[LLV]

Are they out of their peak season already?

Remember just a few weeks back how big and beauteous the strawberries were at the store? Gorgeous big huge red juicy berries, and they were on sale most of the time. I could get a big package for like $2.50.

Well now they've gone up in price and they don't look as hot. In fact I had to pick up about 5 or 6 different cartons today before I found one that had minimal yucky-looking berries.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[BlueToBlue]

I don't know. I get almost all my produce at our farmers' market and, at least out here in CA, local farmers can grow great strawberries pretty much year round that are far superior to even the in-season strawberries at the grocery store. Even in-season, strawberries sold in big box grocery stores are picked before they are ripe and then sprayed with ethylene gas to make them ripen (or at least turn red). Ripened strawberries don't transport well enough for sale at grocery stores.

If you have a local farmers' market, I would try it for strawberries. The produce I get at my market is usually cheaper than the grocery store and is definitely worth the extra time and effort.

[Gretchy]

Agreed. Today I went shopping and there were only THREE, yes, THREE cartons of strawberries

[LLV]

Originally Posted by BlueToBlue

I don't know. I get almost all my produce at our farmers' market and, at least out here in CA, local farmers can grow great strawberries pretty much year round that are far superior to even the in-season strawberries at the grocery store. Even in-season, strawberries sold in big box grocery stores are picked before they are ripe and then sprayed with ethylene gas to make them ripen (or at least turn red). Ripened strawberries don't transport well enough for sale at grocery stores.

If you have a local farmers' market, I would try it for strawberries. The produce I get at my market is usually cheaper than the grocery store and is definitely worth the extra time and effort.

Yes, we have a couple of farmer's markets, but I rarely see a whole lot of fruits at them. It's usually just vegetables.

I'll keep my eye out

[rockinrobin]

Oh gosh no. I've been getting fabulous strawberries. The best of the summer. Just today I bought a large container of them, for get this - $1.00. The lowest I've paid all season. And they are sweeter then they've been all year.

And raspberries had been missing for a couple of weeks after they had been so abundant - and they were back today at only $1.00. I just had some strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. They were super yummy.

[LLV]

Originally Posted by Gretchy

Agreed. Today I went shopping and there were only THREE, yes, THREE cartons of strawberries

I didn't have that great of a selection either. Even though there were tons of packages of them, only a select few were worth buying. And I wanted them for my salad tonight! I like putting sliced strawberries on salad.

Originally Posted by rockinrobin

Oh gosh no. I've been getting fabulous strawberries. The best of the summer. Just today I bought a large container of them, for get this - $1.00. The lowest I've paid all season. And they are sweeter then they've been all year.

And raspberries had been missing for a couple of weeks after they had been so abundant - and they were back today at only $1.00. I just had some strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. They were super yummy.

Ok, this is what envy feels like.

[wisher]

I wish I could buy them for a dollar! Strawberries are one of my favorites and I've been getting really nice ones but they're a bit expensive, usually $3 or $3.50, sometimes $2.50 when I get a sale at the big grocery store. Trader Joe's usually has really nice ones too.