Farmers Market vs Grocery store

[vegggeeemom]

Is Farmers Market fruit and veggies considerably cheaper than the stores prices?

[sachis2112]

Not always. I find that things like fruits are often cheaper but it also depends on what grocery stores are around you. I'm lucky enough to have several Whole Foods and Trader Joes within driving distance. They will often have sales that beat out the farmers market.

[Revvell]

I agree w/ Sachis ~ especially about TJ's. They can beat out many folk for price. Thing for me is, I'm not always interested in cheaper, I'm interested in quality. Much of the food at TJ's and WF's has been trucked in and refrigerated whereas most of the produce at farmers' markets have been picked the day before and even in some cases, that morning, guaranteeing freshness and vitality. Refrigeration tends to suck the nutrients out of the produce.

R.

[NoGMO!]

the drag about our farmers market (dallas) is that it's 100% Conventional... ZERO ORGANIC! dang! I will have to send them a pleading email ;)

[rawpriestess]

we have two grocery stores and one open market all within 1 mile of each other, so I've really watched the prices.

One time, I was at the open market, when the guy was delivering the produce, I asked him where he got it, when was it picked, etc. he told me that morning in Yakima, which is two hours away, it was about noon, at the time, I asked him where he was delivering the rest of his produce, and he said oh just one mile away at the Safeway and the QFC. I said, it's all the same produce? He said yep, no difference at all, except the price.

So, maybe it is different in our little town, but I now buy it where ever it is the least expensive, since I know it is coming from the same place.

[NoGMO!]

the drag about our farmers market (dallas) is that it's 100% Conventional... ZERO ORGANIC! dang! I will have to send them a pleading email ;)


sorry.. :D the original question....
...and so- I haven't tried them yet to find out their prices. :(

[Revvell]

Many of the markets here have LOTS of organic farmers ~ some, just a few. Even so, I'd rather have fresh conventional than depleted organics. Hard to always tell the difference though. :(

R.

[NoGMO!]

Many of the markets here have LOTS of organic farmers ~ some, just a few. Even so, I'd rather have fresh conventional than depleted organics. Hard to always tell the difference though. :(

R.

cool - I've often wondered which would be the better choice.

[Jackie1995]

By me, "farmer's markets" are a misnomer.

They are usually run by people who are not farmers, and wouldn't know a farmer if he stuck them with a pitchfork.

The various fruits and veggies are imported from south of the border, and just as stale as the stuff in the supermarket.

There are probably some farmers left in my area, but I suspect they sell wholesale only to the many restaurants here. Not to folks like me, for sure.


I even contacted a group a few miles down the road, a "pay in advance" concept, to pay up front for veggies and fruits to be portioned out to me each week during growing season, but they did not respond to my email questions about what chemicals they used.

I wasn't trying to be a trouble maker, just wanted to know in advance so I can get an appropriate cleaner to wash that stuff off. I never expected them to be "organic".

Land here is just too expensive to grow crops on. Gotta keep building those expensive homes with zero lot lines for all the folks who think Florida is just like in the postcards from the 50's. (NOT)

So, that leaves me with:

- spinach which is WAY more than 4 days old and already less than half the vitality it would have if I had been lucky enough to pick it fresh
- fruits that don't taste as good as they could if they weren't picked green and ripened on the way over to my market by refrigerator car
- kale that looks wilted and dry
- figs that are so expensive, it's hard to say Yes and buy them
- melons that are tasteless

well, the list goes on, and I'm being so depressing I'm going to stop now. And go get a sub-par green drink to maybe bring my alkalinity back in line, and give me a little boost.

*sigh*

What it could be, vs what it is...so, so depressing.

[cornvalley]

Finding high quality food sources at the best price is certainly a challenge we all face to varying degrees dependant on where we live. I live near a farm that you can go and pick your own from the feilds. Non organic but considering the freshness (and taste of fresh), worth the trade off. I also have my own fruit trees (4 fig, 6 citrus, 2 apple, peach, nectarine, cherry, persimmon) here that provide substantial amounts of food. Southern California climate is pretty nice for growing your own. I guess individual situations vary so much it is difficult to say what is the best preference for all. I think for many a co-op would be an easy solution for bargain prices.

[shakti17]

By me, "farmer's markets" are a misnomer.

They are usually run by people who are not farmers, and wouldn't know a farmer if he stuck them with a pitchfork.

The various fruits and veggies are imported from south of the border, and just as stale as the stuff in the supermarket.

