We stopped by a farmer’s market the other day and noticed someone selling zucchini for $5.50 a pound.
I actually had to do a double take to make sure I had read the price correctly.
Yep. $5.50 a pound for zucchini.
Either I’m getting really old and out of touch with what things cost these days, or I need to grow an entire backyard full of zucchini and set up a stall at the Farmer’s Market next summer.
I’m not sure which.
How much would you be willing to pay for a pound of zucchini?
I need to know.
~Mavis
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Lynn says
Paying 99¢/lb here on Lake Erie.
Meg C says
Yeah, me too. $1/lb here – I would be annoyed to pay much more than that – especially considering how cheap & easy it is to grow zucchini
Sue says
Wow! Up here in Canada we give them away!
TBL says
Out of touch? You? A resounding no. $5.50/lb??!! Somehow this is just wrong. Zucchini? Zucchini is the afterthought in the garden; the afterthought on the dinner table. Who even likes zucchini? The only reason we grow it is because it keeps the weeds down. LOL. Forgive me if this offends anyone, but, oh dear, come on….
Linda says
I like zucchini! I love zucchini! It’s so not an afterthought in my garden but I’m totally on your side….wouldn’t dare pay that. My squash & zucchini didn’t do as well as usual this year but I’m still not that desperate! Ha!!! Found your comment to be funny not offensive btw. Lawd, let’s not be that sensitive!!! Ha!!!! But let’s do be sensible! Nope to that price!
Donna says
Ditto to every word.
Brianna says
Wow, that seems a bit steep. I would think it would be in the $1-2/lb range at a store and probably $2-3 at a farmers market or organic. I have avoided farmers markets this season because I am afraid the prices have gone up with inflation and because I have been overspending on groceries at the store. Usually I would go to a farmers market a few times each month during the season and support the local farmers and gladly overpay for some veggies or bread, but now that extra money from that budget is going onto the tail end of the basics I buy at the grocery store.
Lori says
In our area every back yard gardener is desperately trying to find someone to take their zucchini FREE.
Jamie says
I would pay $2 for seeds and grow my own…
Jennifer says
Here zucchini and yellow squash go 2 for a $1 and that’s about how much I would pay.
christina says
Our local CSA farm sells them for $3.00 a pound and yes I buy them since I didn’t plant any this year. Supporting our local farm which is 5 minutes is improtant but I wouldn’t pay $5.50.
Wendy C says
Insane!
Julie says
99 cents to $1.28/pound is the going rate in my area. I have it in the garden so, I just wait for it to be ready… not counting labor and water, mine cost me $1.69 for a packet of seed that I only used a few seeds out of. $5.40/pound is green gold and to rich for me.
Patty P says
Would I pay $5.50/lb for zucchini? No. Would someone who did not grow anything on their own, who maybe only thinks that food comes “from the store” go to a farmer’s market and pay $5.50/lb for it? Maybe. Honestly, if that vendor/farmer can get someone to pay $5.50/lb for something that grows so prolifically, good for them.
Jennifer says
I wouldn’t pay that for zucchini bread.
Ann says
LOL, good one
JulieP says
So funny! 🙂
I sell mine at the bottom of the drive for 40p each or three for a £1 whatever size they want yellow, green and stripey this equates to $1.20 for three zucchini whatever size large or small their choice. They wouldn’t sell if I charged any more. I didn’t get many last year, overwhelmed this year. We love them griddled with olive oil garlic and herbs, spiralised in spaghetti, zucchini bread, pickles, cake, salads. I also dehydrate them and I grate them into various cup sizes in ziplocks! So useful.
Jam says
I have a hard time going to farmers markets for this reason. It seems everything is so very expensive.
Elizabeth Todd says
Regular zucchini is $1.10 and organic $2.00 per pound here in Austin, Texas. No way I would pay $5.50!!!
Also, thank you for the post on your lasagna garden. It was awesome!
Margo says
Even here in So. Cal where everything seems to be higher than average….no way would I pay $5.50 a pound for summer squash. I can buy a few packets of seed for that and do a lot sharing of the harvest for that!
Carol says
I believe these are premium-priced because of their small size (baby, on the sign). Some are a bit too large to be considered babies, imo, but if I were shopping there I’d pick out the very smallest and probably get five or six for a pound.
Bobbi says
I think it is $2.29 here per pound. Florida
$5.50? Nope. There are too many others selling it here year around
Mary L says
Seems high for a little fiber and a whole lotta water. Mavis – when are you going to post your rug hooking instructs??
Linda Practical Parsimony says
In Alabama I bought a small basket from a farmer’s market of locally grown goods. I paid $5 and thought it was pricey, but thoroughly enjoyed them. In the store, zucchini and yellow squash are $1.49/lb. They are too large, getting old, but the taste is delicious.
Shelly says
That price is ridiculous! They were $1.99/lb here yesterday (Oregon) and I balked at that price. I ended up buying one because I have been craving a grilled veggie sandwich (lengthwise sliced grilled zucchini, poblano pepper, onions, other easy to slice thinly veggies and cheese on a hoagie). I couldn’t bring myself to buy the $10.99/pound cherries at a roadside stand last week, though!
