Can’t you just taste these? Here is a batch of my home-grown, heirloom tomatoes. Growing your own veggies is the best way to reallocate cash on a new pair of summer shoes. You don’t need lawn space even buckets of soil to grow on your porch will suffice. If you decide to shop for seasonal delights a few tips will follow.
Money saving farm market tips
- Know what is in season locally. In season foods are generally less expensive and are nutrient dense (picked at their peak of freshness and available immediately vs. picked and shipped all one the place)
- When shopping the farm markets: Know your recipes before hand but leave a bit of room for spontaneity. Ask your farmer friend for tips on how to prepare their products. Try something new!
- Buy in volume, freeze the extra. Get fruit or veggies at their peak freshness and nutritional value then freeze, to enjoy later.
- Get to know your farmer. Some sell just organic and others are pesticide free.
- Don’t be afraid to buy the ugly veggies or fruits – Clinton Kelly has talked about a steal, on uglies, at the farm stand which he used to make an amazing dish.
- Consider joining a co-op. Rather than the time & $ spent driving to the stands you can have one central pickup location, often the farmer can add a few extra items (his surplus) at a good price, just ask.
- When considering organic on a budget stick to the dirty dozen list you don’t need to buy everything organic (I have the list on my blog)
where to go & website resources:
- Local harvest.com for where to connect with local farmers
- Phoebe’s Local Food Sources on phoebespurefood.com
- Lancaster Farm Fresh is a co-op that delivers local, organic goods as far as NY. It one of many but they do source from 80 growers & vendors.
Leave a Reply