Ripe fruit during strawberry season

Ripe fruit is much less expensive during strawberry season. Strawberries are ripe when you buy them. You don’t have to wait, as you might for melons or stone fruit, such as peaches, to ripen. Grab a carton of strawberries and eat. No waiting.

Usually, only the pre-cut fruit in containers is reliably ripe, but this is much more expensive than whole, un-cut fruit. And sometimes even the cut fruit is not fully ripe.

The seasonal price for organic strawberries can fall to $2.99, a price comparable to many other organic fruit prices, such as peaches. During the rest of the year, a one-pound carton of organic strawberries can be $5.99, making it twice the cost of apples and six times the cost of bananas.

At the store yesterday, most of the fruit looked great but was not ripe, such as the melons and stone fruit. So I bought and ate a one-pound carton of strawberries. Yet, I was hungry soon after, so I bought two more cartons of strawberries, with plans to eat another half-pound, and bring the rest home.

Despite having lots of fruit in my home, I frequently do not have any ripe fruit to eat, mostly due to poor planning and partly because traveling by bus limits the groceries I can carry. If I didn’t travel by bus, I would carry home five or six cartons of ripe(!) strawberries to eat during the subsequent day or two.

I also now buy broccoli and onions to ensure I have something healthy to eat when all my fruit at home is not ripe. When I don’t have veggies on hand, I make granola and worse-case scenario is eat some bread.