Farmers Market VS Grocery Store

I watch a ton of cooking shows throughout the day and one very common thread amongst all the chefs is their love of farmers markets. I finally decided to heed their words and give my local farmers markets a go.

So I saved all of my produce shopping for Saturday, got myself and Emma Kate up early, and off we went to our first market.

There were several different produce vendors, which was to be expected, but what was a surprise was the price tag.

Here's a great example. Peaches. Peaches at the market were $2.49/lb. Peaches at the grocery store are $0.99/lb. That's 2 1/2 times greater... 150%!

Watermelon at the farmers' market, $5.00. At the grocery store, $3.00.

And the kicker... corn. First let me say, around here there are A LOT of corn fields. Corn should be dirt cheap. And it is... at the grocery store. 8 for $1. At the grocery store.

At the farmers market.... $0.50 - $0.75 an ear!!!

*(*#$U)#I%*$%&#)(Q@)*$&!!!!

(the thoughts that went on in my head when I discovered this)

Another interesting tidbit... most of the produce available at this market was not even grown by local farmers. That's right. Not cheap AND not local.

But I didn't give up with that market. I thought maybe this was a bad one, an anomaly.

So after nap time, off we went, to our second market.

No change. Not only was this market equally as overpriced and stocked with produce from all over the country, the produce wasn't even fresh.

I don't write all this to bash farmers markets, rather to let you know that if you don't shop at one,

IT'S OKAY.

After watching all these cooking shows, I felt almost inadequate as a home cook because I wasn't supporting my local farmers or finding extra ways to save money by shopping at the local markets.

Well I'm here to tell you that's a load of you know what.

I'll probably check out another market once the weather cools down, maybe just to buy some of the other goodies (like local honey), but I'll save my produce shopping for the grocery store.