Smart Shopping

How to Handle Farmers Markets Like a Pro

Photo: David Hammond

Food at the local farmers’ market is not going to be price competitive with Dominick’s anytime soon. Still, the folks at local food blog The Local Beet provide some shopping tips to ensure you shop in a way that’s smart for both you and the farmer. Particularly helpful: the observation that when something first hits the market, it is often a lot more expensive than it will be in the following weeks, getting cheaper and cheaper until the end of the season. When the first peaches appear, we lust for them, and we pay a premium for that enthusiasm; with a little patience, the price may become as sweet as the fruit.

But the Local Beet’s self-proclaimed “ most important piece of advice” is that the more you buy, the more you save. “It’s not the Casablanca souk. You do not bargain down a bag of lettuce from 100 dollars to 50 cents, but as soon as you start buying more than a few of anything you can start wheelin’ and dealin’.”

Out of Practice? Here’s our Famers Market Shopping Tips [The Local Beet]

How to Handle Farmers Markets Like a Pro