October is one of the better months to shop in Australia if you know where to look. Asparagus is the headline act — bunches selling for $2 at Melbourne's Happy Apple, $1.50–$2.50 at supermarkets — and the quality is there. Senior buyer Graham Gee describes it as simply bolting through the soil when conditions are right, which they are. That's the signal: buy now, buy a lot. Cabbage is having its year. Large drumhead cabbages are $1 at Skippy's Fresh Frootz in Queensland, $2 at Sydney's Panetta Mercato, $2.50 at Perth's Spudshed. Panetta Mercato's operational manager Michael Hsu describes them as denser and harder than savoy or sugarloaf varieties — which means they hold up better in cooking and last longer in the fridge. If a full head feels like a commitment, Alice Zaslavsky's one-pot cabbage 'rolls' use a quarter of a head, and her charred wedges with satay butter are the kind of move that makes a $1 purchase feel extravagant. Pineapple is the comeback story. After what Skippy's manager Elijah Etri calls a 'really rough' season, warmer weather has accelerated growth and supply is back. Topless pineapples are $1.99 at Skippy's versus $4.90–$5.90 at supermarkets — that gap is worth the trip. Hsu's tip for ripeness: look for yellow between the green grooves on the skin. Benjamina Ebuehi's roasted pineapple with coconut brittle is the sweet play; Meera Sodha's Thai-style fried rice served inside a hollowed pineapple half is the one worth the effort. Brassicas are in abundance. Broccoli runs $3–$5 a kilo at the Happy Apple and around $4.50 at supermarkets; whole cauliflower is $5 at Panetta Mercato and $3.50–$4 at supermarkets. Asian greens are the real value: at Panetta Mercato, $2 buys three bunches of baby bok choy, and gai lan is $4 for two bunches. Hsu's framing — 'any Asian vegetables are great for value' — holds across the board this month. Snow peas are still expensive at around $15 a kilo at standard retail, but Skippy's wholesale pricing brings a 1kg bag to $4, and Gee says prices will fall sharply as supply builds through the month. Two things to avoid. Watermelon is the clearest skip: Hsu calls it a 'no-go', Gee agrees on both quality and price, and the culprit is Cyclone Narelle, which hit central Queensland — a key growing region — at the start of the year. The damage to crops is still showing up in October supply. Avocados are in a similar position: Western Australia is the current producing region, but supply has run below previous seasons, pushing prices up sharply. Neither is worth it. Looking forward: stone fruit is coming at the end of the month, and Queensland mango season opens in the final weeks of October. Australian grape season has just started — expensive now at around $15 a kilo, but Gee says supply will build quickly. The variety to watch for is the globe grape, a sweet, crisp, seedless white variety. Beetroot is quietly solid at $4.99 a kilo across Happy Apple, Panetta Mercato, and Spudshed, and worth buying if you're cooking Matt and Lentil Purbrick's millet pilaf, which uses the whole beet — leaves, stems, and all. The practical buy list for October: asparagus, cabbage, baby bok choy, beetroot, broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, and snow peas if you can find wholesale pricing. Watch mangoes and Lebanese cucumbers as the month closes. Leave watermelon, avocado, limes, and mandarins on the shelf.
