Community / Bulk Fruit and Vegetables Purchasing Guide:
You have established a community bulk buying group and you know the types of fruit and vegetables the group wants to purchase but how much do i purchase? This guide will help you work this out, it's simple!
The guide also includes a list of fruit and vegetables that are currently in seasons
1. DETERMINE SERVINGS PER PERSON
Daily serving size - 5 Vegetable & 2 Fruit
5 Vegetable & 2 Fruit per day per person - is the Australian dietary guideline
If we follow the Australian dietary guidelines developed by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), we should each be eating a minimum of 5 Vegetable and 2 fruit standard servings each day. This means each one of us should be eating 2.63kg of vegetables and 2.1kg of fruit each week.
Although it would be prudent to follow the NHMRC guideline, not everyone does so adjust the fruit and vegetable ratio to suit your buying group. See the NHMRC detailed age and gender specific fruit and vegetable guidelines below Table 1.
What is a Standard Serving?
Standard Serving of Fruit = 150 g (0.150kg). This equates to:
1/2 of a mango
1 medium Apple, Pear, Banana, Peach, Orange, Avocado
2 small Apricots, Plums, Kiwi Fruit
Standard Serving of Vegetables = 75 g (0.075kg). This equates to:
½ cup of cooked green or orange vegetables (e.g. Broccoli, Spinach, Carrots or Pumpkin)
½ cup of cooked Cauliflower or Cabbage
½ cup of legumes cooked ( Beans, Peas or lentils)
½ cup of Sweet Corn
1 cup of green leafy or raw salad vegetables
½ medium potato or other starchy vegetable ( sweet potato, taro, Cassava)
1 medium tomato
2. DO THE MATHS
It's a simple formula
How did we calculate 2.63kg of vegetables per week per person ?
No. of Veg X standard serving (kg) X days X No. of people
5 X 0.075 X 7 X 1 = 2.63kg
How did we calculate 2.1 kg of Fruit per week per person ?
No. of fruit X standard serving (kg) X days X No. of people
2 X 0.150 X 7 X 1 = 2.1kg
Example group purchase
Group Profile: 5 families of 4 people (20 people)
Purchase interval: 7 days
Calculate total Fruit and Vegetables to be purchased for the Group (purchase target in kg)
Vegetable 5 X 0.075 X 7 X 20 = 53 kg purchase target
Fruit 2 X 0.150 X 7 X 20 = 42 kg purchase target
Use the purchase target you have calculated to guide your Fruit and Vegetable order. Ensure your total purchase for the group in kgs is equal to or close to the purchase kg target. This will guarantee you have correctly ordered the right amount of Fruit and Vegetable for each member of the group based on daily serving size which in this case is 5 Vegetables and 2 Fruit per day.
Vegetable order:
Box Organic Tomato Cherry 5kg
Box Organic Zucchini 8kg
Box Organic Mushroom 2kg
Box Organic Lettuce Cos 10 per 6kg
Box Organic Broccoli 8kg
Box Organic Potato Desire 20kg
Box Organic Avocado* 25 5kg
Total purchased 54 kg
Purchase target 53 kg
Fruit order:
Box Organic Orange Valencia 15kg
Box Organic Cherry 5kg
Box Organic Apple G.smith 12kg
Box Organic Peach White 5kg
Box Organic Apricot 5kg
Total purchased 42 kg
Purchase target 42 kg
Notes:
Ensure your total purchase for the group in kgs is close to purchase kg target.
*Avocados are a fruit but most people use them as a vegetable
Use the Fruit & Veg weight guide to calculate purchase target in kgs for items not sold by weight.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia daily dietary guidelines for Fruit and Vegetables:
Table 1. NHMRC Is the nation’s leading government expert body in health and medical research.
