Monthly Archives: August 2012

How to Save Money at the Farmer’s Market

It sounds terrible to think about scrimping at the farmer’s market, but I think some people avoid going because they consider the farmer’s market to be expensive. I never went to the farmer’s market regularly until I started blogging about school lunch, which raised my awareness about food in general. I might have gone twice a season, but I usually just bought flowers and maybe a little fruit. Weirdly, I thought that it was easier to just go to my grocery store and get what I wanted all in one spot. I have learned that the farmer’s market and the grocery store are not equivalent. Now I know that taste and freshness are sacrificed at the grocery store. If you make it to the farmer’s market most weekends even if it’s a bit of a drive, I think it’s worth it in so many ways. I’m not going to enumerate why because we already know the reasons, but here’s how to save some money when shopping at the farmer’s market:

1) Don’t buy peaches from the first vendor you encounter — Even though you may end up making friends with “the peach guy,” walk the entire market before spending a cent. Who is selling what? How does the produce look? Some vendors are better than others and you may spot a deal at the last stand.

2) Bring reusable bags — I bring two large Trader Joe’s bags and when they are full, I am done. I easily overfill them after spending $40 in cash.

3) Carry a fixed amount of “Market Cash” and spend no more — Some stands are now taking credit, but I’m a firm believer in using cash (and I know I should do it at traditional grocery stores, too). Every Friday I take out $40 in cash from the ATM and put it in my wallet. It is dedicated to market spending. Somedays I wish I had more money, but frankly we can’t eat any more fruits and veggies on a weekly basis.

4) Take your kid with you — In any other shopping setting having your kid(s) with you can be a big hassle. Personally, I find that having Charlie by my side at the market keeps me on task. I probably would stand around a lot more if I didn’t have my little guy to worry about. Many farmer’s markets offer kid-friendly activities from face painting to simple games to a plain old playground nearby. Your child will help you prioritize what produce you want because he/she will want to keep moving. Hopefully, your kids will be excited by all the food available. Last weekend when I left the farmer’s market with my son, I asked him what his favorite part was. He replied, “The cheese.” (I bought some amazing hard goat cheese from a cheese stand and we both enjoyed it.)

5) Resist the pull of the specialty food stands — If money is a big factor in why you don’t frequent the farmer’s market, avoid the honey, cheese, breads, jams, nut or (god forbid) the kettle corn stands. I buy cheese maybe every other weekend, a nice jam two or three times a season, and honey a couple times a summer. I stock up on my honey though — once you have eaten local honey, you can’t go back to store-bought (In fact, store-bought honey is often from China, is laced with antibiotics or heavy metals, and might not even be honey at all). If I stopped by the specialty foods stands every week, I would spend more money at the farmer’s market. Choose one to visit each week or skip them all together to focus on the much cheaper produce ($1 per eggplant? Yes, please).

6) Subscribe to your favorite market’s email newsletter — Many markets put together a weekly email newsletter showcasing their vendors, like a weekly featured vendor, activities for kids, a chef or restaurant demonstration occurring at the market, or just a simple list of the seasonal produce available at the Saturday market, etc. The place to find these newsletter sign-ups is at the volunteer-staffed information booth. If your favorite market does not have a newsletter, many farmer’s markets also have a webpage with a list of participating farm vendors. I get a weekly newsletter every Wednesday, which helps me plan my Saturday morning.

I hope that you have learned that shopping at the farmer’s market does not have to be financially draining. In fact, I find the market to be invigorating and even fun. I’m always disappointed when October rolls around and markets are over. I believe it’s money well spent.

Next week: My farmer’s market purchases in pictures…

Mrs Q’s News: Drought, School Food Laws, and Being Smart Means You Live Longer

I took this picture of a rose late last August…so pretty in its natural state (not store bought)…

1) Drought, drought, and more drought: I really wish this would get even more press. What does the drought mean for food prices this year…and what’s going to happen in future years?

2) Laws limiting the availability of unhealthy foods at school result in children less likely to become or remain overweight. Better laws protect kids.

3) “The lifelong relationships of education and its correlates with health and longevity are striking.” Article links education with a long life.

