Why are fruits and veggies so expensive in the US?

I worked here in Southern California at a grocery store for over 7 years. I skimmed the posts and was looking for the reasons I believe inflate prices on produce. I might have missed someone saying these and my apologies if they have.

The first thing I noticed is the amount of "shrink". This is a term used in the industry to describe food/items that have been damaged or are not cosmetically appealing (everyone avoids the dented cans of chili e.g.). This makes the slightest imperfection on any fruit or veggie a reason to throw it away. In recent years, they've tried to mitigate this by using much of this produce in prepped and packaged items. This, in conjunction with the man power it takes to bring ugly produce all the way to the store just to be thrown away, makes for an expensive adjustment in price to the pristine produce that is bought.

Another thing is that most grocery stores are union. The cost of labor that makes the wages they do come at a cost. I'm not advocating for or against unions, just stating a fact that higher wages raises prices overall. This isn't nearly what it was 20+ years ago due to all of the competition from Walmart, Target, Costco, etc. all trying to get in on the grocery business and not being union.

These, in addition to many other factors, inflate prices past what some might expect.
 
It's the same everywhere, not just the US.

I remember one day years ago when it all dawned on me. I went to the supermarket next door to work to get some lunch. I figured "I'm not super hungry, 2 bananas and maybe a apple will get me through". I grabbed it and it came to like $4.... 2 packets of instant ramen for 50cents ended up being the lunch du jour
 
It's the same everywhere, not just the US.

I remember one day years ago when it all dawned on me. I went to the supermarket next door to work to get some lunch. I figured "I'm not super hungry, 2 bananas and maybe a apple will get me through". I grabbed it and it came to like $4.... 2 packets of instant ramen for 50cents ended up being the lunch du jour

Was it a gas station or something? Bananas are 25 cents, apple is 75 cents.
 
Was it a gas station or something? Bananas are 25 cents, apple is 75 cents.

It was a supermarket. Sorry, I neglected to say, it ain't in America. It's NZD so the exchange rate is probably about .6 or so
 
It's because you buy fruits at the yt pipo store. All the fruits or veggies are all pretty and they get sprayed with water sprinklers. If you go to the ethnic grocery store, you might have to search through the pile for something that isn't bruised much but the price is cheaper. Meat is expensive as hell, 93 percent ground beef is like 6 bucks a lb? At the ethnic mart, I am not sure the percentage but I can get them to grind the cut of meat I want for like 4 bucks?
 
I went to Korea last year and the meat and produce were a lot more expensive. It was worth it though. The chickens were like 1/3 the size of chickens you buy in America. That made me realize that we're eating mutant chickens. It was pretty eye opening.
 
To keep the poor unhealthy and reliant on medical attention. Thats also why there are liquor stores all over the poor neighborhoods. One day they will revolt and gas in the first round. US govt by second round submission due to terror.
 
I went to the grocery store today and spent 30 dollars on fruit and veggies and i only got some peaches,cherries,bananas,onions 2 different types,jalapenos,sweet peppers,green grapes and water. I was like WTF at the self checkout im trying to slim down but this shit is too expensive. Yes i have a good job too now finally but damn.

Where in Earth is it cheaper?
 
I went to Korea last year and the meat and produce were a lot more expensive. It was worth it though. The chickens were like 1/3 the size of chickens you buy in America. That made me realize that we're eating mutant chickens. It was pretty eye opening.


in Europe, fruits and veggies are much smaller and most are non-GMO... and taste "fresher". GMOs help with feeding a large populace though, and thus, are cheaper and one could argue - necessary. Same with livestock.

Veggies grown in your own backyard - tomatoes and cucumbers as an example - also taste a 1000 times better than supermarket stuff

price is governed by supply and demand and the more exotic fruits and veggies, such as avocado, papaya, acai, guava, are even pricier.
 
I went to Korea last year and the meat and produce were a lot more expensive. It was worth it though. The chickens were like 1/3 the size of chickens you buy in America. That made me realize that we're eating mutant chickens. It was pretty eye opening.

The chicken breasts at Meijer that are like $1.50/lb are literally the size that entire whole chickens were 30 yrs ago when I was a kid.
 
in Europe, fruits and veggies are much smaller and most are non-GMO... and taste "fresher". GMOs help with feeding a large populace though, and thus, are cheaper and one could argue - necessary. Same with livestock.

And if you buy in season, they are dirt cheap -- never mind the quality that you mentioned. Simple fact is that a plain old Carrefour in France has *MUCH* better fruit and veggies than Whole Foods. Our stuff just sucks and is terribly expensive.
 
The chicken breasts at Meijer that are like $1.50/lb are literally the size that entire whole chickens were 30 yrs ago when I was a kid.
I'm embarrassed to say that I first thought I was looking at novelty small chickens or baby chickens.. Then I realized every chicken everywhere was like that. Then I realized just what it was that I had been eating in America....
 
If you have a nice size yard plant them, i have a cherry tomato tree, a dwarf papaya, and dwarf banana tree, bell pepper, green onions, jalepeno, eggplant, Swiss chard, dwarf fig tree and orange tree in my backyard.

You grew your own dwarf banana tree, or was it an implant?
 
You grew your own dwarf banana tree, or was it an implant?
it was a transplant just took it out of the pot and planted it in the ground.

Right now I have hairless kiwi berries I bought the plant at my local nursery its the best man the only downside is a lot of critters are in my backyard now, like possums and squirrels and other insects eating up my plants
Kiwiberry-3484.jpeg
 
Strange. I shop fruits/vegetables at a chain store (with majority of it being organic ) and I maybe spend less than half of what you do for a weeks worth.

Almost everything I buy you get multiple servings per dollar.........(that's pretty cheap to be honest)
 
I can get greens for less than a dollar a pound at stores around my area, so i dunno about that.

Knowing where to look and what you can use to meet your needs is pretty much the whole game.

Most stores have things that i call 'sucker buys', that are put in highly visible areas, while there are other things you could use for effectively the same purpose that are much cheaper elsewhere.

Like for instance pre-packaged bags of sweet potatoes going for 3-4 dollars a pound placed near the midway, when you could be getting the loose bulk sweet potatoes for 60 cents a pound instead.

Basically there are a lot of stupidity taxes.
 
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Hey TS I really agree with you on the cherries, what is going on with the price of cherries these days? :eek::eek::eek: its shocking. I really like cherries, and they are super healthy, and they contain melatonin which helps me sleep, but damn the price is becoming a joke now.

The price of cherries was nowhere near this high 15-20 years ago, yes I know food prices go up, but cherries is dramatic compared to everything else.
 
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