SeasonSort Week of Sep 4 · updated Fri

Apples

Peak season in the Midwest · up 7% this week

$1.45 /lb

This week

↑7%

Vs last week

Calories/serv

0 g

Protein/serv

Seasonality of apples

This fruit is at its local-harvest peak from September through November, and is sold in stores year-round. This week it's peak season in the Midwest — buying it in season usually means better quality and, as the regional prices below show, a lower price.

Nutrition · per 150g serving

Calories

0.5 g

Protein

20.4 g

Carbs

0.3 g

Fat

3.6 g

Fiber

Per a typical 150g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Apples, raw, golden delicious, with skin).

Cheapest apples this week, by region

Buying apples in the Midwest saves about 41% versus the Southcentral this week.

Buying apples

How to pick a good one: Firm with taut, unbruised skin. Press gently near the top: soft flesh under the skin means it is going mealy. Colour depends entirely on the variety, so it tells you little; weight and firmness tell you a lot.
What a good price looks like: Bagged apples are $1 to $2 a pound and loose ones $1.50 to $3, so the bag is usually the better buy if the variety suits. Under $1.50 a pound is a good price. Apples are cheapest from September through November and are stored in controlled atmospheres year-round, so quality holds up better out of season than for most fruit.
What you actually get: A pound is about three medium apples and gives roughly 3 cups sliced. Coring and peeling costs around 25% of the weight; leaving the peel on keeps most of the fibre and is fine in almost any baked dish. A 3 lb bag makes one large pie with a little left over.

Storing and cooking apples

How to store it: Refrigerate in a bag in the crisper, where good apples last a month or more. Apples give off a lot of ethylene, so store them away from anything you do not want to ripen faster.
In the kitchen: Variety decides everything and the label is doing you a favour: Granny Smith and Braeburn hold their shape when baked, Gala and Fuji collapse into sauce, Honeycrisp is for eating raw and wasted in a pie. To stop cut apple browning, a brief soak in lightly salted water works better than lemon juice and leaves no flavour behind.
Getting the most out of it: Match the variety to the job — tart, firm apples hold their shape when baked, while softer sweet ones collapse into sauce. Apples are one of the few fruits where buying the large bag genuinely pays off, because they keep long enough to eat through it.

Cook with Apples · cheapest dishes first

See all 485 recipes with apples →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.

Price from the USDA National Retail Report. Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.

Apples — FAQ

When can you buy apples in season?

This fruit is at its local-harvest peak from September through November, and is sold in stores year-round. This week the Midwest has apples marked peak season.

What's the price of apples right now?

As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of apples in the Midwest is $1.45/lb, up 7% from last week.

How many calories and how much protein are in apples?

A typical 150g serving of apples has about 86 calories, 0.5g protein, 20.4g carbohydrates, 0.3g fat, and 3.6g fiber, per USDA FoodData Central.

What can I make with apples?

SeasonSort indexes 485 recipes that use apples, each with its cost per serving computed from this week's prices — starting from about $0.08 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.