6 reasons farmers markets are better than grocery stores
6 reasons farmers markets are better than grocery stores.
I love going to farmers markets, but I do enjoy going grocery shopping. I find it much harder to find unpackaged items at commercial stores, so we have been going to farmers markets more often. Depending on your farmers market it will have different things. Our farmers market has fruit and lots of fun treats. A couple weeks ago, we stopped by a market that was a bit of a drive and found a compost booth! The lady was very helpful and said that I could compost but it wasn’t easy. Sadly that was the only eco thing at the market. All the vendors had packaged their items in plastic. Except for a coconut water vendor that had bamboo straws for sale. Your farmers market may have tons of ethical things or not, I don’t know. Here are 5 reasons why farmers markets are better than grocery stores…
1. The produce is grown and harvested by the people that are selling it
It can be fun to talk to the people that have grown your fruits and veggies. Not only are they growing, but they don’t have pesticides or take as much transpiration to get it to you.
My favorite vegetable to get at a market is an heirloom tomato. You can really tell if a vendor has good produce if you have a tomato with some salt and pepper. Another cool thing is that the fruit that you purchase has been picked when it’s ripe and then brought to be sold. When a fruit or vegetable is going to be sold at a commercial store, they are picked WAY before they are ripe and transported to several stores. When it gets to the store, it will be a couple of days until it is at the desired ripeness or over ripe. The produce doesn’t taste the same and most times has less flavor because it has been picked to early.
2. Package free
A lot of asparagus, cabbage, lettuce (which I just recently learned was different from cabbage), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc is in a bag of plastic. At a farmers market they use a rubber bands to keep more than one thing together and you can get other things package free besides produce! At our farmers market there was a vendor that had cherry wood smoked salmon. It was to die for, but was VERY expensive. They had the salmon pieces in a case and wrapped it in foil when it was purchased. I was not zero waste when we were getting the salmon but now I would have them put it in my own container. If you have any food trucks or food places you can hand them your containers! Places that don't have plates usually don't have a dish washer and use all to-go. Most of the places that we go to like this are happy that they don't have to use an extra to-go container!
Just make sure you don't get spaghetti because that stains....
3. New vendors come
At grocery stores you may have a couple new products a month but at markets there are people coming up with business ideas and setting up booths, all the time! The best part is that you can help someone start a new business venture! When I was a vendor at the farmers market people who were already existing vendors were coming out with new flavors of sweets plus different products. This makes it an adventure every weekend you go to a farmers market. I was so excited when I started going to markets and customers were so happy to have a new very young vendor. The experience from setting up, seeing families bond while walking around and seeing friends was amazing.
4. It’s more fun!
Being able to have the person share good things to put with this product or how they came up with it is not something that you can find in a store. You stare at 2 things and decide if you want something just because it is cheaper. Because you don’t know what it will taste like! A farmers markets you are able to stare at different flavors and they can tell you what they like best. You can tell them what you like and they can base it off that, plus they sometimes have samples!
5. Samples…
The food is great but sometimes you have double check in to see if you still like it ;).
There was a pie vendor and he was using his mom's recipes. Wow. Just Wow. His pies were out of this world. They had some of the most unusual flavors or normal flavors but done differently. All is pies were good. He would give out samples even if he knew that we had had the flavor and purchased a whole pie or a mini one before. My favorite pie was a strawberry swirl custard or the coconut cream. If you ever stop by the Napa Valley please go there! If there are products that you have never heard of but might be worth the splurge like nut butter, you can try it. I got some from Trader Joe’s and it was a risk but I got a jar of it every week and 1/2 after that. So there are things that are more fun because it’s a surprise. At every farmers market I've been to they have a honey vendor. They don't have free samples but they are 25 cents each for a stick of honey.
6. Allergy friendly!
They have tons of vegan, gluten free, dairy free items. And they are actually good! Store bought ones have preservatives to keep pastries fresh but the pastries are made that week at a farmers market! You can also ask them what their tips are for substitutions if you want to bake your own.
We have Annie the Baker (a cookie merchant) and she has actually posted her recipe online so you can make the exact one! If your vendor is not willing to share their recipe look for something similar to the one you like. Remember, the only reason they wouldn’t give you the recipe is so that they will get business from you in the future.
I have a blast at grocery stores as well, but I feel like you get to be more social at farmers markets. I am a social person, so I like to talk to people more than just at the cashier and the person bagging. Tell me what cool farmers market vendors there are at your farmers market and what you love about yours!
