How To Shop A Farmers Market: 14 Ways
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It's summertime, and, as the COVID-19 restrictions ease up, people are spending more time outside. What better activity is there besides taking the family to a farmers market on a Sunday morning?
Shopping at a farmers market can be loads of fun. At a farmers market, you can discover new fruits and veggies, talk to the farmers who grow your food and get their recommendations on how to prepare it.
On a deeper level, food is meant to be experienced as close to the source as possible. With the powerful tug of the processed food industry, it is increasingly difficult to know exactly where your food comes from. Buying at a farmers market means taking ownership of what you put into your body and knowing exactly where it came from. Similarly, when you only buy from grocery stores, you and your children never see produce in its natural state. At a farmers market, you see fruits and vegetables with stems, leaves, husks and bits of soil still on them, without plastic packaging or identifying stickers.
How Many Farmers Markets Are There In the USA? More Than You Would Think!
There are over 8,700 farmers markets in the United States (as of 2019). In Los Angeles County alone, there are 135 farmers markets. I’ve shopped at six of them: Larchmont, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, La Cienega, Studio City and South Pasadena. The experience varies widely by neighborhood, as each has its own character and is tailored to the local audiences that it serves. How do you find the farmers markets nearest to you? You can look them up in the Ecology Center or through the USDA website.
Why Shop At A Farmers Market? Local, Fresh And Nutritious Produce
The mission of a farmers market is to provide communities with direct access to freshly-harvested food, while also establishing open spaces for people to gather and transact.
There are three major advantages to shopping at a farmers market. You can:
Purchase produce direct-to-consumer, with no middleman
Gain access to fresh, nutritious, flavorful and locally-grown produce
Support farmers, producers and the local economy
Many of the vendors travel than 50 miles to sell produce picked just the day before. On the other hand, 7-14 days go buy with most supermarket produce, as it travels an average of 1,200 miles to get to the shelves. Farmers market produce is almost always picked at peak ripeness, freshness, flavor and nutrient content.
Additionally, farmers markets offer a high level of transparency around their growing methods. This protects the consumer from low-cost, low-quality, imported produce.
Finally, despite the perception that they are a habit for the well-heeled, farmers market prices are often the same as or less than comparable-quality produce at your local supermarket.
But a farmers market can be overwhelming if you don’t know how to shop at one. Here are fourteen easy ways to make your visit very successful.
14 Easy Steps For Shopping A Farmers Market
ARRIVE EARLY If you want to benefit from the freshest produce and the widest selection, arrive as early as possible.This often means getting there by 8am (but check the hours for your particular market). At the time of this writing, in June 2020, you will also have to abide by social distancing rules, wear a mask and be prepared to wait in line to get in. On the other hand, if you don’t mind a meager selection, then you could get discounts if you come toward the end.
BRING CASH Bring lots of cash, broken down into small bills ($1, $5, $10) to facilitate quick transactions. Although some vendors do accept credit card or Apple Pay, many others still only accept cash.
BUY A GOOD CART Produce can get very heavy. Unless you plan to browse or purchase a couple small items, you don’t want to carry heavy bags around the market. Invest in a sturdy, foldable canvas cart with double front and back wheels, including front wheels that swivel. The double wheels provide better support for the weight of the produce than wheels on the outside of the cart. I highly recommend the Versacart. It is well worth the $65-$80 for a reliable cart that you will use every week for years. Also bring reusable shopping bags. (Although during the COVID-19 pandemic, you might have to use the plastic bags that the vendors give you.)
SHOP AROUND When you walk into a farmers market for the first time, you will notice that there are many vendors who sell the same items. This is your chance to shop around before buying. Look for the best quality produce. It will vary across vendors. Also, the most expensive isn’t necessarily the best quality. In Los Angeles, I’ve purchased from organic vendors who charge the same $2.50/pound across the board for all of their fruits. I’ve also seen several who are almost double the price – and they are not even organic!
TASTE THE SAMPLES While you shop around, try as many samples as you can find. This is how you discover the quality of one vendor over another. If you find something new but don’t see a sample, you can also ask the farmer for a sample. They will almost always prepare one for you. (Unfortunately, the vendors are not providing samples during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
ASK QUESTIONS Farmers love when you ask them questions. Unlike the people who work at supermarkets, the farmers and vendors really know their products. And they are usually more than willing to talk to you about them. Questions to always ask when you are a newbie:
How are they grown? Are you organic-certified? It’s not enough for them to post a sign using the word “organic”. They must also carry the USDA Organic logo on their sign or be listed on the Organic Integrity Database.
Do you use sustainable growing methods? Some non-organic-certified farmers use sustainable or organic methods but don’t want to spend the money for the certifications. You need to get to know each one.
Do you spray? You may be surprised to learn that USDA organic farming allows for sprays, as long as they are not synthetic (with a handful of exceptions).
What kinds of sprays do you use, organic or synthetic?
