Budget-Friendly Juicing

Juicing can be a wonderful way to get more nutrients, use fruits and vegetables, and 
encourage you to follow a healthier diet. Unfortunately, it can be costly when you realize 
how much produce is used for each glass of juice.

The following information will allow you to stick to any type of budget and still adopt a 
juicing lifestyle.

1. CSAs and Farmer’s Markets

If you want to start juicing for your health, the first thing to consider is your budget. 
Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of fresh produce in order to juice on a regular basis, 
but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to cut back on costs! 

The first thing you should consider is where you actually buy your produce. Some of the 
most popular options when buying large amounts and saving money in the process is to 
go through local farmers, such as farmer’s markets, CSAs, and co-ops. 

Here is some information about each of these options.

CSA

The first option, which is often more convenient for people, is a community supported 
agriculture (CSA) program. CSAs might work differently depending on where you live, 
but typically you get a box every week or month with your fresh produce. These are 
often from local farmers, offered at a substantial discount, and not produce you pick 
yourself. 

Many CSAs have different types of boxes, like choosing a small or large box, deciding 
how often to get a new box, and deciding between just fruits, just vegetables, or a 
mixture of both. 

Some of the CSAs will require you to pick it up at a local farm location, or have it 
dropped off at your door weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.

Co-Op

Your next option for getting affordable produce from your local farmers is with a co-op. 
This is similar to a CSA, except instead of having a box delivered to you on a routine 
basis with produce you didn’t choose, you go to a location that is more similar to a small 
supermarket.

You will need to become part of the co-op, which usually requires signing up and paying 
a small fee to be a member. Then you go to the local co-op location where you pick up 
produce as needed, which is usually provided by local farmers or other members of the 
co-op.

This is often much cheaper than if you were to buy all your produce for juicing at local 
supermarkets or even health food stores.

Farmer’s Market

You can also find a local farmer’s market, where you not only buy fresh produce, but 
often find herbs, spices, premade food and snacks, flowers, and a lot of other fun 
goodies. The trick here is to really pay attention to the prices of produce found at the 
farmer’s market, compared to what it might be priced elsewhere.

There is still a benefit of getting organic, local produce at farmer’s markets, but if 
sticking to a budget is your main goal, you still want to shop around and know what the 
good deals are.

2. Growing Your Own Produce

This is an optional step to take toward saving money on juicing, but one that can be 
incredibly useful. It is not recommended that you do it when you first start juicing, but if 
over time, you find yourself wanting to juice daily or multiple times a day, but are 
struggling with the cost of fresh produce, it is definitely something to look into.
There are of course a few things to consider with growing your own produce. For 
example:

Caring for the produce can sometimes be time and labor-intensive.

You need to live in a climate allowing you to grow the produce.

You might not have it year-round, depending on your climate.

You must have good soil.

Produce You Only Have to Grow Once

Since you are looking to save money while juicing, it can help to simplify the growing 
process even more by looking at what you can grow more than once. With these 
vegetables and fruits, you can ctually use part of the harvested vegetable to keep re-
growing it, while others (like tomatoes) just keep growing. 
They include:

Celery 
Carrots 
Avocado 
Potatoes 
Tomatoes 
Mushrooms 
Cilantro

With the tomatoes, they will keep growing on the vine until you remove it, where 
avocados can grow from the pit of a previous avocado. Carrots re-grow by using the 
carrot tops.

3. Organic Vs. Non-Organic

Let’s talk about the difference between organic and non-organic fruits and vegetables. 
As you know, organic produce can be considerably higher in price, which is of course 
going to make a big dent in your budget. If you are just starting out, you can choose all 
non-organic produce if you prefer. However, there may come a certain point when you 
really want to switch to a more organic approach.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all produce really needs to be organic, where it is 
grown without using a lot of pesticides and other chemicals. However, there are 12 
common fruits and vegetables on a list called the dirty dozen, which typically use more 
chemicals than other types of produce.