There are probably some farmers left in my area, but I suspect they sell wholesale only to the many restaurants here. Not to folks like me, for sure.


I even contacted a group a few miles down the road, a "pay in advance" concept, to pay up front for veggies and fruits to be portioned out to me each week during growing season, but they did not respond to my email questions about what chemicals they used.

I wasn't trying to be a trouble maker, just wanted to know in advance so I can get an appropriate cleaner to wash that stuff off. I never expected them to be "organic".

Land here is just too expensive to grow crops on. Gotta keep building those expensive homes with zero lot lines for all the folks who think Florida is just like in the postcards from the 50's. (NOT)

So, that leaves me with:

- spinach which is WAY more than 4 days old and already less than half the vitality it would have if I had been lucky enough to pick it fresh
- fruits that don't taste as good as they could if they weren't picked green and ripened on the way over to my market by refrigerator car
- kale that looks wilted and dry
- figs that are so expensive, it's hard to say Yes and buy them
- melons that are tasteless

well, the list goes on, and I'm being so depressing I'm going to stop now. And go get a sub-par green drink to maybe bring my alkalinity back in line, and give me a little boost.

*sigh*

What it could be, vs what it is...so, so depressing.



jackie,

why don't you refer to those posts about the earth boxes from a few days ago? then you could grow your own! you definately have the climate to grow anything in FL!

good luck,
shakti

[Sicilian Girl]

Jackie,
I don't know where you live exactly but here's a resource for local CSA (communitity supported agriculture) farms. You pay a monthly fee and get really good stuff, usually. I looked up Florida and there's not a whole lot, but sometimes the CSA will have multiple "drop" locations that you can get your box from.

I joined a CSA a couple months ago and it's a godsend. Although I am lucky living in Southern California, I feel like I am helping to support local organic agriculture.

Best of luck...

[NoGMO!]

hey Jackie1995,
I think it's great that you emailed your local co-op!
too bad they did not respond to your questions- :mad: shame on them!!!

still, I think it's a great thing to keep emailing/contacting the suppliers of our produce - who ever they may be - with any concerns we may have... as we all know - if the customers demand a certain product --- organic, fresher, etc... - well, they will want to supply it and usually do, eventually, if they want to help their business- and I don't think you or anyone is being a trouble maker by doing this. I think it is a great service, to any given business, to give them, in a sense, a FREE market survey- It really helps both parties! It is a benefit to the consumer's health- the ecology of the planet to ask for less whatever- gmo's, pesticides, ddt, radiation, etc...


vegggeeemom,
oops! sorry if this turned into a threadjacking :p
ANYWAY- I am going to see if the Farmer's Market is cheaper than my grocer... jeeze, I wish I had a garden! :rolleyes:

[vegggeeemom]

vegggeeemom,
oops! sorry if this turned into a threadjacking :p
ANYWAY- I am going to see if the Farmer's Market is cheaper than my grocer... jeeze, I wish I had a garden! :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

No problem! I am getting my questions answered! :)

[vegggeeemom]

Jackie,
I don't know where you live exactly but here's a resource for local CSA (communitity supported agriculture) farms. You pay a monthly fee and get really good stuff, usually. I looked up Florida and there's not a whole lot, but sometimes the CSA will have multiple "drop" locations that you can get your box from.

I joined a CSA a couple months ago and it's a godsend. Although I am lucky living in Southern California, I feel like I am helping to support local organic agriculture.

Best of luck...

Hey, do they have something in Boise Idaho?

[ReneeSC]

I think farmer's markets are as different as grocery stores in what they carry and how much it costs.

I live _in_ a capital city - we call it The Little Big City, and we have grocers like you wouldn't believe ( to feed our 120 thousand people a day ).

We only have one farmer's market, though. But, we have massive amounts of large farms, federal farms, and private enterprise farms, and many roadside stands.

We're now living down south again, but we've been all over the place. When we lived in NY, I knew most of what we were buying came from farms much, much farther south than NY, but the prices were quite low. That's because it was an open market. There, though, you could literally go shopping on almost every corner and eat from many different cuisines as you went.
It was fun eating in NY. :)

But, that being said, it's BETTER RAW eating right here!

We vacillate between Food Lion, Super Wally's, the organic grocer's and the farmer's market.


