Making Money from Fruits and Vegetables

Most people eat meat but everybody eats vegetables and fruits either as a compliment or as an ingredient to food. Vegans and Vegetarians for example do not eat meat and fish. Fruits and vegetables have an advantage over meat products in that they are considered the healthier option when it comes to being a food source.

Meat Rules

In fact, nutritionists advise that a majority of the food we eat should in terms of volume be vegetables followed by fruits and then last would be meat. However people tend to eat a lot of meat that contains or gets converted into fat.

This is one of the reasons why there are obesity problems in many countries where meat especially those coming from animals is plentiful in supply. Contrary to popular opinion, obesity is not a new phenomenon. You could find old black and white videos of anti-obesity campaigns by the American government for example.

This is a major problem in many countries and despite the public information campaigns of governments and health advocates people tended to enjoy their meat more than they enjoy fruits and vegetables especially children.

In fact many of the fast food restaurants of today which are the dominant convenience food suppliers hardly ever had fruit and vegetable dishes in their menu. There are popular salad restaurants now but meat based restaurants still dominate.

Meat Alternative Foods

This should not dampen the initiative of would be restaurateurs who want to serve fruit and vegetable dishes and still want to compete with the fast food restaurants who dominate the market.

Although the common comment is that they tend to be more expensive than common fast food meals their patrons do not seem to mind. There are enough people who are so convinced that fast food meals are so unhealthy that they refuse to eat them.

These are the kind of clients these salad fast food restaurants attract. For example there are now plant based meat alternatives for people who want to eat vegetables but like the taste of meat. Companies like Beyond Meat have established following among these kinds of eaters.

Only time will tell if salad based restaurants and plant based meat alternatives will become popular enough to take on meat as a desired food. One thing is for sure though, there is a demand for plant based food even though they are piggybacking on the taste of meat.

The Dangers of Fruits and Vegetables

Salads are not always a healthier option. Unlike most foods which are cooked to remove its harmful elements and also to improve their taste salads are only washed with common water in the tap.

Sometimes they are washed with warm or even boiling water for a short period of time but this is about it. This poses a problem as not all potential harmful substances in fruits and vegetables can be killed even by a short exposure to boiling water.

There are stories of salad poisoning all the time. Business Insider for example has an article titled Walmart, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's are recalling thousands of pounds of salad. Here's why a food-poisoning expert says the dish is not worth the risk.

This is one of the greatest problems of serving or selling raw fruit and vegetables. There is always this high probability that they could be contaminated with harmful substances. The bad part is there is only a limited way you can clean them which is to rinse them in water which is only at best cosmetically effective.

Additional Cleaning Methods

While additional cleaning can be done with them using baking soda, salt, vinegar and other related organic cleansers this adds to the cost of selling especially if you add the labor costs associated. This is the reason these extra cleaning process is not done by many sellers and is left to the consumer.

Even though you as a seller cannot do these additional cleaning process you can at least inform your consumers about these cleaning processes and maybe you can earn their gratitude with could in extra sales for you.

They for example could maybe buy baking soda, vinegar or salt everytime they buy fruits and vegetables from you. This extra income from the increased purchase of your customers could add up to a big amount in terms of volume and over time.

What to do with Excess Inventory?

What would you do if you have extra fruits and vegetables and they would spoil soon if you do not sell or eat them? One thing you could do would be to preserve them by pickling them. You can do this even at home with almost all kinds of fruits and vegetables. You can even combine them. This could be a good home based business for you.

You can also make money selling dehydrated and powdered fruits and vegetables. Normally packed dehydrated foods last usually 2 years. Professionally packed dehydrated fruits usually lasts 5 years and vegetables 10 years.

You can use the fruits and vegetables you buy or grow yourself including parts from the spoiled or partially damaged ones and then dehydrate and powder them for profit.

When my mother would cook cabbages for example, she would discard the outer layers. When I asked her why she was doing it, she said that the outer layers of fruits are not very delicious and can be very hard to chew.

I also happened to chance upon vegetable vendors in wet markets removing the outer layers of cabbages before selling them. I can’t help but feel bad at all these wasted part of perfectly usable cabbages that can be turned to powder and sold for profit.

Is There Money From Fruits and Vegetables Turned Into Powder?

I was interested to see if there was a good money to be made from vegetables and fruits that have been turned to powder. I have chosen tomatoes. They are actually fruits but as part of a dish they are more akin to being used as a vegetable.

