# What is a good price for apples?



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

It's apple season and usually we pick at my parents' orchard, but this year their apples did nothing. I HAVE to have some apples...it's October, you know?!? 

I am thinking of going to a local orchard and trying to buy some, but I don't want to get there and not be able to tell if it's a good deal or not. My daughter is selling fruit for 4H and I can get apples for $1/pound, so it will have to be cheaper than that. I think they also sell "cider apples" and I'm wondering if those would be o.k. to use for apple sauce and apple butter?


----------



## KyMama (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm not sure what a good price would be, but make sure you ask about their "seconds". These are the apples that are not pretty enough or maybe lightly bruised. These apples are usually a lot cheaper.

HTH


----------



## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

I don't remember where you are exactly Lada, somewhere near me, I think...

Eastgate Meijers has Michigan apples for .49 cents a pound. They had macintosh, jonathan, jonagold, red rome, gala, empire, cortland, and red delicious to choose from and you could mix and match.


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I paid .49 cents/lb for a bushel the other day at the fruit stand. Nice big perfect Jonagolds. Picked ripe, so juicy...James


----------



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

I get 1/2 a bushel of #2 for $10 from the local orchard. A half bushel is about 22 pounds (according to my scale). Best store price I can find this year is $.79 a pound, so I keep running down to the orchard, which is about 10 min away (better for the economy that way, too).


----------



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

thequeensblessing said:


> I don't remember where you are exactly Lada, somewhere near me, I think...
> 
> Eastgate Meijers has Michigan apples for .49 cents a pound. They had macintosh, jonathan, jonagold, red rome, gala, empire, cortland, and red delicious to choose from and you could mix and match.


Pike County - prob 1.5 hours or so from Eastgate.  The best store price I can find is OVER $1/pound! 

I did call the local orchard and they have seconds for $15/bushel, so .37/pound I'm figuring? I'm going to get one bushel and see what they mean by 'seconds', but I'm hoping they're good enough for sauce and butter.


----------



## scooter (Mar 31, 2008)

We went for our annual fall drive along the Mississippi on Friday and we start in LaCrescent MN, at a market there I purchased 10# bags of McIntosh for 3.00 a bag. Honeycrisp were 6.00 for a 5# bag.


----------



## mommathea (May 27, 2009)

Yea, I bought my apples for .49lb also. Granny smith, gala, golden delicious, and Johnathan.


----------



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Lada said:


> I did call the local orchard and they have seconds for $15/bushel, so .37/pound I'm figuring? I'm going to get one bushel and see what they mean by 'seconds', but I'm hoping they're good enough for sauce and butter.


That's a good price. I buy seconds for caning, drying and eating. Usually there will be one or two per half bushel that go straight to the compost bin. But they are usually at the bottom and the bag has been sitting in my kitchen for over a week. I try not to buy more then I can process with in a weeks time.....I'd rather go 3 times to buy apples then have life get in the way and end up with them rotting in my kitchen.


----------



## zookeeper16 (May 10, 2002)

A good price? FREE! Thankfully mine are!


----------



## nappy (Aug 17, 2003)

zookeeper16 said:


> A good price? FREE! Thankfully mine are!


Yep....that's the best kind. We have bought some Macs too but our free ones are from an unsprayed "old orchard"....very little extra "protein" in them too. Thinking they might be Duchess apples.


----------



## blynn (Oct 16, 2006)

I got well over 20 lbs for roughly 60 cents a pound. My scale didn't go past 20, lol! So I don't know the exact price per pound, it was a large bag of seconds.


----------



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

zookeeper16 said:


> A good price? FREE! Thankfully mine are!


I know! I have not had to buy apples in years! Other than the occasional bag between seasons, when last year's are gone and this years aren't ripe yet. This is all new to me!


----------



## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

Ask your local pick-your-own orchard what they charge for wind drops. Last year I paid $2 per 6 gallon bucket (I brought my own buckets). I use them for making cider. Haven't gone this year because I have been so busy....sigh.

Mike


----------



## KIT.S (Oct 8, 2008)

Wow, around here there are abandoned apple trees everywhere, and people all over in the towns that would be thrilled to have someone come clean out their apple tree and yard. They don't just grow like that all over the lower 48? Sigh, I need to travel more and see the rest of the US. Fortunately, I, too, get them free. We'll pick at least 500 pounds next week and make lots of juice to can.
Kit


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Apples are expensive around here! I see your prices and I can't believe it...you can't find even the cheap apples for less then 99 cents. And the u-pick place, its 2 something a lb.! Thankfully, my tree started producing last year and it was a pretty good sized harvest this year so I don't have to buy any.


