Want to save money? These are the best value fruit and vegetables to buy this autumn

Eating seasonally has always been about flavour, but with fuel costs on the rise, it’s also one of the simplest ways to keep your grocery bills in check. “If you want to save money, be flexible and stick to what’s in season,” says Eden Fanelli, a fourth-generation farmer from Fanelli Organics, who also runs a stall at Carriageworks Farmers Market in Sydney.

The impact of higher diesel prices is falling hardest on supermarkets, which rely on bulk produce, often shipped long distances from inland or interstate growers.

By contrast, locally grown fruit and vegetables sold at farmers’ markets travel shorter distances and can offer better value. “The produce may not look as pretty, but it will be some of the freshest and best-tasting fruit and veg you’ll ever eat,” Fanelli says.

Here are the best buys this season, for both flavour and affordability

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are at their peak and ready to be turned into soup, with the hardy, tan-hued butternut offering some of the best value right now, says Fanelli. Kent and butternut are sitting around $2 a kilo, with more interesting varieties such as honeynut, delicata and kabocha available at specialty grocers.

Pumpkins are an easy base for weeknight cooking – think curries or risottos.

Kim Driver, owner of Southside Fruit & Veg at Prahran Market in Victoria, recommends buying whole. “Don’t go for the prepped stuff, which is more expensive. Buy it whole, and split it with a neighbour or family member, whether it’s a whole pumpkin, cabbage or watermelon.”

Apples and pears

Good news for lunchboxes: autumn is prime time for pome fruit, which includes apples, pears, nashi and quince. Pear availability is moving from josephines to beurre bosc, corella and packhams, while in apples, royal gala is the pick of the crop.

“If you see pink ladies, they’re likely last year’s stock,” says Julian Parisi, managing director of Sydney-based produce wholesaler, Parisi. “Whether a piece of fruit is from this year or last can be difficult to tell just by looking at it. You have to know the seasons.”

Grapes

If you’re after a sweet snack, skip the blueberries and buy a bunch of grapes instead. “Right now, autumn crisp is my pick for green grapes, and crimson seedless for red,” says Parisi, with at least another six weeks of Australian fruit ahead.

Black sapphire – long, purple and sweet – are currently around $8 a kilo and worth seeking out, says Driver. “To tell if they’re good, just taste one,” he says. “Fruiterers don’t mind. You can also judge by fragrance – if it smells good, then it’s going to taste good.”

Citrus

Lemons have been eye-wateringly expensive of late, but prices are expected to come down over the coming weeks, with a dramatic fall by mid-June.

Early fruit may be firm or pale, but they’re good to eat, assures Fanelli. “They might look a little green, but let them soften and they’ll be nice and juicy and will still have that bright lemon flavour.”

Don’t be tricked into buying fruit that’s wrinkled. “Anything that’s really yellow right now is old stock, and it’s likely to be dry on the inside.”

Australian imperial mandarins are just arriving and the Japanese citrus yuzu is expected to be more widely available this year. “There are a couple of very big growers that planted around five years ago and we’re only just now starting to see that fruit come in now,” Parisi says.

Figs

Black genoa figs are surprisingly affordable, with punnets of six or seven coming in at around $6. Fig farmer Peter Broomhall from Fig-Tastic Fruit Farm in Amiens, Queensland, says every fig-producing region in Australia is overlapping right now, resulting in lots of high-quality fruit – but it won’t last.

“By the end of this month, production will start to drop off.” Keep an eye out for trays of split figs at farmers’ markets, often sold at a discount.

Radicchio

Leafy greens such as rocket, baby spinach and kale are available year-round, but they come into their own in the cooler months. According to Driver, radicchio is the pick of the salad patch. “This year, a lot more people are growing it, so it’s more available and more affordable.”

Varieties include the slender Treviso, which is hardier and best grilled, roasted or charred to soften its bitterness; the white speckled castelfranco, which is mild, tender and well-suited to salads; and the crimson radicchio di chioggia, which sits somewhere between the two. English spinach and other leafy greens are ideal for dishes like Adam Liaw’s spanakopita.