So I know some of you love your baby carrots, but I am here to tell you-there is another, more frugal way!
First of all, do you realize that baby carrots aren’t REALLY baby carrots? They are simply big carrots (that have been bred to be a bit sweeter and orange all the way through) which have been chopped into 3 pieces and then sent through a special machine to basically sand them down into those cute little nubs.
And for the privilege of the change is shape you pay extra! A recent price comparison (as in I made poor Yankee Bill stop at the store on the way home last night to check for me) “Baby Carrots” ran $1.89 per pound, while regular carrots were $1.29.
You can stop the baby carrot habit quickly and easily just by following these simple steps to make your own carrot sticks (or “stix” if you are cool).
1. Buy or grow some standard carrots.
2. Peel said carrots.
3. Cut the carrot carefully (they can roll) in half lengthwise. Then lay it, flat side down, on your cutting board & proceed to cut into sticks.
4. That’s it! Enjoy your carrot sticks!
Honestly people, this takes about 3 minutes from start to finish. I probably peel and cut carrots a couple of days a week for the kiddos. If you really want to think ahead, you could peel and cut a whole bunch then store them in a container for easy snacking throughout the week.
My kids love them in their lunches with a little container of dressing to dip them in.
There you go! You just saved $.60 cents a pound and all it took was a couple of minutes of work.
Our stores have sales on baby carrots sometimes so they are often $0.99/lb. However, when I use your method and buy regular sized carrots, they always get eaten quicker! Not sure what that is about, but I guess there is a renewed novelty in having carrot sticks.
I can get organic full sized carrots for $1/lb, which is cheaper than organic baby carrots, so I do what you do and just cut them down 🙂 My puppy also loves carrots for a snack and a whole carrot lasts a lot longer than the baby carrots (thicker so it takes longer for her to chew).
Oddly enough our baby carrots go on sale for .49 cents a pound, and almost always cheaper than the big ones?
Vikki-that just goes to show, frugal is whatever works in YOUR circumstances. If you can get baby carrots for $.49 a lb and skip the few minutes of work then way to go!
Oh and as a note-hubs did stop at the regular store to price them for me, not at Aldi’s. I’m sure their carrots cost less 🙂
Wegmans has 5 pounds of organic carrots for $3.99, always. They are the best carrots l have ever had, and keep well.
We rely on “carrot waste” as part of our pet feeding strategy. If I’m going to chop and peel a carrot, I’m going to save the skin and ends for the dog. She loves them and it’s healthy too! The same goes for most other veggies…. except we never give her the insides of red or green peppers. That stuff makes her puke 🙁
Carrot ends and peels, apple cores and peels, etc. make my dog salivate.
And the video doesn’t mention that some processing plants rinse the baby carrots in a bleach solution to help them retain their pretty orange color. No thanks!
If you store the carrot sticks in a container of water (my mother always used an empty yoghurt tub) they will stay crunchy longer. Same goes for celery.
Great tip Rachel!
I am with Heather! I just learned about the fact that they soak the baby carrots in a bleach solution so I stopped buying them. I also learned that most of the nutrition is in the skin – so you can even cut out that step and it takes less than three minutes!
Internet I love you! The fact that someone else thinks about this makes me happy. Here’s the Vancouver situation – 1 lb peeled (or baby) carrots is $3.99!!!! A 2lb bag of regular non-organic carrots is $2.49. I peel and cut a 2 lb bag 2x a week and fill a Tupperware container for healthy snacks (and great eyesight 🙂 this week I bought the peeled babies and to my surprise the 1lb bag fills 2 Tupperware containers making the price equal because of the waste involved in cutting the ends off and peeling them. I kind of enjoy my carrot peeling, pod cast listening time and the “waste” goes in the compost so I think I’ll keep it up. Also if you have kids you can cut the carrots in creative ways like long wide flat “paddles” instead of sticks and they won’t know what hit them! My Mom used to make us “Oreos” of two round carrots with peanut butter and we thought they were so cool lol