Where to Get the Best Deals on Bulk Produce for Canning

This post may contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you, if you make a purchase via our links. See our disclosure for more information.

Whether you like to can, dehydrate, ferment, or freeze-dry, you’ll need to find enough produce to make it worth the effort. So, where do you shop? Although you can shop at the local grocery store, you’ll often get a much better price and product if you look elsewhere. I’m sharing my go-to sources for bulk produce, including fresh fruits, berries, and veggies, without spending a small fortune!

If you’re a gardener like me, you know the feeling of watching your harvest trickle in.

A bunch of radishes here, a bowl of salad there. Maybe some onions. Then peas, and there’s a lot of those. In late summer, I feel like my countertops have shrunk!

But sometimes, you need just a bit more to fit in those canning jars! I’d love to share some of my favorite sources for high-quality produce for all types of food preservation projects….canning, fermenting, dehydrating, and more!

Explore my food preservation resources

Where to Buy Bulk Produce for Preserving

This is not an exhaustive list! It is simply based on my experience. If you know of a great resource in your area, please share it in the comments to help others!

Your own garden

Most of us are not fortunate enough to have space to grow cases and cases of tomatoes or cucumbers, but we can often grow enough to at least supplement the process.

I routinely grow cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, onions, and more that I preserve in different ways, but I always need more to make all the jams, jellies, etc. 

Shop local farms

This is my favorite place to stock up on produce for processing! In my area, most local farms are really small, like 5 acres or smaller. I go directly to the farms to pick up flats of strawberries or boxes of tomatoes.

Depending on where you are though, this can get expensive! I live in the Pacific Northwest in Western Washington and usually shop at farmers who use organic growing methods. 

The prices for bulk produce can be high. However, you are buying high quality produce that supports a local grower. 

But, we are also on a budget and try to plan purchases accordingly.

One way I offset these expenses is by working on farms! There are a few ways you might be able to arrange this.

Work for produce

First, if you have a relationship with your farmer, they may be willing to hire you for summer harvest work. Additionally, you may be able to volunteer in exchange for produce.

 I’ve been very fortunate to work on farms that pay me AND allow me to take home fresh produce. Especially with crops like berries, I can often take home imperfect fruits called “seconds.” 

Other times, I can buy the berries at a discounted rate. I also buy them at full price sometimes. 

This is all dependent on farms in your area and your relationship with specific farmers!

If you have a CSA program at your local farm, they may offer special rates for bulk projects. 

Some of the CSA programs in my area offer their members first dibs on berries for processing (we live in berry country, okay?). 

I believe those prices are sometimes discounted for members, too.

Check out this program to find a CSA near you!

Shop at your local farmers market

Especially if you live somewhere with smaller farms, you may need to visit a few for your canning needs! Shop from a few farmers to get enough for processing. 

At my old market, we have some farms that sell produce from Eastern Washington. I can get a case of apples or peaches or pears for $20-30. 

Sometimes the prices will be more than you’re willing to pay, but I still find great prices. Plus, this is the best place to get the freshest produce! There’s nothing better. 

Visit the National Farmers Market Directory

Find a farm stand

I’m thinking specifically about farm stands that bring in larger quantities of fresh produce to nearby areas. I have two local favorites here in Western Washington that I’m glad to share by name:

Colello’s brings in fresh berries from my region, which is usually cooler and wetter. They also bring in hot weather crops from Eastern Washington. 

They often sell cases of fresh apples, berries, cherries, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, green beans, etc. They’ve even started working with organic farms, so I can get cases of organic produce all summer. Love it!

And the Chimacum Corner Farmstand is my very favorite place! They have a lot of organic produce from nearby farms, like farms just a couple of miles away. We even called them to order salad greens and romaine in bulk for our wedding. They often send out a newsletter in the summer with their bulk buy offerings, so I can pre-order or know exactly what I need before I get there. 

Go gleaning

At the end of the season, some farms open up to groups who harvest leftover crops in the field. You collect produce for a food bank or other program, AND you get to take home a bunch of produce, too.

One time, I went gleaning for golden beets that were the size of a baby’s head! I was able to bring home two grocery bags worth of beets. 

That farm even gave me 10 lbs of fresh, local pork in exchange for my work harvesting. Best deal!

Interested? Find a gleaning program in your area!