HOWEVER - ( unfortunately there has to be one ) - we live in a very temperate climate. It's Autumn tomorrow - and we're still in the 90's. We're in a bit of a drought, although it's humid. This means that while you're going to get MORE produce for your money - watch that it's not depreciated before you get it home. Citris, though grown in humid areas, will dry out quickly here if it continues to sit outside unrefrigerated.

During the normal hours, there's an older man - too old to farm anymore, who is the main seller of his business. We primarily buy from him. I can go to Wal-Mart, on a good day, and pay up to 65 to 85 cents per green pepper ( unless they're selling off about-to-go-bad stock ), but go to him at the market, and get 5 or 6 peppers for 2.00. They're bigger, too.


Give him 20.00 and I'll come home with:

7 tomatoes
a bag of grapefruit ( not adviseable anymore this season )
a jar of raw honey grown locally
5 large cucumbers
a small bag of onions
9 lemons
5 to 7 peppers


*sigh* I remember when you could pick up 1/2 bushels for 7.00.

..not to mention what I could garner out of a garden


If I were to take that same 20.00 and go to the organic store ( love it, though I do! ), I'd come home with: ( depending )

One large bag of juicing carrots
5lbs of bananas
baby tai coconut
a few lemons
1/4 lb of medjools

Food Lion:

Organic greens
on sale peaches
dark greens
Avocados
romain lettuce on sale
maybe some portabella on sale

So...what do I do? I go to all three places, because all three ( stick in there later runs to Food Lion ) have their own things that I want the other doesn't have - or much lower in price.

The organic store wants almost 7.00 for a small celophane box of organic greens. Food lion has had their's on sale for 2.99. ( same exact company )

But Food Lion, the farmer's market, nor Wally World contain bins upon bins of organic grains, etc. My health food grocers is a wonderful place. :)

I'm waiting for nut season to come into fruition. We grow pecans here along the road!

To answer the question:

I don't think there IS a true answer that works for everyone.

[flyinion]

I recently found out that there is a farmers market right "around the corner" from me. It's not organic but being low on money it's better than the alternative foods (SAD). Anyway, I think I'll be shopping there from now on, I can walk out of there with a load of stuff for about $20 that would easily cost 30 or more at Safeway unless it's on the "club card" sale. The quality is way way better too. Just comparing nectarines between safeway and the market, safeway's are really acidy not very sweet and the market's are just full of juice, sweet and perfectly ripe. I hadn't had a nectarine like that in years. Some of the out of season stuff like avocados are imported in but most of it is grown right out back.

[Mystical]

I've been looking at the market options in Boise for a few years now. There are many CSA farms (where you pay up front and then get a bag of produce every week during the growing season). I've belonged to one for a few years, but have decided to quit next year because I want different vegies than they deliver. The Saturday Farmers Market in Boise has great produce - the prices are not low, especially for fruit. I drive out to Caldwell to the orchards and get fresh organic fruits at a fraction of the Farmers Market prices. Because we're eating more greens and less beans & squash & other vegies, I'll probably pay higher prices per bunch buying at the market, but less overall than from the CSA. I've also started a garden this year with mixed success - hoping for better success next year! The real challenge I feel in this area is what to do when the growing season is over? Since we've been on raw foods for a few months and have gained all the benefits, I'm determined to make it through the winter!

[ReneeSC]

I just got off of the phone with the local organic grain/ everything else! bulk buying person in the area - and she just gave me the number to the woman who does the organic/bulk produce buying person up the road from her!

Weeeeee!! I'm getting my ducks in a row!

Its taken me a loooong time to get all of this in order, though. I'm encouraged to see how much farther our money is going to stretch now.

This is how I found the first person:

I did a www.dogpile.com search for: organic food grocers ( insert your area ), and then organic food growers ( insert your area )... then again.. organic coop clubs ( insert your area.

[vegggeeemom]

I've been looking at the market options in Boise for a few years now. There are many CSA farms (where you pay up front and then get a bag of produce every week during the growing season). I've belonged to one for a few years, but have decided to quit next year because I want different vegies than they deliver. The Saturday Farmers Market in Boise has great produce - the prices are not low, especially for fruit. I drive out to Caldwell to the orchards and get fresh organic fruits at a fraction of the Farmers Market prices. Because we're eating more greens and less beans & squash & other vegies, I'll probably pay higher prices per bunch buying at the market, but less overall than from the CSA. I've also started a garden this year with mixed success - hoping for better success next year! The real challenge I feel in this area is what to do when the growing season is over? Since we've been on raw foods for a few months and have gained all the benefits, I'm determined to make it through the winter!