----------



## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

We have 32 apple trees in our orchard, but they are all young. We got 12 apples this year. Hopefully next year will be better.
Now our pear trees were very generous this year!


----------



## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

That's a good price, Lada. Around here I drive about 20-30 minutes to an orchard and buy apples for 10-18 dollars a bushel, depending on the apple type.


----------



## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

The best sale price seems to be about 90 cents a pound this year.

I've got a lot of apple trees and have had a pretty serious crop failure this year and apples aren't ripening like they should, so I'm going to lose most of them to freezing. Plus the birds are a plague this year, damaging apples that are still rock hard and weeks, even months, from being ripe.

Maybe I'm not the only one with a really poor crop this year, because prices seem awfully high. The convenience store that has always sold apples for 39 cents a pound is 89 cents this year. (They bring in full bins. I suspect that they have family with an apple farm. Best apples, best price available.)


----------



## Freya (Dec 3, 2005)

Here at the nearest NON organic large "You Pick" orchard the current prices right now are:

*$1.09*lb "You Pick"

*$1.19*lb Already Picked

*$29.99*/40lb. box Already Picked


Ofcourse it's an hours drive away and not even organic, so most just go down to the grocery store. This week they have conventional apples on sale for $0.77lb. Normally it's about $1.50-$2.50 a pound.


.


----------



## HilltopDaisy (Feb 26, 2003)

Our (very small) grocery has local Mac's and Cortland's for .59 cents a pound. They are beautiful apples.


----------



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I buy apples from the local feedstore that offers later fall varieties that are excellent. These are my favourites: russet, crispin (a yellow apple perfect taste for tart pies), cortland pie apples, gravenstine and russet for eating fresh. 

Prices for apples locally, if bought by the case, comes out to average around 60 to 75 cents per pound.


----------



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

oregon woodsmok said:


> I've got a lot of apple trees and have had a pretty serious crop failure this year


My parents have had a horrible year, but it seems that others nearby have not. I'm not sure what's happened to their crop. But they had both apples and pears that were basically rotting on the tree before they were even ripened.


----------



## Jerngen (May 22, 2006)

We pay $8 for a half bushel or $15 for a full bushel. These aren't seconds either. 

If anyone is wanting large quantities, it might be worth a day trip up here.


----------



## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

We just got a few 20 lb boxes at a local orchard at 12.00 each for canning applesauce and pie apples.

In the local stores, depending upon variety, apples are running between 1.79 and 2.29 per lb. Highest I've ever seen them! 

Some of you folks paying .79 cents per lb. are really fortunate.


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Our orchard did poorly this year as well. We got some pears, a few apples, but certainly not enough to put by. <sigh>

BUT I did find apples at the Amish store up in Redding for $14.50 a bushel (and it is a generous bushel). I'll be putting those up this weekend. 

Hoping next year is cooler and wetter than this year.


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

we have several local orchards...the "high end" one (Braces) the apples are absolutely large and perfect, and very expensive. 

Around the corner from me, a gentleman (Lewis's) has about 5 varieties he sells at bargain prices...a peck of mixes seconds is $3. I buy the large plastic bags stuffed with 8 lbs of smaller perfect apples..he calls them "lunchbox apples" for $3. they are well worth it. for eating I buy the lunchbox apples and canning/baking I get the mixed seconds. I just picked up four more gallons of cider (and ate three apples jawing with the owner). My kids and DH cant get enough of it, and its in season, so I say enjoy  ...besides, the cider is fresh and local, and cheaper than the orange juice from concentrate in the store. 

mentioned the names, because some folks are familiar with the area 
Brace's is on Orange rd and Lewis's is on Mt Zion


----------



## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

NickieL said:


> Apples are expensive around here! I see your prices and I can't believe it...you can't find even the cheap apples for less then 99 cents. And the u-pick place, its 2 something a lb.! Thankfully, my tree started producing last year and it was a pretty good sized harvest this year so I don't have to buy any.