If you are going to buy organic, start with just those on the dirty dozen list. These 
include:

Strawberries 
Apples 
Nectarines 
Celery 
Peaches 
Cherries 
Potatoes 
Blueberries 
Sweet bell peppers 
Grapes (imported) 
Lettuce 
Greens like spinach, collard, and kale

The Clean 15

What about fruits and vegetables that you don’t usually need to buy organic? The good 
news is there are even more varieties on this list! It is known as the clean 15, and 
includes some popular produce you can buy non-organic in order to save some money.

Onions 
Avocados 
Asparagus 
Kiwi 
Cabbage 
Eggplant 
Sweet corn 
Pineapples 
Mango 
Sweet peas 
Sweet onions 
Sweet potatoes 
Grapefruit 
Watermelon 
Cantaloupe

Keep in mind that if you are purchasing your produce locally or at CSAs and farmer’s 
markets, most of it is going to be organic anyway. This is great news because then you 
don’t need to worry about these different lists, and struggling between choosing organic 
or non-organic. However, if you buy your produce from a regular supermarket or health 
food store, this can be very useful information.

4. Choosing Your Produce Wisely

This last section is going to go over what type of produce to choose for juicing, 
especially when you are first starting out. These tips not only help you simplify the 
juicing process, but also help you to curb costs so you aren’t using your entire food 
budget just on produce for your juice.

Go for High Water Content

The reason juicing can sometimes be expensive is because it uses a lot of produce in 
order to create enough juice to fill a glass. If you are juicing for multiple family members 
or more than once a day, the costs add up very quickly.

One of the best things you can do is focus more on the fruits and vegetables with a high 
water content. You will get more liquid, water, and juice from these fruits and 
vegetables, which allow them to go further, requiring less of the other ingredients you 
decide to add. 

You probably already know some of the fruits and vegetables that have a high water 
content based on using them for your meals. Some of the more obvious ones include 
celery, cucumber, some lettuces, and fruits like tomatoes. Also think of other options 
that have a lot of juice or water content, such as:

Apples 
Watermelon 
Honeydew melon 
Cantaloupe 
Oranges 
Carrots 
Cabbage

Select Cheaper Produce

After you have chosen the best places to get your fruits and vegetables (and herbs) for 
juicing, you will then want to cut back on costs even more. Sometimes you can’t find 
what you need in a CSA box or a farmer’s market, and then need to visit your local 
grocery store. It helps to know what produce is going to cost a little less, but still go a 
long way to having delicious, healthy juice every day.

Some of the cheapest types of produce include your lemons, limes, celery, apples, and 
cucumbers. Other fruits that are often more affordable include watermelon, pears, 
papaya, nectarines, kiwi, honeydew, grapefruit, bananas, apricots, avocados 
(depending on where you live), and tangerines.

For more affordable vegetables, turn to carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, broccoli, 
parsley, and some greens.

Start with Minimal Juicing Recipes

Finally, when you start juicing, don’t try to use 10 different types of fruits and vegetables 
in a single glass of juice. Your costs will be outrageous, and the recipes will most likely 
keep you from wanting to juice every day. It can be fun in the beginning, then you 
realize how much work is involved, and quit pretty fast.

To save more money and make juicing a simple, healthy activity to participate in daily, 
look for more simplified recipes. Try to stick to just a handful of produce with each 
juicing recipe, making sure to include those greens since they increase the health of 
your juice, and won’t cost much either.

Simple Recipes with 5 Ingredients or Less

Here are a few juicing recipes you can start out with, that use affordable produce and 
only minimal varieties.

Simple green juice – For a basic green juice, start with greens of your choice, like kale 
or spinach. Add in some pineapple (without the skin), a green apple, and ½ to a full 
cucumber. Simple and delicious! 

Berry juice – If you prefer more of a fruity, berry flavor, you can do mostly berries, but 
should still add a vegetable with a neutral flavor, like celery. Add in however many 
berries you want for juicing, a couple apples, some celery, and a peeled lemon or 
orange. 

Tropical green juice – To make it more tropical, just pick 2-3 tropical fruits and 
combine it with spinach and kale, or a mixture of both. Try some cantaloupe, papaya, 
and mango, adding in an apple for extra sweetness and to cover up the greens flavor.