I am going to PM or email you as well, but where in Caldwell?
Do you pick your own in Caldwell? Oh, I'd love to do that! We've been looking for something like this.
It's hard because I just went to the store for food on Monday and I need to go again!

[Jackie1995]

Well, you'd think that growing stuff in Florida (I'm pretty south, near West Palm beach) would be easy, right?

I must just be me, because even herbs like dill weed and basil either get too much water from the rain or too little; bugs are voracious; rabbits and even deer (yep, I got them coming through from the huge wetlands area next to me) have no sense of sharing with their human friends, and the birds are the worst! Especially for tomatoes!

We have seen in the past the huge tomato/pepper farms out here, and the growing season is like October thru April/May. Now, it's all homes.

My personal luck with growing was nil; I did do a mean arugula one year, and I left the parsnips and carrots in the ground too long and they were huge, but I've given up the past 6 years or so; too much loss, not enough of anything to put on the supper table.

I will contact the local CSA again, maybe they'll have forgotten who I am and not remember my questions about pesticides and will accept my money (close to $1,000 if I want my large box of groceries delivered weekly for 5 months) for the produce.

For now, I'll just keep on shopping but I will touch base with the produce managers of the local stores. (I'm the "nut" who made them order jerusalem artichoke at $6/lb. They couldn't get over that. I couldn't either. $6 per lb??? Where did they get these prices?)

Gotta laugh to keep from cryin'

More green smoothies coming up...

[ReneeSC]

I know what you mean, Jackie. I had huge gardens going at the farm property, and then - out-of-season frost, drought, monsoon-like rains, more drought. I just walked away. I couldn't stand it anymore. We'd considered being tree farmers ( lots of timber grown here on purpose - and on 15 to 20 year cycles ), to have something to do , but we had a freak ice storm that destroyed many of the tops of people's pine crops.

We moved.

Here, though, the ground has been treated with so many pesticides and herbicides, that to grow anything, we'd have to do it above ground. I think we'll begin construction on above-ground, square foot gardening boxes by next year.

In the meantime, we have to deal with "the prices" ..as you said.

All I know is that this coop produce person can order you cases of things.. or you can pay 30.00 per month and receive a "share" as everyone else.

I'll do it a few times to see how far the 30.00 goes her way rather than organic healthfood stores. ( c'mon! one store is almost 7.00 for lettuce leaves while the next one is... 2.99 ??? )

[TimmyC]

I discovered our farmer's market last weekend. For $40 we purchased:

- 37 pound watermelon
- 2 honeydew melons
- 10 red apples
- 10 green apples
- 6 bunches of broccoli
- a grocery bag stuffed with Kale
- A jar of raw honey
- 6 huge homegrown tomatoes
- 24 pears
- 6 small things of strawberries
- 1/2 pound of spinach
- a thing of celery
- 4 mangos
- three stalks of lentils(sp)
- and I'm sure I didn't mention everything...I'd say I got a good deal :). So much that I'm going to forget about getting my produce at the grocery store near us.

[vegggeeemom]

I am going to check out our farmers market, they are only open from 8:30-1 pm on Saturdays. Sometimes I just can't make it.
I'm also going to check out the orchards another poster recommended that is near us.

[Kris]

I think it all depends on where you live and what you have access to. I'm from a big city originally, where the "famer's" market was simply a huge, outdoor produce stand selling the same chemical-covered stuff out of the same boxes that I could buy, for cheaper, at the grocery store.

On the other hand, I now live in a much smaller city in British Columbia that is surrounded by small farms, and I have access to what has been voted the best farmer's market in my province. The weekly outdoor market is owned and operated by a farmers' cooperative. Much of the produce is certified organic, and what's not certified is usually not sprayed. The farmers are happy to disclose this information in my experience. The food is CHEAP too, and incredibly fresh. Last weekend I bought some crisp, juicy, delicious apples. When I commented to the farmer that his apples were so good, he told me it's because they were still growing yesterday. I've also bought fresh corn, picked only hours before, from this market. And I love that I can spend just $60 and come home with a boat load of fresh goodies for the week.

All that being said, it's a 45 minute drive to the tiny town where the market is held. There are closer ones, but they're not as good in my opinion. It does take some effort and maybe even a weekly time investment, but unless you are in the most urban of places, you can probably find a great farmer's market near you that is actually run by FARMERS.

Good luck!