I love going to farmers markets, but I do enjoy going grocery shopping. I find it much harder to find unpackaged items at commercial stores, so we have been going to farmers markets more often. Depending on your farmers market it will have different things. Our farmers market has fruit and lots of fun treats. A couple weeks ago, we stopped by a market that was a bit of a drive and found a compost booth! The lady was very helpful and said that I could compost but it wasn’t easy. Sadly that was the only eco thing at the market. All the vendors had packaged their items in plastic. Except for a coconut water vendor that had bamboo straws for sale. Your farmers market may have tons of ethical things or not, I don’t know. Here are 5 reasons why farmers markets are better than grocery stores…
1. The produce is grown and harvested by the people that are selling it
It can be fun to talk to the people that have grown your fruits and veggies. Not only are they growing, but they don’t have pesticides or take as much transpiration to get it to you.
My favorite vegetable to get at a market is an heirloom tomato. You can really tell if a vendor has good produce if you have a tomato with some salt and pepper. Another cool thing is that the fruit that you purchase has been picked when it’s ripe and then brought to be sold. When a fruit or vegetable is going to be sold at a commercial store, they are picked WAY before they are ripe and transported to several stores. When it gets to the store, it will be a couple of days until it is at the desired ripeness or over ripe. The produce doesn’t taste the same and most times has less flavor because it has been picked to early.
2. Package free
A lot of asparagus, cabbage, lettuce (which I just recently learned was different from cabbage), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc is in a bag of plastic. At a farmers market they use a rubber bands to keep more than one thing together and you can get other things package free besides produce! At our farmers market there was a vendor that had cherry wood smoked salmon. It was to die for, but was VERY expensive. They had the salmon pieces in a case and wrapped it in foil when it was purchased. I was not zero waste when we were getting the salmon but now I would have them put it in my own container. If you have any food trucks or food places you can hand them your containers! Places that don't have plates usually don't have a dish washer and use all to-go. Most of the places that we go to like this are happy that they don't have to use an extra to-go container!
Just make sure you don't get spaghetti because that stains....
3. New vendors come
At grocery stores you may have a couple new products a month but at markets there are people coming up with business ideas and setting up booths, all the time! The best part is that you can help someone start a new business venture! When I was a vendor at the farmers market people who were already existing vendors were coming out with new flavors of sweets plus different products. This makes it an adventure every weekend you go to a farmers market. I was so excited when I started going to markets and customers were so happy to have a new very young vendor. The experience from setting up, seeing families bond while walking around and seeing friends was amazing.
4. It’s more fun!
Being able to have the person share good things to put with this product or how they came up with it is not something that you can find in a store. You stare at 2 things and decide if you want something just because it is cheaper. Because you don’t know what it will taste like! A farmers markets you are able to stare at different flavors and they can tell you what they like best. You can tell them what you like and they can base it off that, plus they sometimes have samples!
5. Samples…
The food is great but sometimes you have double check in to see if you still like it ;).
There was a pie vendor and he was using his mom's recipes. Wow. Just Wow. His pies were out of this world. They had some of the most unusual flavors or normal flavors but done differently. All is pies were good. He would give out samples even if he knew that we had had the flavor and purchased a whole pie or a mini one before. My favorite pie was a strawberry swirl custard or the coconut cream. If you ever stop by the Napa Valley please go there! If there are products that you have never heard of but might be worth the splurge like nut butter, you can try it. I got some from Trader Joe’s and it was a risk but I got a jar of it every week and 1/2 after that. So there are things that are more fun because it’s a surprise. At every farmers market I've been to they have a honey vendor. They don't have free samples but they are 25 cents each for a stick of honey.
6. Allergy friendly!
They have tons of vegan, gluten free, dairy free items. And they are actually good! Store bought ones have preservatives to keep pastries fresh but the pastries are made that week at a farmers market! You can also ask them what their tips are for substitutions if you want to bake your own.
We have Annie the Baker (a cookie merchant) and she has actually posted her recipe online so you can make the exact one! If your vendor is not willing to share their recipe look for something similar to the one you like. Remember, the only reason they wouldn’t give you the recipe is so that they will get business from you in the future.
I have a blast at grocery stores as well, but I feel like you get to be more social at farmers markets. I am a social person, so I like to talk to people more than just at the cashier and the person bagging. Tell me what cool farmers market vendors there are at your farmers market and what you love about yours!
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