Organic Living: Farmers' Market Tips

If you're new to shopping at Farmers' Markets, your first visit or two might feel a little overwhelming. How do you know what items are the best buys? How do you decide to try a new fruit or vegetable? What items should you bring with you? Check out this article by Molly Watson of About.com for some great tips: 


1. Know Your Seasons

If you know a bit of what to expect when you get to the farmers market, making decisions at each stall is much easier. Learn what grows in your area when and talk to the growers about what will be coming to market in upcoming weeks. **Note: this doesn't apply as much to those of us shopping in Hawaii, but it's still good to know the seasons's of the produce you're buying out in town and on the mainland.**

2. Go Early or Go Late

For the best selection, go to the farmers' market early. The best goods go first. Popular-but-limited items may even sell out before the day is done. It’s as simple as that.

For the best deals, go to the farmers' market late. Farmers and other vendors usually prefer to discount products instead of loading them back up and schlepping them home. 

3. Bring Big Bags & Small Change

Some farmers' market vendors offer bags, but they tend to be thin and flimsy plastic ones that groan under the pressure of any substantial produce purchase. Make sure everything gets home from the farmers market without crashing onto the sidewalk or spilling onto the floor of your car by bringing your own sturdy canvas or nylon bags. A backpack can make the hauling easier, especially for weighty or bulky items.

Although vendors will make change, purchases will go easier and faster if you have exact (or close to exact) change. At some farmers' markets "small change" means dimes and nickels. In larger urban areas many products at farmers' markets are sold in dollar or fifty-cent increments.

5. Plan For Spontaneity

Yes, you’ll fair better if you plan your trip to the farmers market. However, you need to leave a bit of wiggle room for those strawberries you didn't know would be at market so early, or the zucchini blossoms you've never tried before. Trying new things is part of the fun of going to farmers markets.

6. Work In Volume

The best deals at the farmers market are had when you buy in bulk. You'll enjoy the best flavors and the best prices when you buy lots of whatever is at its harvest peak. How to use it all up? Try new recipes with favorite vegetables or learn the lost art of preserving food. Freezing, canning, and drying are just some of the ways you can save seasonal tastes you find at the farmers market for later in the year.

7. Think "Whole Foods"

No, not that “Whole Foods” – think in terms of how food grows and comes to the farmers market without being processed first. Carrots come whole and unpeeled. Beets still have greens (and dirt) attached. Learning to handle just-harvested produce can take some getting used to

8. Get Advice

If you find a vegetable that’s new to you at the farmers market and want to give it a try, ask the farmer how to prepare it. For the best tips specifically ask how they like to eat it.