Should you be ordering prepared fruit and veg?

Buying wholesale fruit and veg requires planning - not just with quantities but also determining the time and labour you need to prepare the fruit & veg for your meals.

Whether you're chopping onions, slicing cucumbers or dicing pumpkins, this step takes time - which also costs you money. With labour shortages and the costs associated with preparing produce in-house, now is the time to reconsider buying prepared fruit and vegetables from your wholesale fruit & veg supplier.

To help you make the decision here are some the key pros and cons for buying processed wholesale fruit and veg:

Pros

• You don't have to worry about preparing your fruit and veg, nor do you have to budget for this additional time with your kitchen hands
• Prepared produce is consistent. The machines that cut your fresh produce are standardised - so you can be assured if you order 20mm diced pumpkin, that you'll get 20mm diced pumpkin pieces
• Prepared veg is much easier to store, particular if you have a small fridge. For example prepared cauliflower florets are a lot easier to store in your fridge compared to a box of cauliflower!
• You'll be able to reduce your wastage. Things always go wrong in the kitchen, including accidentally slicing instead of dicing, why not minimise this by ensuring you buy prepared vegetables
• Reduce landfill! Unless you compost your fruit & veg waste, it's likely that your fruit & veg scraps are going straight into landfill. Most wholesale fruit & veg suppliers in both Sydney and Melbourne have ways to sustainably dispose of their scraps - whether it be composting or delivering it to farmers to feed live stock.

Cons

• Whilst pre-prepared fruit and vegetables have a relatively good shelf life and are great for high turnover ingredients, depending on the item it is likely that this shelf life will be less than buying whole veg. Most already prepped fruit and veg have a shelf life of 3-5 days, however peeled potatoes can last up to 10 days
• Buying prepared fruit and vegetables is more expensive from a wholesale ordering perspective. It's only beneficial if you're going to save significantly on time and labour in your kitchen
• You need to know exactly what you're using the prepared fresh fruit and veg for. If you're not buying this product for a specific dish, you could find this produce going to waste if it doesn't fit your dish.

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Sign up or login today and check out some of our suppliers that specialise in prepared wholesale fruit and vegetables across Sydney and Melbourne:

Sydney fruit & veg wholesalers:

• MD Provodores (now In2Food)
• Sydney Direct Fresh

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Melbourne fruit & veg wholesalers:

• Chef's Pantry
• Biviano Direct