Find a U-Pick Patch

Lots of places will sell produce in bulk for a really great price if you do the picking! Definitely don’t calculate in your labor cost for this one! Otherwise, you’ll feel like those berries are more expensive than normal. 

Plus, it’s nice to spend a day outside with family or friends.

U-pick patches are especially great if you’re a pretty quick picker and know how to judge ripeness well. 

New to harvesting? Ask the farmer for what’s underripe and overripe or give it a quick Google search. 

Find u-pick patches near you!

Call a neighbor/knock on a stranger’s door

Chances are, there are people near you with fruit trees. 

Mature fruit trees produce so much fruit that the average person can’t manage that much excess! Some people truly want all of their harvest though, so please ask first! 

If you notice a fruit tree always dropping fruit on the ground, the owner is probably not using the fruit. They may appreciate your help!

Forage

Again, I live in berry country. Here in Western Washington, we have wild berries growing everywhere! We have:

• both red and blue huckleberry,
• thimbleberries,
• wild raspberries,
• salmonberries,
• salal berries,
• native blackberries, 
• invasive Himalayan blackberries
• and more!

It’s a true bounty here!

Especially with the invasive blackberries, they grow in massive brambles all over the place. There are so many open spaces with berries. 

I usually harvest a couple of gallons of blackberries to freeze or make jam! They are totally free and a fun, but scratchy adventure.

If you want to know what you can harvest in your area, research local foraging guides and always double check what you’re picking before you eat it!

Try a local co-op

Depending on what you need, a local co-op grocery store may be a great resource! They often have relationships with local or regional growers and may be able to help you get a better deal than buying at the regular retail rate.

You may also be able to find a bulk buying co-op where people bring in cases of produce explicitly for canning and preserving. I have one in my area that I stumbled across on Facebook once.

They do all of their sales out of a Facebook Group and then you pick-up at one person’s house. Might be best to check social media to see if there is something like this in your area!

Shop from Azure Standard

We shop at Azure Standard every month or two and last year, I started testing out their cases of bulk produce. Holy smokes! I cannot believe the prices I paid for cases of cherries and pears, and the quality was superb.

I think we eventually ordered 3 cases of the transitional Bing cherries. My hands were stained for days from pitting them, but so worth it.

You can also get frozen produce from them, which you can use for processing, too. Their frozen cranberries are superb!

Read my full Azure Standard review here.

Check out restaurant supply stores

I love a good restaurant supply store! However,  they usually do not have local produce grown on small, sustainable farms. 

I definitely make exceptions for crops I can’t find that well in abundance locally. I also shop there if I need to make a recipe right away for some reason!

We have a restaurant supply chain near us called US Foods that offers bulk quantities of pretty much everything! 

However, their produce may not be as fresh or as flavorful as a farm down the road, Still, this can be an excellent resource!

Look for food liquidation companies

If you’re wondering where to buy bulk produce for canning, search for “discount grocery stores” in your area! These are not the same as Grocery Outlet. 

We have a place about half an hour away in Tacoma called Valley Liquidation. They offer extremely discounted prices on lots of food items, but especially fresh produce. 

I’ve seen entire cases of bananas for about $6 and flats of berries for about $10! The prices are wild. 

Naturally, the offerings and prices completely flux depending on the season and what they have on hand. Meanwhile, they could see the same product for twice as much two weeks later depending on other factors. 

They have a great Facebook page, though! I simply watch for their posts and head down when the products I want go on sale.

Search online for “discount grocery store” and your zip code or town name.

Buy bulk produce from Costco

Naturally, you can also find lots of great produce at Costco or even your neighborhood grocery store! Even our local Winco sometimes has great deals. This can be really convenient, but I tend not to use Costco produce for preserving except for storage crops, like onions and potatoes. The fresh produce doesn’t last as long as I’d like and costs much more than the other options. They work in a pinch though, and the frozen foods can be nice for jams and jellies.

Find a Wilco

Do you have a Wilco in your area? There are a couple near me now and at least once per year, they offer giant produce sales. In July, they usually have a one-day berry sale and special bulk produce case sales in early September. 

Check the details from your local Wilco for information on specific offerings. I get updates from them via email, which helps me know what’s going on!

This is a pretty long list, but I know it’s not exhaustive! Please share with us your favorite places to stock up on bulk produce so others can do the same! 

Related Posts

• How to Set Up a Homestead Kitchen
• Canning Supply List for Beginners
• Printable Canning Inventory Chart
• How to Mill Flour at Home