Surprise, I’m pregnant!

Picture I took from a hot air balloon race we attended in June. 

I guess I’m good at keeping secrets. I’m pregnant and due around Thanksgiving. Just this week I passed the “viability” mark of 24 weeks so it feels like this just might turn out well. Call me suspicious or paranoid (wait, you already did that back in 2010!), but I’m just one of those people who doesn’t always think things will go according to plan. It took awhile to achieve this pregnancy and so I’m not taking it for granted.

What am I having? We didn’t find out. In fact, if you elect not to find out at my OB/GYN practice, they don’t even note it in the anatomy ultrasound report. So no one knows! It’s a little maddening for me, but my husband loves surprises. Why take that from him?

Hot air balloons are pretty, but I’m scared of heights — no thanks!

Where’s the belly picture? I’m not ready to publish one right now. Because it took me a bit to get here, I’m sensitive to women like me. Last fall it would have been a little tough to read a pregnancy announcement or see a surprise belly — I’m not ready to do that to anyone. Also, being pregnant is not exactly flattering. I’ll be sure to put up a picture in the next month or so — before I really swell up.

That may explain my occasional flakiness in blog posting over the past months — sometimes I just had to go to bed. In general, my symptoms this time have been more mild than before, but I’m more tired than I was the last time. Chasing Charlie accounts for that, I’m sure.

Nutrition continues to be at the forefront of my mind — in fact, it’s more important than ever. I’m sure to blog about that a bit in the future as well.

So there you go!

Big changes coming for this little guy (Enjoying the hot air balloons)

2012 CSA Week 12: Candy tomatoes

The last week of our CSA came and went in July. It was sad, but it also meant that our move was pending. Change can be good, too. The end of our CSA means that I can focus on shopping at local farmer’s markets and choosing produce myself. While I love the challenge of the CSA, it’s nice to go to a farmer’s market and buy what I see. Sometimes surprises can be overwhelming. CSA blog posts may be ending, but farmer’s market posts will start up soon!

These tomatoes taste like candy. This is coming from somebody who has never been a tomato person. In fact, like I’ve mentioned before I started forcing myself to eat them when I was 25 to increase my overall daily vegetable intake. I think these little tomatoes would make a tomato lover out of anyone who tries them. I think they are called “Sun Gold.”

 Lettuce

 Sugar Snap Peas

Rainbow Chard 

 Broccoli

 Onions

 Zucchini

 Our awesome 2012 CSA was through Tomato Mountain. I highly recommend them. For reference, last year’s CSA was through Angelic Organics. I loved them, too.

Successful move and advice needed…

I wanted to update you guys — we moved and it went great. I even have internet now — yippee! The house we bought was bank-owned (someone foreclosed) so it needs work. We’ve had professionals here most business days doing one thing or another. Thankfully, the move has been relatively easy for Charlie because we had prepared him for weeks. The dog has had the hardest time with our new accommodations. I’m left with some questions and I bet you guys know the answers:

1) Our fridge works great, but it is missing one of the plastic produce drawers and some of the plastic holders on the inside of the door. We know nothing about the fridge — anyone have a clue where we could find replacement parts? It’s a GE.

2) The dog has had to learn how to take stairs. We lived in a house with no stairs so this is new for him. ‘Fenway’ has quickly learned how to navigate the exterior wooden stairs, going up and down within 12 hours of moving in. The much shorter, but tile stairs inside the house are still very scary to him. We’ve let Fenway just chill upstairs this whole week, but he needs to be able to go up and down them with ease. The dog wants to be with us at all times so when he’s upstairs and we’re downstairs, he gets nervous. He’s too big to carry every time. Any dog owners out there with suggestions?

3) We got cable TV for the first time in 10 years. Managing Charlie’s TV time now is made complicated by the fact that he has been watching more TV so that we can unpack, etc. He begs for TV before and after he watches TV! I’ve commandeered my timer from the kitchen to regulate how much TV he gets, but we’ve seen a real increase in bad behavior. How do you manage your child(ren)’s TV time?

Thanks (and back to regular posting tomorrow)!