Finding Fresh Produce Outback

I cant answer about roadhouse orders, but when I was living & working at Balgo the fresh fruit & vegies you could buy at the community shop were every bit as good if not better than your local Woolies. To help encourage the locals to buy & eat the product the prices were subsidised making them no dearer to purchase than if you were in a major center.
If you can preorder...so be it, but then the community misses out on your purchase.
I could not fathom out why a particular government dept would bring in a pallet of groceries for its workers with the same products you could buy from the store....on the same truck that suppiled the store???
If we dont support the small local shops wether they be in communities or along the side of the road they WILL disappear & be gone forever!
I appreciate you may have young ones or particular dietry requirements, but where your going is not really of the beaten track & with a little forethought you should be able to manage it fairly easily.
Just in finishing preordering 'small' amounts of product to be delivered would cost more, take a lot of organising, & if there is a shortage or mistake with the order it will surely cause a lot of stress.

Terra Mer

I am concurring with Tony's remark of supporting the local shops.

From my own experience, if you go to these shops you will get almost everything you need. Some shops even have items that are rarely seen in the big shops, mainly due to the fact that either they are local products or not from some overseas country.

If it is such a drama, why not stay at home and save yourself the stress.

DW

If you are anywhere where there is a shop you will be able to get fruit and veg. It sometimes helps to be there just after "The Truck" has arrived if you want something special but basics are generally available these days. I agree that the quality is usually better than Coles or Woolies stuff anywhere. It is handy to carry some canned, frozen or dried items in case you get stuck somewhere far from any shop. We always do this but rarely need to use them. We always shop as we go to support local businesses. I cannot imagine advance small orders being widely accepted - I would expect that preference would be given to regular local customers or those who have actually arrived in town and can be relied on to buy the goods. Anyway making such arrangements would drive you nuts and lock you into travel itineraries that may not actually suit you once you are on the road. Just relax and enjoy the trip. If you can't get every item you can get at home it just does not really matter. It is all part of travelling. Lynne

the situation will vary depening on where you are, and your idea of fresh.

Don't get my northern relatives started...they recon lots of what appears in the large supermarkets has been picked and packed not far away then shipped south only to then to be shipped north again to the supermarkets all this takes about a week.

In places there are road side stalls, or the local shops buy direct from the farmer...hell there may even be a few small time market gardners still surviving.

Buy from these guys when the produce is good because ya both cut out the middle man and you will pay less and the farmer will probaly make twice or three times as much as the "theveing agents and supermarkets" will pay him.

You see some unlikley things...there is a bloke on the highway between bowen & Tville ( if memory serves), that grows mangoes and sells em by the road.....he takes his fridge trailer to market full of mangoes and comes back with whever is good and cheap..so that goes on his stall, strawberies, stone fruit, cherries, who knows what.

Lots of these places you can pay for a sack, tray or crate, what you would pay for a hatfull in a city supermarket.

Ya might have to split a case or a sack among a group or some people you meet in the caravan park........when ya pay $10 for a 60Kg sack of patatos or $20 for a tray of mangoes, its worth figuring out a way of making it work.

Some towns, you might think the good fruit and veg does not exist, but there may be a produce agent or a providore in a nondiscript industrial shed away from the main drag that supplies the stations, mines, shipping or whatever.
the locals will know there they are.


But a lot of the time you may have to change your ideas of what you consider "fresh".

When you can get good fresh stuff....don't mis the oportunity.

cheers

Hi Terra,

I assume that you are either planning to spend a long time between roadhouses or shops, or you are planning to feed a fair few people? Otherwise I don't see any problem with obtaining fresh fruit and veges along the route that you propose. Most roadhouses and small communities will have something available though the quality and price may vary, so unless you are very fussy you will be fine.

Take advantage of markets in places like Broome, Kununurra and Darwin (to name just a few) and roadside stalls to buy locally grown and really fresh produce, that provided you can store it adequately will stay fresh for longer than shop bought fruit and veges (which generally isn't exactly garden fresh anyway).

Others on here may have some storage tips that don't just involve loading up the fridge. Wrapping many types of F & V in newspaper and packing in a cardboard box will keep produce moist rather than soggy and cool so it will last a long time. Practise at home before you set out on your trip. Just be aware of quarantine restrictions.

Another tip might be to make your own bean sprouts as you go along.

Otherwise for long hauls like across the Nullarbor, stock up in Ceduna and again in Norseman or Esperance and you will be fine. As others have said a few tins and/or dried F&V in reserve is a good idea.

Cheers,

Val.

Gidday

Just a word of warning: Don't buy too much in Ceduna if heading west . Strict quarantine rules apply to bringing fruit, vegetables etc into Western Australia. Basically you can't. There is a check point at Eucla and you can expect to be stopped and searched.

Cheers

Rocco

It is a very slow trip, a campaign walk around Australia in a meandering path of about 26,600 kilometres over 6 years including big breaks for wet seasons.

It is heartening to hear there is plenty of fresh F and V on the way.

I understand most on here are driving but you mob have the knowledge and experience and advice I value.

: )

Hi Terra'Mer,

What is your walk campaigning for?

Best wishes, hope you have a great time.

Leanne

Terra"Mer,
send me an email at gllin@aapt.net.au

cheers,
RA