No problem: I'm surrounded by thousands of acres managed by people who can grow food easier and cheaper than me. I can buy a pickup truck of #2 cull carrots for $20 in October. There are mountains of carrots, turnips, beets, parsnips, potatoes etc. left in the fields in the fall, not to mention tons of apples in the orchards. Of course I pay the farmer, but to him it's gravy: we both cut out the middle man for our mutual benefit. You would not believe how little of what you pay at the supermarket, winds up in the farmer's pocket.

Pick'em yourself, stock your root cellar, and you don't have to go to the store for vegetables until summer.