What are the origins of the produce?
What do they taste like?
How would you prepare this in a dish?
Once you get to know a particular vendor, ask if they have any special deals, bulk pricing or “hidden” crops that they reserve for favorite customers. I’ve gotten pistachios and white pomegranates from my fruit vendor by asking if hey grew them. I’ve also gotten first dibs at new varieties of pluots. One of my friends has gotten watermelons and cases of tomatoes at bargain prices from his vendors.
BUY LOCAL The purpose of shopping a farmers market is to shop local. Shopping local benefits the local economy and boosts the livelihood of vendors who grow in your region. Be wary of vendors who sell produce or products that are not local. Your market may even have rules against selling non-local products.
BUY SEASONAL Buy what's in season. You may want to make a particular salad or a squash soup, but if the ingredients are not in season, you will not find them at the farmers market. Instead, plan your meals around the seasons. For instance, strawberries arrive in April; blueberries, cherries and stone fruits arrive in late May; and apples, persimmons and pomegranates come in September.
DON’T JUST BUY ORGANIC Consciously Kosher is a big proponent of eating organic. However, not all produce needs to be purchased organic. Ask your vendors what methods they use to grow their produce. They will usually tell you tons of information. You can ask if they are sustainable, if they spray and what they use to spray. On the other hand, some vendors will tell you that they are organic – or they will have a label that says “organic” – when, in fact, they are not. Unless they have the USDA logo, you cannot always trust what they say. You can check, however, at the “Organic Integrity Database”.
DON’T OVER-PLAN Meal planning is a wonderful skill. It enables you to diligently plan your ingredients and recipes so you don’t get stuck in the moment at 7pm, with “hangry” kids harassing you.
However, sometimes not meal planning leads to surprise results. One of the benefits of shopping a farmers market is being open to making purchases based on surprise discoveries. These can be based on whatever is newly in season, something that you’ve never tried before or even the recommendation of a particular trusted farmer. Be open to trying something new: If you came to buy romaine lettuce but they are selling salanova lettuce, or butter lettuce, try it. With this in mind, it is wise to budget for those spur-of-the-moment purchases. There is a crucial balance between buying novel items and descending into impulse buying.
We usually roughly plan our meals for the week. But we often leave room for surprises, like new herbs, each of which require their own way of preparation. Recent discoveries include: Vietnamese basil, purple snap peas and shisu. Older discoveries of ours that have now become weekly staples include: kohlrabi, golden beets, mizuna and tatsoi.
TAKE THE WHOLE VEGETABLE Unlike supermarket produce, farmers market produce is minimally processed. This means that carrots, beets and kohlrabi will still have dirt and greens attached. A bonus of purchasing foods in such a pristine state is that you can use these parts of the plant for yourself, with major nutritional benefits. For instance, the leaves from beets and kohlrabi are not only edible but higher in fiber, vitamins K, A & C, magnesium and numerous other minerals than many other vegetables! The leafy carrot tops can be boiled to make soup stock. And fennel stalks can be made into a delicious fennel pesto or they can be juiced.
BUY IN BULK Freezing, canning and drying are tried-and-true methods of storing bulk amounts of food purchased seasonally and used throughout the year. If you have the space in your refrigerator or freezer, buy certain items in bulk when they are at their harvest peak. Tomatoes, peaches and strawberries are particularly useful in bulk. Tomatoes can be made into sauce and frozen; peaches can be boiled and canned; and strawberries can be turned into popsicles, jam and smoothies. If you own a dehydrator, you can also buy up large amounts of fruits like persimmons and apples when they are at their season end and dehydrate them.
FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA Follow your vendors on Instagram and Facebook. Why? First, it’s fun to see what they are doing. Second, It’s informative because they often post new crop availability ahead of time and you may be able to adjust your shopping list. Third, you could direct message them to ask for a preferred order or special availability. With advance notice, farmers will often put aside a fast-selling fruit or vegetable for their regular customers before it sells out.
BE PREPARED Beware of any COVID-19 restrictions at each location. These will be in place for at least the next couple of months. You may want to check online prior to visiting the market. For instance, the Larchmont Village Farmers Market has a one-way line through the market and a 20-minute maximum on each customer. So you will want to be prepared with how much of each fruit or vegetable that you want to buy – and a rough idea of where each vendor is located.
Help The Local Economy By Showing Your Support
It’s important to do your part to help the local economy. This is particularly crucial during the current pandemic, when so many small businesses have been uprooted by closures and the loss of traditional sources of income. In addition to fruit, vegetable and pasture-raised egg farmers, you are supporting artists, artisan bakers, fledgling kombucha brands, honey producers and beekeepers.
In 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture declared the first week of August to be National Farmers Market Week. This year, it falls on August 2-8. If you don’t usually go to a farmers market, it’s an excellent week to partake in the festivities and learn about all the value that these markets bring to our local communities.
Happy food shopping!
