HELP..in a bind
 

I have about 19 million cherry tomatoes and no quart/pint baskets to sell them in. Market is tomorrow, any ideas?

Chinese food containers? Run to one of the restaurants and see if they'll sell you a case or so..

You need one basket for each size, and use it to measure the cherries.

Get small paper bags at the grocery store (lunch bags) and load the cherries into the bags once the customer buys them. I do this, and I even let the customer choose the tomatoes they put into the basket for measuring purpose only. That way I only need a couple of baskets.

[QUOTE=Salsacharley;490164]You need one basket for each size, and use it to measure the cherries.

Get small paper bags at the grocery store (lunch bags) and load the cherries into the bags once the customer buys them. I do this, and I even let the customer choose the tomatoes they put into the basket for measuring purpose only. That way I only need a couple of baskets.[/QUOTE]

That's a good idea..

[QUOTE=Salsacharley;490164]You need one basket for each size, and use it to measure the cherries.

Get small paper bags at the grocery store (lunch bags) and load the cherries into the bags once the customer buys them. I do this, and I even let the customer choose the tomatoes they put into the basket for measuring purpose only. That way I only need a couple of baskets.[/QUOTE]

That what they do here. You can get like 3 to 5 baskets at the dollar store from around the stationary supply section and only put out so many at a time.

Baskets cost money, so folks put everything in lunch bags. That way it helps protect the produce too, being in a dark paper bag if it's hot out and they walking all around.

[QUOTE=Salsacharley;490164]You need one basket for each size, and use it to measure the cherries.

Get small paper bags at the grocery store (lunch bags) and load the cherries into the bags once the customer buys them. I do this, and I even let the customer choose the tomatoes they put into the basket for measuring purpose only. That way I only need a couple of baskets.[/QUOTE]

My thoughts exactly. Nailed it.

Do you do any home canning? I haven't tried it, but I think wide-mouth pint jars would make an attractive display of cherry tomatoes. I'd buy two or three dozen jars, and then of course dump each jar into a plastic or paper sack as the customers buy them. The jars last nearly forever and have a million uses.

I do the same thing with the baskets. I buy brown paper lunchbags. But instead of buying baskets I use the blue containers that mushrooms come in to display the smaller tomatoes like salads and cherries. Then I empty the customers selections in the lunch bags for each sale. The big brown grocery bag in the background contains my extra bags and also more tomatoes to sell when the display gets sold. As you can see though, the bigger tomatoes are almost sold out. I usually sell out by 10 am. In this picture I only have 2 big tomatoes left, 1 cucumber, and 1 yellow squash.

A pelican can hold exactly one quart of tomatoes in its beak.
So go get a pelican and some paper lunch bags and you will be set.
The kids will go nuts watching the pet pelican measure out the tomatoes.:twisted:
You can sell goldfish on the side so folks can let the kids feed it.
Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;490304]A pelican can hold exactly one quart of tomatoes in its beak.
So go get a pelican and some paper lunch bags and you will be set.
The kids will go nuts watching the pet pelican measure out the tomatoes.:twisted:
You can sell goldfish on the side so folks can let the kids feed it.
Worth[/QUOTE]

Lmao, stick a fork in'em - he's done :))

[QUOTE=Worth1;490304]A pelican can hold exactly one quart of tomatoes in its beak.
So go get a pelican and some paper lunch bags and you will be set.
The kids will go nuts watching the pet pelican measure out the tomatoes.:twisted:
You can sell goldfish on the side so folks can let the kids feed it.
Worth[/QUOTE]

Wow literally laughed out loud, turns out my great uncle had some and he sold me some for 5 cents a piece. I have them packed and ready to go. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. How much do you folks charge per pint just outta curiosity? I was thinking 3$ per but I know 2$ is probably more in line with the average, they look so darn pretty though :yes:

I sell pints for $5. I have over 50 varieties of cherries (not too many of any), and I let the customer fill the pint basket. They love it. I wouldn't stay in business at less than $4 per pint and I am not getting rich at $5 per pint. I usually sell out, too.

Lee Goodwin of J & L Gardens sells in Santa Fe and he charges primo prices and sells out in 2 or 3 hours. Of course his stuff is amazing, and I sell about 30 of his varieties.

Holy cow, I only get $3 per pint at the most. At my last market, I dropped it to $2.50, and I have so many tomatoes to get rid of tomorrow morning, I am considering dropping the price to $2 per pint. That may not happen until the last two hours of market.

Well I only have 10 varieties and I mixed them myself. Here is the last box packed. I sure would like to get 5$ per but in my location idk if that's feasible. Will start out at 4$ I think and see how folks react.

Cole, my suggestion is to sell for $3 each or 2/$5.00. People will buy more and you have 18 million to sell.

Edit. Never mind my comment. I got confused about who was the OP.