Frugal Living Today

A last minute trip to the local farmer’s market yesterday got me to thinking.

I have advocated farmer’s markets as a frugal method for finding seasonal veggies and fruits and I still  do, but yesterday’s trip was an experience that had my mind running on overdrive for a couple of hours.

This particular market isn’t exactly what you might think of when you have such things in mind – at least that was the case for me.  It was the one farmer’s market in the area that is open year-round and many of the vendors are selling fruit and veggies out of boxes they bought in Florida or other such locales. 

Don’t get me wrong, those Florida tomatoes are still a far cry from the salmonella-riddled anemic looking Romas at the supermarket and yet they just aren’t what I consider farmer’s market quality fruit.

I didn’t buy a single tomato, though I did get some gorgeous limes, peaches (from Georgia, thank you very much), a cantaloupe and some freaking INCREDIBLE locally grown blueberries.  Yet as I have said many times, nothing beats what is grown at home.

I pulled and ate the first cucumbers from my own vines last night and the flavor was so light and intense that I cannot fully describe in herein.  My home grown Italian parsley graced the top of last night’s dinner (simple chicken and rice – recipe to follow one of these days) and it was one of the best meals I’ve prepared in months.

I’ve said all that to say this – farmer’s markets should be local farmers selling the wares that they have produced in their own local gardens, not purchased by the case from some hothouse somewhere 400 miles away.

I’m going to write about food miles soon, so you can understand a little better exactly why the food we buy costs so much more than just the price on the store receipt.