Buying in Bulk for Canning/Freezing/Drying

If you don't have enough from your own garden and you want to put summer produce up for the winter, now is the time to buy in bulk. This has been a particularly stellar year for a lot of crops, including tomatoes, so farms up and down the valley are overflowing. Most farms will do bulk orders if you ask in advance, and some will have large quantities available at farmers markets or at their farm stands. For example, at the Greenfield Farmers Market this morning, Crabapple Farm had dozens of 10-pound boxes of tomatoes for sale. The prices on bulk produce are just about always better (and sometimes a lot better) than you would get buying the same stuff in smaller quantities. For particularly good deals, look for "seconds" or "utility" produce. These items may have some bad spots or may just not look as pretty as the ones that get displayed at the market, and are usually perfectly well suited to canning or freezing.

If you plan to buy in bulk to freeze, can, or dry, time your purchase carefully. None of this stuff keeps for long, and utility fruits and veggies may have particularly short lifespans. So figure out when you will have time to put the food up, and then plan to purchase that morning or the day before.