I know, I'm shocked and jealous of all those cheap apple prices!!! We eat a lot of apples here.......This is the time of year I splurge on the giant, pretty Honey Crisp apples......Oh my goodness the kids and I could eat 10lbs of them per day! Sadly they are $2.89 per lb so I can't afford to buy a bunch


----------



## tallpines (Apr 9, 2003)

A bushel of seconds ----- McIntosh ~~~
They were labeled "seconds" only because of the mixed sizes (most were too BIG) for the standard bushel ...... no bruises.

$8.oo!

Thats 16 cents a pound!


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

I jsut got a bushel for 13 dollars, not seconds....mixed all diffrent kinds..they had about 12 diffrent kinds of apples.


----------



## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

oregon woodsmok said:


> The best sale price seems to be about 90 cents a pound this year.
> 
> I've got a lot of apple trees and have had a pretty serious crop failure this year and apples aren't ripening like they should, so I'm going to lose most of them to freezing. Plus the birds are a plague this year, damaging apples that are still rock hard and weeks, even months, from being ripe.
> 
> Maybe I'm not the only one with a really poor crop this year, because prices seem awfully high. The convenience store that has always sold apples for 39 cents a pound is 89 cents this year. (They bring in full bins. I suspect that they have family with an apple farm. Best apples, best price available.)


Wow, head up to Parkdale, near Mt Hood. We went to a couple of upicks, got boxes of organic honey crisps (they were already picked and in big bins), paid .15 a lb because they give a discount for "distance traveled to the orchard". We traveled about 100 miles but were on our way to central oregon anyway! None of the places we saw were more than .25 a lb for ANY type of apple.


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

honey crisps are 29 dollars for a half bushel around here....always expensive. I've never tried one..are they really that special?


----------



## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

NickieL said:


> honey crisps are 29 dollars for a half bushel around here....always expensive. I've never tried one..are they really that special?


I think they are!! Very sweet & perfectly crisp.....I'm really picky about textures & live the texture of honey crisp..... They are our splurge here.......the kids get excited when we go shopping & they see the Honey Crisp out  My son says they taste better than Jolly Rancher candies (one of his favorite candies) and without fail the kids will pick then out as their grocery trip treat, even over chocolate


----------



## mamakatinmd (Aug 21, 2005)

I bought a bushel of mutzu 2nds yesterday for 10.00 canadian. I am happy with that price. They are selling most bushels for 27.00.


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

NickieL said:


> honey crisps are 29 dollars for a half bushel around here....always expensive. I've never tried one..are they really that special?


I got a honey crisp tree in the spring. I am hoping to get a few apples on it next year. It was that 25 off 25 offer going around. the tree is healthy


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

apples usually take 4-5 years to start producing if you bought a small bare root tree.


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

its a bit bigger than that..I think it was a two yr sapling? The pear tree I planted last year gave me 12 HUGE bartlett pears. I was pleased with that.


----------



## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

I paid $10-12 for seconds for a bushel. Bought assorted varieties, Granny Smith, Jonathans, Cortlands, Winsaps, Red Delicious and a couple Yellow Delicious. And the apples are outstanding! My Amish friend made cider for me yesterday and I am picking it up Mon morning.... I cannot wait! Here in south central Kentucky, in Magnolia, KY there's a little place called Bennett's Orchard. They have the best peaches, apples, concord grapes, etc. and their prices are super reasonable! They say that a bushel is about 40 pounds of apples, I think...


----------



## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

LoneStrChic23 said:


> I know, I'm shocked and jealous of all those cheap apple prices!!! We eat a lot of apples here.......This is the time of year I splurge on the giant, pretty Honey Crisp apples......Oh my goodness the kids and I could eat 10lbs of them per day! Sadly they are $2.89 per lb so I can't afford to buy a bunch


Here, too. I'm longing for Honey Crisp but can't afford it--they're so big one apple will be close to a pound. I am finding Gala on sale at times for .99--they're not our favorite but about all we can afford. We don't have any pick it yourself orchards. Got a couple of Fuji's set out about 3 yrs old but I'm not sure our winters are long & cold enough for them to do very well.


----------



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

I got some of the seconds on Friday. They looked completely perfect to me, so I went ahead and bought a bushel of "animal apples" which they sell for $6/bushel, and they are just fine too, just smaller than the others. Very few worm holes or bruises. We are eating the "seconds" as is, and making pies with them and using the animal apples for canning.


----------



## salmonslayer (Jan 4, 2009)

Our apple trees didnt produce worth a hoot this year but we just bought a bushel of red romes for $16.


----------

