DC Farmer’s Markets
Nick and I live in Capitol Hill, but I actually don’t shop that often at Eastern Market. Shock! FOR SHAME! On weekends it’s crazy crowded, has too many craft vendors and not enough farmers. Eastern Market is not a producer only market, meaning I could go to the warehouse, pick up produce come to Eastern Market and sell it to you. I will encourage you though, to check out the guy who sells eggs in one of the first outdoor stalls on the left that you’ll see when you’re walking from Pennsylvania Ave to the market-he’s great.
This article does a great job of explaining why it’s important to ask questions at your local farmer’s market.
But the real point of this, was to do a bit of comparison shopping. A few items are very similarly priced to grocery store items and a few are not. In fact, I was surprised to see that sometimes the Farmer’s Market is less expensive!
For example, crazy tasty, juicy, fuzzy farmers market (FM) peaches are $2.50/lb, fuzzless rocks at grocery store (GS) are $2.49/lb unless on sale. FM Green Peppers are .75/each, or 3 for $2, GS Green Peppers are at minimum $1 each. FM Cantaloupe $5, GS Cantaloupe $5. FM Cherry tomatoes $4/box GS Cherry tomatoes $3.99/box. Whole Foods faceless farm possibly pastured chicken $9/lb for breasts, FM chicken breast from farmer who chatted with me about chicken husbandry for at least 5 min… $9/lb for breasts. FM Bi-color picked that day corn .50/per ear, GS white corn .25/per ear.
Then there are a few items that I just can’t find at the grocery store, like Rainbow Chard, Currants, and different varieties of my favorite fruits and vegetables (see peaches above).
My shopping trip included
Eight ears of corn
Three green peppers
Eight peaches
One bunch of rainbow chard
Four shallots
One patty pan squash
One punnet of purple potatoes
One Cantaloupe
One whole pastured chicken
For a total of $43
Food prices clearly differ all over, and I’d be interested in seeing what your farmer’s markets and grocery stores compared to as well!
July 16th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Ah! I’ve never stopped to compare because I typically just buy whatever looks good from wherever. I’ll try to pay attention next time!
July 16th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
I never knew that about Eastern Market. So since you don’t go to EM where do you go? Bethesda has a FM (I love these abbreviations, btw
) that I hope to check out this weekend. I’ll have to ask about the producer only thing!
July 18th, 2010 at 1:47 am
Las Vegas has a farmers market. I use the term “farmers market” very loosely though because when we got there, all it was was a table with a basket of lettuce that STILL had the “thanks for shopping at Smith’s” (our grocery store) tag on it and a boot that sold porcelain dolls. What a freaking waste of time. Enjoy your fresh produce.
July 20th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Hi there, I followed you over from the That Wife blog. I just bought some amazing, juicy peaches at Eastern Market and I know exactly what you’re talking about. So which farmer’s market do you go to if you don’t go to EM?
July 20th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Hi everyone, thanks for visiting!
I typically go to the McPherson Sq FM on Thursdays since I work near 17th and L. We visited the Dupont FM this weekend, but since we arrive 1 hr before closing… it was pretty sparse. Maybe I’ll do a post on my favorite non supermarket places to shop?