple blueberry bushes this spring and plant them among the shrubs to have those too, but black berries are free,

wakka12

Yeh its annoying. Theyre supposed to be really good for you and theyre a tasty snack(pretty much the only fruit I enjoy snacking on) but I just cant justify their cost, they dont fill you up and they go off so quickly

JustAYoungLad

ROAAAR wrote: »

Why are they so expensice in the supermarkets? Blueberries and raspberries seem to be sold at an extortionate price.
Anyone know where they can be sourced for good value?

Because fruit is essentially a luxury product. Your question is basically:

‘How come a fragile imported luxury product with high spoiling rate and available during off seasons so expensive?’

The Rape of Lucretia

I thought they were only a French thing.

Bob Harris

Try Dingle.

vicwatson

Kaitlyn Inexpensive Symphony wrote: »

Because good quality berries are coming from half way round the world. If you want fresh and grade A berries out of season, they are going to be costly.

Pricey all year round from what I can tell, no matter what the season

astrofool

Define pricey? Usually about €1 for 100g in season, and about €2 during off season. Usually cheaper again in Lidl.
Given the logistics of them off season, it's actually amazing they're so cheap.

kneemos

astrofool wrote: »

Define pricey? Usually about €1 for 100g in season, and about €2 during off season. Usually cheaper again in Lidl.
Given the logistics of them off season, it's actually amazing they're so cheap.

Won't get anything for a Euro.

Bob Harris

kneemos wrote: »

Won't get anything for a Euro.

You'll win nothing with kids.

pickarooney

astrofool wrote: »

Define pricey? Usually about €1 for 100g in season, and about €2 during off season. Usually cheaper again in Lidl.
Given the logistics of them off season, it's actually amazing they're so cheap.

20 euros a kilo is more than most meat products and cheeses.

s4uv3

ROAAAR wrote: »

Anyone know where they can be sourced for good value?

From your garden.
If you want to eat out of season food, you're gonna pay more for it.

Spanish Eyes

I love raspberries. They are extortionately priced. So I bought a plant in Aldi for a fiver two years ago. Yayzis the suckers are everywhere now. But loadsa raspberries!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

pickarooney wrote: »

20 euros a kilo is more than most meat products and cheeses.

Berries are a fragile product and have a short shelf life compared to meat and cheese. Tesco today have steak at €26.49 per kilo, ham at €24 per kilo, red cheddar at €21.82 per kilo and fresh raspberries at €14.32 per kilo.

Outlaw Pete

I have some dangle berries if you're interested.

vicwatson

astrofool wrote: »

Define pricey? Usually about €1 for 100g in season, and about €2 during off season. Usually cheaper again in Lidl.
Given the logistics of them off season, it's actually amazing they're so cheap.

125g of raspberries cost €1.79 in lidl all year round, whether they are Irish Portuguese Spanish or Chilean - makes no odds to the customer

Strawberries are now generally costing €2.49 for 227g year round, local ones costing more in May/June

Pricey when you’ve a few kids and limited income

lalababa

I pick blackberries in season and freeze them as is in small batches or jam them up A bit (stew in a little sugar) , put in a big tub and freeze. Cut off a little when needed and thaw or cook. 3/4 people picking in a good spot for a day (tis an enjoyable day) will give a family enough to be getting on with for the winter.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

lalababa wrote: »

I pick blackberries in season and freeze them as is in small batches or jam them up A bit (stew in a little sugar) , put in a big tub and freeze. Cut off a little when needed and thaw or cook. 3/4 people picking in a good spot for a day (tis an enjoyable day) will give a family enough to be getting on with for the winter.

We do likewise and preserve blackberries, strawberries, raspberries etc. But there are times when only fresh berries will do.

As an aside, I'd avoid buying frozen berries after a series of contamination issues in recent years.

AllForIt

Tesco have just recently started selling a selection of own brand frozen berries. €1.59 per bag. Very good value and I actually prefer tbem frozen so you don't have to deal with them going off and prefer fruit chilled. The raspberries are just lovely. Never seen raspberries this cheap even not in the German stores.

Quantity you get in bag depends on the berry but for eg the bag of blackberries i have in the freezer is 380g again for €1.59 is really good.

Tilikum17

ROAAAR wrote: »

Why are they so expensice in the supermarkets? Blueberries and raspberries seem to be sold at an extortionate price.
Anyone know where they can be sourced for good value?

Buy frozen berries.

Half the price plus they’ll never go off.

Check the sugar though.

