What fruit and veggies are cheaper and in season in autumn?

With budgets feeling a little tighter across the country, eating seasonally has never been more important. Seasonal fruits and vegetables are typically more affordable, stay fresher longer, taste better, and are often locally grown right here in New Zealand. Use this guide to help you make the most of your produce with storing them right, and ideas to make delicious dishes.

So, which Autumn produce offers the best value and versatility?

Vegetables: storage and recipe ideas

Pumpkins

In autumn you can’t go past pumpkins for good value for money, a whole pumpkin can stretch across multiple meals and help keep your food budget in check. Store a whole pumpkin in a cool place such as your garage, but don’t place them directly on the floor – use a piece of cardboard as a pumpkin mat. Stored upside-down with the stalk on the bottom, they can last up to 3 months. Once you’ve cut it open, use it within a couple of weeks. Roast or boil pumpkin, then freeze so you can use for soups in winter. Pumpkins are great in curries and soups, but did you know you can also use them to make hummus or pasta? Check out more recipe ideas for using up pumpkins here and our guide on how to use up a whole pumpkin.

Broccoli

Best used within 4-5 days of purchase. If you’re going to eat it within a couple of days, store broccoli in a plastic bag in the fridge. Need your broccoli to last longer? Sprinkle the head of the broccoli with water, wrap it in paper towels and place it in a sealed ziplock bag in the fridge. Be sure to make the most of your broccoli by using the stalk and the florets – you can check out more satisfying, stalk-using broccoli recipes here. 

Cabbages

Cabbages are also great bang for your buck, and one whole cabbage can go a surprisingly long way across multiple meals. Once you’ve started slicing, keep the outer leaves and wrap them back around the cabbage to help it stay fresher for longer. Make coleslaw, sauerkraut or kimchi or simply chop finely and cook with a little butter or salt. For more ideas, check out our blog on 8 ways with cabbage.

Lettuce

Whole iceberg lettuces are still good value in early autumn, but with tomatoes and cucumber creeping up in price you might want to rethink how you would use them.  How about Vietnamese style as a wrap for mince, or adding the outer leaves to a stir-fry in place of spinach? We’ve got 8 more ways with lettuce here. Store in a lettuce crisper to make them last as long as possible, or wrap in a paper towel and place in a ziplock bag.

What to skip?

Summer vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicums, aubergines and courgettes are past their best by autumn, so will be pricier and will have a much shorter shelf life. Potatoes and onions are always good value. Beetroot and celery may also be reasonably priced at this time of year.

Fruits: storage and recipe ideas

Apples

Apples are the cheapest fruit to buy in autumn and are usually at their crunchiest. They last up to 8 times longer if stored in the fridge rather than in the fruit bowl, so if buying a bag of apples make sure you put at least half in the fridge.  Grate up apple to use in a coleslaw, make a Waldorf salad with apple, celery and walnuts and add to a devilled sausage casserole. Check out our 8 ways with apples for more great ideas for using them up – and don’t forget you can always use the peels to make your own apple cider vinegar.

Kiwifruit

Kiwifruit start to get cheaper in late autumn. Leave them to ripen on your counter then transfer into the fridge to help extend their freshness. If you have too many and they start to soften, your best bet is to try making them into a salsa, meat marinade, sauce, or freeze in chunks to add to smoothies.

Feijoas

If you have your own feijoa tree, you will be despairing over what to with them all. If not, you’ll be despairing of their price in the supermarket, which is often upwards of $8 per kilo. Our advice? If you like feijoas, plant your own tree or find a friend with a tree. We have loads of recipes for using up your feijoas here but the simplest is to stew them up and freeze them, so you can use them for the rest of the year, or turn smaller feijoas into jam – skins and all.

Pears

Pears are at their cheapest in autumn. Use them in an autumn salad of pear, rocket, blue cheese and walnuts. Storing them in the crisper drawer of your fridge while they are still firm will help them last for weeks, just take out a couple at a time to ripen in your fruit bowl or on the counter as needed.

What to skip:

The stone fruit season has been and gone so any peaches, plums and nectarines still in store will be expensive with a very short shelf-life. It’s too early for citrus to be at its best; mandarins are the first cab off the rank around June.

Our Easy Choice Family Kai Autumn budget cookbook has loads more ideas for family friendly meals using seasonal produce.