How Many Strawberries Are in a Quart?
The other day when I mentioned we stopped at a local farmstand and paid $7.99 for a quart of strawberries, Emily from Facebook left the comment “Spent over an hour at berry patch yesterday. $60 and 22 lbs later…. I am in heaven.”.
And that got me thinking… When strawberries are offered in the grocery store, we are used to seeing them sold by the pound in their uniform-sized clamshell containers. I can remember getting them for as low as $.99 for a 1-pound container years ago and being shocked at such a low price considering the berries were trucked in from out of state.
These days though, $2.99 for a 1-pound container of out-of-state berries offered year-round is more the norm, at least where I live. Emily from Facebook had just paid roughly $2.72 a pound for local berries she picked herself.
But how much did the quart I bought weigh?
And what was the price I was paying for locally grown strawberries that someone else had picked? I had to find out. The only problem was we had already eaten what we bought at the farm stand.
So, I bought another quart. 🙂
And as it turns out, my local farmstand packs about 1 pound 15 ounces of strawberries into their quarts. Which comes to about $4 a pound.
Would I pay $4 a pound for flavorless straw-berries that were not picked at their peak, and then trucked in from who knows where and then resold to the grocery store? Ummm, no.
Would I pay $4 a pound for juicy, flavorful strawberries grown a few miles from my house? Absolutely! Real locally grown fruit, in season, it’s worth the price if you ask me.
So until I can get my own patch up and growing, I’ll be heading back to the farmstand. And you know I’ll be making some awesome, delicious strawberry infused wonderful with them!
Summer. Oh, how I love its bounty. 🙂
~Mavis
P.S. How much are locally grown strawberries going for in your neck of the woods these days? Curious minds want to know.
P.P.S Did you know that Not Your Mama’s Canning Book has so many good berry recipes in it? So much to look forward to this summer!
Wendy Brown says
We paid $3/lb at Maxwell’s PYO in Cape Elizabeth.
I have a couple of pounds in the freezer, have already canned a dozen jelly jars of preserves, and have a pot ready for more preserves.
Strawberry season is awesome!
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks for the tip Wendy!! 🙂
Bob Burgess says
Strawberries in Venice, Fla $4.99quart $14.99 half flat in store berries from Plantation farm. I still don’t think we get full quart.
Kathy says
5 dollars a quart in west Michigan
Angela D. says
In central Wisconsin, also $5/quart…..but the quart is just level, not heaping. It’s $4/quart if I pick my own. However, the same farm is trying to sell with less human contact, so they’ve offered a 6-quart flat for a set price of $20! And we are free to HEAP it full, which we do!
Mel says
We do pick-your-own fruit a few times a year (starting with strawberries, then peaches, then ending with apples), and it is pretty pricey. It’s definitely worth it, but I think you basically end up paying for the farm’s insurance or something instead of labor. Our CSA has worked out to be one of the cheaper ways to get local produce, perhaps because they have a set customer base. This week was $28 (including delivery) for 6 ears of corn, two tomatoes, two bell peppers, a bunch of carrots, 4 peaches, lettuce, cucumbers, a quart of potatoes, and some onions.
Local produce prices don’t even compare to local meat prices though. I just bought local chicken in bulk for $10/lb.
Arlene says
I have 400ish strawberry plants, and charge $4.00 a poundish. I pick, and do not offer PYO. The strawberry plants have just begun producing . 5 pounds in 5 days. (We ate 3 pounds) the local PYO we went to in past years charges $6.00 a pound for them to pick for you.
Emiky says
$5 to $6 per quart already picked or $4 per quart for you pick
Mama Cook says
I don’t know the price of local strawberries in my neck of the woods. Thanks to inspiration from you, I started growing our own just in our regular landscape beds! Currently, we are pulling in 2 lbs per day!!!!
Mavis Butterfield says
That’s AWESOME!
Sue R. says
For u-pick, we paid $1.25 per pound in Willamette Valley (Oregon). Delicious!
Nora says
7,50€ per 500g in Germany for picked fruit (or 10€ for 1 kg if on offer); 4,90-6,90€ per 1000g (1kg) if self picking. Both prices go down when the season progresses.
StephanieZ says
I have 6 raised beds (3’*12′ each) of strawberries. We picked 160 cups so far. Not a great year thanks to squirrels feasting but we put out traps and relocated them. We even caught a skunk…yikes.
Pam says
$5.49 for 2 pounds of organic strawberries at Cosco in Lubbock, Texas.