Doctors room ghost

What I’d like to know is how I’m able to go into the local supermarket here and buy a net of onions for one euro that were grown in New Zealand.whats the kiwi farmer getting for that net of onions.must be cents with the rest going on transport.
It’s a crazy world when paddy Irishman can buy New Zealand grown onions here for one euro.

wakka12

astrofool wrote: »

Define pricey? Usually about €1 for 100g in season, and about €2 during off season. Usually cheaper again in Lidl.
Given the logistics of them off season, it's actually amazing they're so cheap.

They are never a euro
Mostly 4-5 euro for a tiny tub of blueberries-like really tiny, its about 25 blueberries, that often already have mould/bruising when theyre still in the shop

wakka12

AllForIt wrote: »

Tesco have just recently started selling a selection of own brand frozen berries. €1.59 per bag. Very good value and I actually prefer tbem frozen so you don't have to deal with them going off and prefer fruit chilled. The raspberries are just lovely. Never seen raspberries this cheap even not in the German stores.

Quantity you get in bag depends on the berry but for eg the bag of blackberries i have in the freezer is 380g again for €1.59 is really good.

Are many of the nutrients destroyed by freezing berries though I wonder?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

wakka12 wrote: »

They are never a euro
Mostly 4-5 euro for a tiny tub of blueberries-like really tiny, its about 25 blueberries, that often already have mould/bruising when theyre still in the shop

The Greengrocers here has Blueberries for less than €2 most weeks. I'm sure some supermarkets may have cheaper.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

wakka12 wrote: »

Are many of the nutrients destroyed by freezing berries though I wonder?

Vitamin levels are reduced in some frozen fruits, as the vitamins break down. Vitamin C for example can be reduced by 50%. But overall nutritional levels are much the same.

goose2005

berries have to be picked by hand, which is expensive

AllForIt

wakka12 wrote: »

Are many of the nutrients destroyed by freezing berries though I wonder?

I honesty dont know. I dont buy berries for the nutrients more for the taste. I like to eat them with a small dash of cream and would you believe sweatener which works fir me. I consider this a treat and treats are not usually nutritious. So I only have this occasionally , not every day. It keeps me off the real bad junk food cause as I have a damaging sweet tooth.

As for nutritional value of unfrozen vs frozen
I think even unfrozen veg are kept in coolers for long periods so even then nutritional value is lost. Texture is effected as well. I find stuff like onions and carrots which are stored in coolers loose texture and probably nutritional value. Often I find particularly onions are just of such poor quality. So I think unfrozen general supermaket produce is not of great nutritional value either.

kneemos

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

What I’d like to know is how I’m able to go into the local supermarket here and buy a net of onions for one euro that were grown in New Zealand.whats the kiwi farmer getting for that net of onions.must be cents with the rest going on transport.
It’s a crazy world when paddy Irishman can buy New Zealand grown onions here for one euro.

They transport in bulk,so the cost for an individual net of onions is negligible.

JustAYoungLad

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

What I’d like to know is how I’m able to go into the local supermarket here and buy a net of onions for one euro that were grown in New Zealand.whats the kiwi farmer getting for that net of onions.must be cents with the rest going on transport.
It’s a crazy world when paddy Irishman can buy New Zealand grown onions here for one euro.

Farming is heavily subsidized because without it we’ll die. I dont know the statistics but large amount of farmers dont nake profit from what they sell, but from funds given by the government if they meet their quota

BeerWolf

Not the best of value, but the Keeling's Farm Shop Outlet beside Dublin Airport sells nice Strawberries (€8/kg) and berries (blue:€8.50/500g).

Graces7

wakka12 wrote: »

Are many of the nutrients destroyed by freezing berries though I wonder?

Actually the reverse is true

See

"1. Frozen fruit can have HIGHER levels of antioxidants and vitamins.
Yes, you read that right, frozen fruits can have higher levels of nutrients compared to fresh produce. When you buy fresh fruit at the grocery store, most likely it’s been picked a while ago and isn’t really “fresh off the farm”. This means that the nutrients in it have had a chance to slowly deteriorate and by the time you actually eat it, it could have lost a fair amount of its vitamins. On the other hand, frozen fruit is handled quickly, just hours or minutes after harvesting and the flash freezing process can help “lock in” nutrients.

Another factor to consider is that fresh fruit at the supermarket was probably picked days before it was able to fully ripen, so it didn’t have enough time to fully mature and be at its nutritional peak. Fruit intended for freezing is generally picked when it’s fully ripe, so it can have more nutrients in it to start with.

In this independent study (1), frozen berries had more vitamin C and anthocyanins (a type of antioxidant) than fresh berries that were in storage for 3 days. In another study (2), the vitamin content of the frozen produce was comparable to and occasionally higher than fresh produce.

The take home message? For certain nutrients, frozen fruits can be just as good as fresh, and for other sensitive nutrients such as vitamin C, frozen can be a better choice."

I googled and the consensus is the same. Vitamins especially C stay when frozen