How Much Do You Get In a Bushel?

What to Know Before You Buy a Bushel

Close up woman holding fresh harvested apples bushel
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If you're visiting an orchard or a farmers' market and you see bushels of produce or fruit advertised, how much can you expect to get in a bushel?

What a Bushel Measures

In the United States, a bushel is equal to eight gallons of a dry product. It's a substantial unit of measure, but one you could probably carry for a short distance. You might picture a bushel as about the biggest load you could carry without needing assistance.

But if you're looking for precise equivalents, here's a look at the most common conversions:

  • 1 bushel is equal to 8 gallons
  • 1 bushel is equal to 32 quarts
  • 1 bushel is equal 35.2 liters
  • 1 bushel is equal to 64 pints
  • 1 bushel is equal to 4 pecks
  • 1 bushel is equal to 0.3048 barrels
  • 1 bushel is equal to 2150.42 cubic inches

The imperial bushel, used in the United Kingdom, is similar, but based on imperial gallons and imperial pecks, and can be used to measure dry or liquid products. It's eight imperial gallons, four imperial pecks or 36.37 liters. This makes it a little larger in U.S. gallons at 8.25.

Bushels as a Weight Measure

Because people can have varying ideas about how much a full bushel basket should hold, the government established standard bushel weights for each type of fruit, vegetable, nut and grain. A bushel of tomatoes, for example, is supposed to weigh 56 pounds, as is a bushel of shelled corn.

But if the corn is still in ears, a bushel is supposed to weigh a whopping 70 pounds. Leaves and greens take up more space with less weight, so a bushel of spinach need only be 20 pounds.

To view a list of the standard bushel weights, see Standard Weight Per Bushel for Agricultural Commodities. Grains are sold on commodity markets in units of bushels, which are standardized by weight according to these policies.

What Can You Make With a Bushel of Apples or Peaches?

In your daily life, you're most likely to encounter bushels as a measurement of bulky fruit, such as apples and peaches. If you refer to the federal weight standards, a bushel of apples should weigh 47 pounds. So, you definitely won't want to carry a bushel of apples very far! If you're going to be buying foods by the bushel, be sure you have a way to get your purchase home.

A bushel of apples typically holds about 125 medium apples. That's enough to make 15 (or more) quarts of applesauce or around 15 apple pies. If you eat one apple a day, a bushel will last you for three months. 

A bushel of peaches is defined as 50 pounds in Georgia. According to the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, a bushel yields around 20 quarts of canned peaches.

Be sure to take these quantities into consideration, when determining whether buying foods by the bushel makes sense for you and your family. You'll need to carve out time to process all of that food or be prepared to eat it before it goes bad.

Fruits and Vegetables that Keep for a Long Time

If you plan to stock up on fruits and veggies while they're in season, look for varieties that are known to have a long storage life.

Here are some to consider:

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