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Comment by consumer451 | Hacker News Reader

Question for those currently living in the USA. How much do you pay for Hass avocados?

At Lidl in Poland, 2x (perfectly ripe, in a box) Hass can be currently purchased for ~$2.50. This blew my mind when I first saw it, coming from Seattle a few years ago. I believe they are all grown in the EU, in Spain.

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In the California Bay Area, We don't have avocados in a box, nor perfectly ripe. They are usually in a pile and quite un-ripe (which helps reduce denting in the pile). Depending on size, quality, and organic status they range from about ~1 to ~2.50 each.

You can also buy a full flat of medium size avocados at a Costco Business center for $26 for 35 avocados. They are "stage 2" ripened, which means they will be usable in about 1-2 days on the counter. I buy one and then put them carefully in the fridge and take out about 3-4 at a time. This way I can have fresh ripe avocados for about a month.

"In the California Bay Area, We don't have avocados in a box, nor perfectly ripe. They are usually in a pile and quite un-ripe (which helps reduce denting in the pile). Depending on size, quality, and organic status they range from about ~1 to ~2.50 each."

Same in the Chicagoland area.

This joke I saw on Reddit about avocado ripeness says it all IMO:

avocado: not ripe

avocado: I'M RIPE NOW

avocado: OK you were in the bathroom so I rotted

I cannot relate to this. I buy a bag of unripe (hard) avocados every 3 days or so from Costco, and they take about 2 to 5 days to ripen on the countertop, and then I put them in the fridge and they are good for another 5 days.

This is my method too. I check them once a day and once they are just a little soft and most of the green is gone, I pop them in the fridge and they are ripe for about a week.

Driving through the Central Valley I’ve seen signs for 10 for $1. No idea if they are extra small, but typically it’s $1-$2.50 per

These are small. But delicious.

In the SF Bay Area, I pay anywhere from $1-$2 per avocado at most places. I've occasionally gotten them at Farmers markets here too, where they have a nice selection depending on desired ripeness/freshness, but its very seasonal.

I have started growing my own (Wurtz aka "Little Cado", a compact self-fertile variety) - in year 3 I have about a half dozen fruits growing!

There's a very wide range (depending on location, season, size, quality), but in NYC I expect to pay about $1 to $1.50 an avocado.

OK, that is much less expensive than I expected.

Oh, and I should have been more clear. These are "perfectly ripe, in a box" fancy style. Edited gp.

Price primarily varies based on size. Small avocados sell for $0.99 with regularity, while extra large ones may be $2.50 each.

That's what I was trying to compare. These are perfect large and ripe Hass in my original comment.

Might I ask, where do you see those prices?

Just at the local Safeway

NY is famous for cheap fruit at the street level. That's the advantage of being a port city. Go somewhere like small town Iowa if you are looking for high-priced avocados.

That's interesting. The price I gave above is from very much the EU equivalent of "small town Iowa." Distance to cities, farmers, and all.

> Seattle

4 for 5$ at costco, if I remember correctly.

I wasn't a Costco shopper. More of a QFC dude. But are those fancy "perfect" Hass?

If so, I wonder if I created a false memory based on the whole "skip avocado toast" meme, or something.

Yes, they are Hass. Usually bigger than the ones at Aldi or equivalent cheaper store. Obviously not Avozilla size or anywhere near it (unfortunately).

There have been on-and-shortages, due to complex supply chains and varying crops.

But the avocado toast was more about overpaying for well-preserved food in trendy cafes. In America, you're almost always paying way more for labor and overhead than for supplies.

Skipping avocado toast isn't about not buying avocados and bread and making a delicious snack for ~ $1 or $2. It's about not paying $12[1] to have once slice of bread and two or three slices of avocado at a restaurant.

[1] Prices have probably gone up, maybe avocado toast at a restaurant is $20 now?

same complaint my wife has, why pay 15/20$ for something I can do better at home for less than half?

Yeah, I understand the restaurant part. Still, we are all easily programmed meat machines, at least I am. I would not put it past my mind to have blurred those things together into a false memory of some sort.

Also, your username does indeed check out.

___

Complete tangent about cooking at home, and the glorious results of iteration on one's own:

I recently realized that my charcoal BBQ chicken was never ideal, and I'd really prefer to eat more chicken than beef or pork. The outside 5mm of my chicken might be perfect, but then the core was still tough. By the time it was all cooked through properly, the whole thing was dry as heck.

My "innovation:" I marinade de-boned leg meat for 24hrs in a jerk-type sauce and mixed herbs. I caramelize the outside of the chicken over hot coals, maybe 7 to 9 minutes per side. Then, I put each piece of chicken on a thick piece of aluminum foil, and put 1 to 2 tablespoons of water over it. Then I carefully fold 3 sides of the aluminum foil into a type of envelope, and put it back on the bbq for maybe even >20 mins. There should be no easy air leaks in the envelope. It blows up like a balloon when cooking.

The result is better chicken than I've had anywhere outside of an Ethiopian restaurant. It has caramelization, and also falls apart when you look at it.

I am truly addicted. It rained the other day, and I figured out how to make this in the oven on broil, and then in a dutch oven, with the oven appliance on low-med for 30 mins.

I used to eat out a lot, and chicken-wise it was mostly terrible compared to this. I wasted so many meals and so much money.

There's nary a cooking tip to be found on HN, but this felt too good not to share.

Avocados have long been sold in bags of quantity 5 at Costco, and prices have been at least $9 per bag in WA state, if not $10 and $11 for the past year or two.

Used to be $6 or $7 for 5 avocados around 2020. You can see in store prices in the Costco app now. Currently, the Kirkland, WA Costco says $9 for 5 avocados.

I stand corrected then, might have mixed them with the small ones from trader joes

$1-1.50 at the grocery in SoCal, ripeness may vary. If you go to the farmers market in the summer you can get much better cultivars around 3 for $5. Hass are ok, but Fuerte, Bacon and Reed are easily available and mich tastier.

https://imgur.com/a/Ay9a8Su

I paid $0.65 each last week at Aldi in NY.

About $.85 on the east coast. Not perfectly ripe and tend to loose 10-20% to damage.

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