Sandy says
I’m with you on the cherry prices. No way am I paying $10.99 a lb. My local co-op has organic cherries for that price.
Katie C says
The going rate at a Farmer’s Market I just went to in Cali where there’s a long growing season was $4-4.50/lb. Organic, raised in compost (not on chemical fertilizers), and having to consider inflation—it makes sense to me. In Maine, the growing season is much shorter, so I’d assume the cost of each pound of zucchini must be higher since there’s so much less of it compared to many other states. Inflation sucks. The little guys (like farmers at the markets) disappear or they have to charge what others consider to be unacceptable. I sure hope they make it through this okay.
Kay says
Hi Katie C.
I agree with you!!! I don’t think folks have a clue about what it cost to grow vegetables and herbs at this moment in time. Inflation ..is only going to get worse …not only for the consumers …but also for the farmers… big & small… And yes California has a much longer growing season … just like we have here in Florida…and of course Maines growing season is a heck of a lot shorter ..and the winters are harsh.. so let’s figure in the high cost of heating oil this winter ..and wood …if you don’t chop it yourself… everything has doubled and tripled in price ..all the way around…. …We grow all of our vegetables and herbs. And we use to grow 10 acres of food (vegetables and herbs) on one acre of land… using a vertigo drip irrigation system… PS FYI….Water is very expensive.. and right now a of cities are running low on water …or they are out of water completely…like in Monterey Mexico…and fertilizer or organic raised compost.. is very expensive …and let’s not forget hay… time is money.. and fuel prices are high …along with diesel…so the farmer must pass along his or her high cost to the consumers…. …who haven’t a clue what it takes to run a farm at this moment in time. They are not backyard farmers. Good luck everyone because I hate to see what the prices are next year. …and let’s not forget that water is a precious commodity.. and think about this…if you can pay $7.00 to $10.00 for a of homemade organic bread … at the farmers market or bakery….then you can pay the farmer his asking price for his or her zucchini. That was so lovingly grown by them. And if you all ate today please thank a farmer… his family and his or her field hands who pick the vegetables and herbs.
Kelli says
Wow. No way.
Our local FM or roadside stands don’t charge by the pound. They range in price from 25¢-50¢ each. I don’t even bother growing it anymore. When I need it, I’ll just spend a couple bucks.
Cathy D says
The farm stand here was swamped with them they were selling then 3 for 1.00 my kind of price.
Amber says
Not that! I know it’s homegrown, but dang. During the summer everyone is giving it away, and on the off chance I have to purchase it, Aldi has it for about $1.19/lb. A bit higher than it previously was, but isn’t everything?
Peg says
I suspect by this point in the growing season some growers would pay buyers $5.50/pound to take their zucchini.
Margaret M says
It’s two or three for a dollar, or a dollar & 25 cents for medium size zucchini where I buy produce.
Ellen in Clackamas says
I just came from the farm store in Woodburn, Oregon and they were selling “summer squash” four for a dollar. This included patty-pan, yellow neck and small zucchini.
Teri says
WOW that’s too much! $.89/lb here! Was anybody else selling it there?
Wendy M says
Here in rural southern Indiana I paid 2/$1 for yellow squash at a roadside stand. I haven’t priced zucchini but I’m sure it’s similar.
Mimi says
Ha ha…maybe they are paying $5.50 a lb. if you’ll take them off their hands.
I mean, c’mon. It’s zucchini!
Heather says
$2.29 for a pack of seeds to net 125 lbs of it. I just can’t….$5.50 a pound. My word! I bring baskets of it to my post office to give away.
Jules says
Now I’m curious as to Why this seller thought that was a price to charge for zucchini. Did they use some secret sauce to grow it?
Chris says
I think this is unfortunately a case of “what the market will bear” not necessarily inflation. If the market is in a moderate to affluent area, it would not surprise me at all. $2.99 lb for specialty or organic is my limit.
Annette Horsley says
I pay $1-$1.29 pound for zucchini
Tracy says
I stuck three zucchini seeds into an open raised bed and now have three massive (and quite beautiful) plants producing their heads off, as zucchini likes to do. Three plants is about two and a half more plants than anyone actually needs, and I quite like this versatile veg.
Jo Griffith says
Giving it away in PA!
KC says
Baby zucchini is different; it’s actually good raw; so there’s that. I probably wouldn’t buy it for $5.50, though! But I’m a cheapskate.
But also: they have to pay for their stall space, their gas to get to and from the farmer’s market, and there’s all their time growing and picking and standing at the stall to sell [or hiring people to do that], and all the expenses of gardening/farming (including the losses to animals/bugs, fertilizing and watering, etc.) and all that adds up.
And something as perishable as baby zucchini (because they are only good raw within ~24 hrs of being picked) would have greater losses when picked for the farmer’s market.
(fundamentally, very little in our garden would be anywhere *near* an acceptable price range if I added up the garden costs and assigned even minimum wage to the time spent raising the plants, maintaining the garden, and picking the produce. So. There is that. Our homegrown zucchini “costs” more than that without even taking the additional farmer’s market costs into it!)