Supermarket marketing ploy... "PREMIUM" sized fruit.

[Papa Deuce]

Our grocery store has started carrying "premium sized" fruit. These things are at least 50% bigger than a normal sized piece of fruit.

But the "kicker" is that they cost TWICE as much, or more, per pound.

I saw some HUGE apples at $2.89 per pound.... while the same regular apples are just $1.39 a pound.

If I need more fruit I'll just eat another piece of normal sized fruit at half the cost per pound.

 

[Sonya]

Ah, America, the home of supersized everything.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Why does the price per pound have to go up? That is what I don't get. A PREMIUM apple is going to weigh more, so you would pay more. They are sticking it to you.

 

[Chicago526]

What I would pay more for is fruit that tastes REALLY good. It's so hit and miss, even when fruit is in season, it can be a gamble.

 

[powellrj]

I think you are paying for the look of the fruit rather than the acual weight. Its like the difference between what you would expect to find in a fruit basket and what you would find in a random bag of apples. You pay much more for that large perfectly shaped apple, than you would for that little bitty odd shaped one you find in a bag.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Why does the price per pound have to go up? That is what I don't get. A PREMIUM apple is going to weigh more, so you would pay more. They are sticking it to you.

My pont exactly.... I could see maybe 10 to 20 cents a pound, but not more than double.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Why does the price per pound have to go up? That is what I don't get. A PREMIUM apple is going to weigh more, so you would pay more. They are sticking it to you.

More than likely the store's cost for the premium fruit is higher, therefore, that increased cost is going to be passed along to you.

 

[buckylarue]

What gets me is that, over the years, the size of the 'regular' fruit they sell in stores here has gotten smaller, so the 'premium' fruit is actually more like what I would have expected to find years ago, but not at those prices!

Generally, I buy a lot of fruit from the Whole Foods natural foods store here; it seems to have a lot more flavor that the commercially mass-produced fruit in the chain stores.

 

[MAKmom]

Our grocery store has started carrying "premium sized" fruit. These things are at least 50% bigger than a normal sized piece of fruit.

But the "kicker" is that they cost TWICE as much, or more, per pound.

I saw some HUGE apples at $2.89 per pound.... while the same regular apples are just $1.39 a pound.

If I need more fruit I'll just eat another piece of normal sized fruit at half the cost per pound.

It's Bio-engineered food. Your location sounds like Deleware County. There is a TRADERS JOE's in Media. You can buy organic for less then non-orgainc supermarket prices. The food is so ggod without the bad additives. They have most of the foods you are used to & they are just a sgood but less money. Cheerios= JOE's O $2.49 a box & they taste the same. Crackers ect.

Other Pa locations are Abington, Ardmore, Wayne & Center City

 

[malibuconlee]

Kind of off topic here, but I was watching Alton on Food Network last night and found out that grocery store tomatoes are exposed to a "ripening agent" to get their red color. Did anyone else know this?

On topic. It's just silly. I'll buy two apples instead of one HUGE one at twice the price.

 

[bicker]

Using natural (or artificial) ethylene gas has been standard practice for ripening tomatoes since the 1960s (and moms had been using this method for decades before that). Vine-ripened tomatoes are incredible expensive to transport to market, and Americans love thinking they got a bargain by buying the less expensive tomatoes.

Regarding the apples though, two 3 oz apples have a lot less flesh than one 6 oz apple. Remember, when you buy an apple, you're also buying the pits and the core, and the weight of those things aren't necessarily proportional to the size of the fruit.

 

[Free4Life11]

What I would pay more for is fruit that tastes REALLY good. It's so hit and miss, even when fruit is in season, it can be a gamble.

I know! I've really been striking out lately...rotten avocados, blah strawberries, and nasty bananas.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Regarding the apples though, two 3 oz apples have a lot less flesh than one 6 oz apple. Remember, when you buy an apple, you're also buying the pits and the core, and the weight of those things aren't necessarily proportional to the size of the fruit.

And what really stinks, is that I have to peel an apple before eating it or I have stomach pains for 3 days, so I am throwing away the peel, core and seeds. That is why I don't eat a lot of apples.


Off topic... Heard on the news today that Tastykake is making some of their cupcakes bigger. The butterscotch krimpet is going to have more butterscotch icing and 90 more calories, and the peanut butter candy kakes are getting more peanut butter and 60 more calories.

 

[Planogirl]

I buy a lot of apples and it frustrates me to see the difference in pricing. I realize that there's more core and peel to account for on the smaller apples but still...

The big problem is that everything is just too darned expensive in the grocery stores nowadays. How has inflation managed to stay so low while prices seem to have skyrocketed?

 

[bicker]

That almost sounds like a Yogi Berra question!