Margo says
I’m fortunate to be living in So Cal and we can get pretty good strawberries in season in the grocery, but many of them are grown fairly local anyway. Can’t beat the farmers market locally for freshness and taste. Last year I paid about $4 for a small basket or 3 for $12. ( haven’t been to our modified farmers market this year yet due to current conditions and risk where I live)…
Catherine says
I used to live in So Cal but am Kansas now. I really miss going to the strawberry stands located at a strawberry field and buying fresh. There is no comparison. Of course, most of the strawberry fields have been sold for housing, I don’t know if there are any left.
Christina@BargainBlog says
Sadly, I’m not sure exactly how much locally grown strawberries cost here in Calgary, Canada. We haven’t been out and about much to see. But, we found a local market recently – so we’ll have to check it out! The sale price on out of province berries is about $2.99/lb in those clamshell packages you mentioned. Once in a while, they go down to $1.99 each, but that’s pretty rare.
I have insane berry envy now! The first photo of your locally bought berries makes my mouth water. :)) I would gladly pay the price the growers ask to have berries of that magnificence!
Danielle says
As the pick your own place we go to it ended up being about $2.86/lb. Western Massachusetts. At the grocery store it’s anywhere between $2.50 and $4 per quart but the quarts aren’t as heaped as the ones in your picture.
Sara says
The strawberry season was 3 months ago here. I can say fresh picked blueberries and huge blackberries are $3lb right now. So fresh they are only 15-30 minutes out of the field. I believe u-pick is $2lb this year. I happily pay the extra $1lb this year. Very, very sad the season is about over. Doing the math picked ones are actually about 25% less than the grocery right now, if you can even get them in the store.
I also happily pay, twice the price of the grocery, to get fresh picked corn, watermelons, maters and more at another farm 1/2 mile away from the berry farm. This farm is higher priced than the grocery store, I don’t care!
I will cut our budget elsewhere, if necessary, to be able to support small local farmers. Always.
Lana says
$12 a gallon here for local berries and that is the only size they sell. Way too much for two people who do not care for them frozen and don’t eat jam. We used to get them when our five kids were home but not any more. Now we rely on the grocery store and they have been .99 a pound for weeks and the best grocery store berries we have had in a long time!
Nancy says
Great Strawberry picking at Lavignes farm
West Kennebunk Sanford line!! Then blueberries come a little later in the season
Spillers Farm in Wells Branch Strawberry picking now and Apples in the fall.
Jennifer says
I believe that a flat of strawberries at our local farm is $25, which comes to $2.08 per quart. This is an amazing price for the best tasting strawberries that I have ever had.
Margo says
Thanks for doing the research on the price per pound for local strawberries. Worth every penny, seems to me. And the season is so short (here in Vermont). Enjoy ’em while you can!
Granny B says
We pay $3.50/lb for u-pick strawberries. I’d gladly pay someone 50 cents a pound to have picked them here in Southwest Missouri!!
Now off to make your Rhubarb Berry Pie!!
Granny B says
The Rhubarb Berry pie is AMAZING!!!! Thank you for sharing the recipe. YUM!
Mavis Butterfield says
Glad you liked it! 🙂
Diane says
I can’t manage u-pick strawbs any more because of my lousy back, but at the Beaverton Farmers Market here in the Portland area, (organically grown) pints are going for $4 or $4.50 per. I bought a half flat (6 pints) a couple of weeks ago for $24, and froze them. The berries are gorgeous right now, and the vendors have multiple varieties to choose from.
We’re growing our own strawberry plants, but I had to do a MAJOR cleanup of the strawberry bed a week or so ago, which I missed getting to in the fall, so we won’t have much in production for a little while.
Yay, local farmers! (But I wouldn’t pay $7.99 for a single basket – just couldn’t afford it.)
Patti says
Ours were $15 for a generous gallon and then late in the season, they were $10 for the gallon. So that makes them $3.75 for a generous quart and later, it is $2.50.
Molly Stoner says
I pay $7.50 a quart at Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth which is my favorite farm stand. They also have pick your own strawberries, but I’m not sure what the price is.
Laura L. says
Just paid $8.00 a pound for about 2 lbs. of strawberries locally grown and I’ll tell you they were so delicious and flavorful. You’re so right about the lack of any taste whatsoever from the berries that are trucked in from half way across the country or further. These strawberries were well worth $4.00 a pound and we’re off to get some more this afternoon.
Christy says
The only u-pick places near southeast Pennsylvania is $6.99/quart. Every person going into the patch has to pay that. They are more about the experience then people picking large quantities. Former farm i went to that closed was $4-5/lb. Grocery store regulaly is around $3.
Katie says
We have a farm near us that is offering 8 heaping quarts for $36 this year, so about $2.25 per pound
Anna says
Eckridge Farm in Kentucky is $3.99/lb