bulk buying fruit and veg

cheeseydoritos

Hi im new to boards.ie but i want to know if anyone can tell me where i can bulk buy fruit n veg as i have recently went vegan. any suggestions would be helpful thanks

Jambo221

It really depends on where you are, for a start, hit up your local markets and practice your haggling :P

I keep a good stock of frozen veg myself as I tend to be away from home for extended periods. Nothing worse than coming home late at night after being away for a week to nothing but rotten veg!
Check out Dunnes, they do pre-chopped frozen mixed peppers, very handy when you just want a handful for a dish.

maireann

Agree - it depends on your area. I know of a good few CSA schemes (community supported agriculture) around the country, OOOBY (Out of our own back yard) in Wicklow and a lot of farms do box schemes, which are always a good deal.

langerballs

cheeseydoritos - I think you can't beat the Aldi 6 fruit and veg deal.

Andromeda_111

'Get fresh' shops have a good selection/quality of fruit and veg and they are the cheapest I've seen. I go in with €20 and come out with bags of stuff! As the others have said, it really depends on where you are.

cheeseydoritos

Thank you for your replies. See what im really looking for is a big box of bananas. I think ill have to try the markets up near capel st.

castlewhite

If you are going to the Dublin Fruit & Vegetable Market on a Saturday, remember they close at 11.00am and a lot of the surronding companies are closed at 10.30, only 1 or 2 stay open till 12noon.

lfqnic

Did you ever find anywhere? I eat mostly raw and find shopping so often a bit of a pain. I would definitely like to get my hands on a box of bananas, or even know the going price. Depending where you're living, a handy place in the interim might be Moore St. I get 8-10 bananas for €2, same for oranges, less for carrots and kale etc etc and so far its almost all been ripe and yummy! I do wish we had a cash-and-carry style place though

Cardinal Richelieu

lfqnic wrote: »

Did you ever find anywhere? I eat mostly raw and find shopping so often a bit of a pain. I would definitely like to get my hands on a box of bananas, or even know the going price. Depending where you're living, a handy place in the interim might be Moore St. I get 8-10 bananas for €2, same for oranges, less for carrots and kale etc etc and so far its almost all been ripe and yummy! I do wish we had a cash-and-carry style place though

Today a 12.7kg box of Bananas was selling from €14.50 to €16.50 in the Dublin Fruit & Veg Market. Unfortunately the problem with bananas is when they start to ripen the shelflife isn't that great so unless your a fan of black bananas buying a box isn't worth it. 12.7kg is the standard box size, the odd time you can buy a 40lb box of bananas.

lfqnic

Thanks for the info! I've been really curious about that. €15 isn't bad, but you're right about the shelf-life issue. I go by this sort of guide (http://lowfatveganchef.com/how-to-tell-if-a-banana-is-ripe/) so I like 'em spotty but not black. I think it'd be too hard to juggle to be worth it. But its good to know the Fruit and Veg market is an option, I keep hearing different things about whether its open to the public or not.

Cardinal Richelieu

lfqnic wrote: »

Thanks for the info! I've been really curious about that. €15 isn't bad, but you're right about the shelf-life issue. I go by this sort of guide (http://lowfatveganchef.com/how-to-tell-if-a-banana-is-ripe/) so I like 'em spotty but not black. I think it'd be too hard to juggle to be worth it. But its good to know the Fruit and Veg market is an option, I keep hearing different things about whether its open to the public or not.

If you got cash its open especially if you go to the "banks" in the original building. I think half the problem is people head down in the afternoon not understanding that business starts at 5am or go to the large dealers who wouldn't be as appreciative of small trade. Quite a few of the smaller traders in the last couple of years have closed due to problems in the restaurant trade so cash is welcome. Most produce is sold by its unit size so you cant buy half of that case and a quarter of that so that turns a lot of people off but if your having a party or group buy among fellow veggies it can work. The Moore Street Traders would source all there fruit and Veg from the market.

The Corporation had plans to turn the market into a version of Corks English Market last year but that's on the backburner again. The idea was first raised 40 years ago and constantly gets dropped and raised.

The Dept of Agric guys in the market keep the below guide price list updated every so often.

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/agri-foodindustry/tradeexports/dublinwholesalemarketprices/