A rough check of powdered tomatoes being sold costs around $11.00. If you are going for the cheapest packaging option a mylar plastic bag cost only 0.10 cents. I do not think you will spend $11.00 in tomatoes and powdering labor cost. You stand to make decent if not good profit.

I have seen plenty of fruits and vegetables which are just discarded in farms, supermarkets and food stalls. The reason they are discarded is because they are not commercially viable to be sold on supermarket shelves and stalls.

Maybe they do not look right or a just a bit rotten or damaged to be sold and are just discarded. You can collect these and pickle, dehydrate and maybe even powder them and then sell them to make money.

Juices and Sweeteners

Perhaps one of the best uses of fruits and vegetables is as flavorings for juices. Fruits and vegetables can be in powder, liquid or in their original form but they can still be used as juices. There are even bitter tasting fruits that thanks to the addition of sugar have tasted good.

Cranberries for example are very popular as fruit juices. However, they taste bitter and without being processed and turned into something sweet, they can be very unmarketable as a juice or beverage.

This is the simplicity of most fruits and vegetables. Add enough sugar or sweet ingredients in them and their taste would improve tremendously. Even vegetables like bitter melon which is very bitter have been turned into juices with the addition of sweeteners.

Backyard Agricultural Producers and Businesspeople

How is this very relevant to businesspersons? Let me give you a real life experience. We have a cotton fruit tree in our backyard. We do not really enjoy eating its fruits although the tree bears a lot of fruit at certain months.

In fact, we even let the ripe fruits fall to the ground. We let them stay in the ground rather than eating them or making juices out of them. Their sour taste is so unappealing that even adding salt in them doesn’t really get rid of the sour taste.

We do not even buy them if ever they are available from fruit vendors. To be direct, we can’t be bothered to eat this fruit if we have to pay for it. Even eating it for free is a pain for our family. Our reaction to this fruit is a typical reaction of people who do not like to eat bitter or sour tasting fruits and vegetables.

Now, let us assume that you are an entrepreneurial person who happens to know about our cotton fruit tree. You also know that we just let if fall to the ground uneaten and left to rot. What can you do if you know this?

The best thing you can do is to buy the excess cotton fruits and turn them into sweetened products. You could turn fruits and vegetables to candy, pickles, sweet juices and so on. Just like our cotton fruits.

You can make good money from just one family with just one of their fruit trees. It just depends on the season. Now imagine finding out more families with a similar tree who grows an abundant number of fruits seasonally of even throughout the year.

This means that you do not need a farm to plant your own trees or vegetables. Instead, you can depend on a reliable source of families with trees, gardens and so on to provide you with their excess and cheap or even free agricultural produce.

This also beats buying from regular produce agricultural produce suppliers like farmers and fruit shops who would definitely sell their agricultural produce to you at a higher price as compared to the prices from families who make agricultural produce from their own backyard.

Agricultural Production Right in Your Own Property

Farming in your backyard unless you use noisy gardening equipment is very quiet and definitely not disturbing for your neighbors. Compare this to raising animals like pigs and chicken which could be noisy and smelly.

Farming also beats home based manufacturing businesses. For example, the sound of electric tools such as drills, electric saws and so on could irritate your neighbors. Farming in your backyard does not require noisy or dangerous tools. This is why farming is ideal for very dense areas.

There are people who even grow agricultural produce right inside their own homes. Modern planting methods now allow plants to be grown right inside people’s homes including their basements and roofs.

Vertical farming and hydroponics have also proven to be lucrative businesses for many people. Unused warehouses are converted to profitable vertical farms while hydroponics allow both vegetable growing and fish raising.

Conclusion

People need to consume more vegetables and fruits as compared to meat to continue being healthy. There are people who want to become more healthy by eating more vegetables and fruits.Businesses catering to these consumers are starting to get popular and profitable.

Business involved in plant based food must make full use of vegetables and fruits and not waste any part of them. Fruits and vegetables deemed non-commercial in terms of physical appearance still have monetary value when reused in ways that don’t prioritize their appearance.

Besides agricultural farms, a wise businessperson can get his plant and vegetable supply from small family backyards where they can be bought cheaper and fresher. This is especially true since modern farming has allowed families to grow plants both inside and outside their houses.

You might also like to read the article: Money from Banana Peels.