So, last Saturday was the
first farmers market of the season here.
I was super excited. Partly for
the donuts from King Oliver's Donuts. They
are super fresh, delicious, and the young people who sell them are
hilarious. I'll be stuffing a donut in
my face and the young man is telling me to enjoy it and have a good day. Don't talk to me...I'm eating.
ALSO excited for fresh local
produce! Got some good deals and a few
treats. Then I supplemented with a few
things from the Food Coop which is handily less than a block away. I tried to
get roughly the same amount of fruit and veg as was in the Organic Bountiful
Basket. Partly because it was plenty
but wasted none, so not too much. Partly to make for a decent comparison.
So, here's what I got:
Farmers Market (local and all "organic" even if
not certified as such)
Greens 7oz $3.50
Kale 8oz 2.00
Spaghetti Squash 7lb 9oz 4.00 (that
was just 2 squash!)
Potatoes 2lb8oz 2.50
Garlic 7oz 1.00
Farmers Market Total: 11lb 7oz
$13.00 $1.14/lb
Co-op (not local, but organic)
Carrots 5lb 4.99
Onion 1lb 13oz 3.54
Tangerines 14oz 1.28
Grapefruit 2lb8oz 3.43
Co-op Total: 10lb 3oz $13.24 $1.30/lb
The overall TOTAL: 21lb1oz of fruit/veg for $26.24 $1.21/lb
That is pretty good! I did learn from the Bountiful Baskets to
get a better variety than I would have previously. One disappointment with the Organic BB was
the lack of aromatics (onions and garlic).
I eat those everyday so I had to go buy those in addition to the
BB. Since I can't get organic locally,
that was a challenge. I do have garlic
powder and dried onion, but to make a decent soup or omelet or stirfry or etc
I really need the fresh product.
The Organic BB cost me $1.76
per pound (assuming no "first basket fee")
The Conventional BB cost me
$0.78 per pound
This cost me $1.21 per pound
and allowed me to support local producers and a local business.
Obviously it is appropriate
to compare it to the Organic BB so it saved me $0.54/lb. That's pretty good. (It is $0.43/lb more than the conventional
BB.)
So far the quality of
everything has been amazingly good.
Comparable to the quality of the food in the Organic BB. Granted there are no strawberries or
asparagus, but those aren't ready locally yet so there you are. I still have some strawberry shrub that I
made last year and I put that in some gelatin.
Not as good as fresh strawberries but oh well. Sometimes I also have it in some stevia-based
ginger ale or water. It's still delicious
and since it's made with my own home-brewed honey vinegar (from local honey),
it's full of probiotics.
Anyway, I guess the upshot
is: I can indeed do better with the local/organic when the farmers market is
going. It may not be possible to do
better, or get local, in the middle of winter so I may still do the occasional
Organic BB in the winter months.
Additional savings: Since I have not needed to go to the store
for onions/garlic, I have not had the opportunity to impulse shop.
One challenge I'm having is
that I'm out of my freezer stash of meat.
I got lovely local eggs at the farmers market (jumbo size...truly huge)
so I'm not lacking protein, but I suspect I'll be tempted to have more lunches
out just to get a burger or BLT or something.
I also like some decent meat in my soups. I got a bit of chicken at the co-op, but it's
already gone. Tried to make bone broth
with the bones...but it tastes like crap so won't be eating that. I wanted to buy some local meat from the
vendors, but 6-12$/lb for ground or other low rent cuts is just too damn much
for my blood. Nothing but the chicken
was on a decent sale at the co-op. Oh
well. I have plenty of nuts, beans,
lentils, seeds and eggs that I'm not lacking protein, it's just that the soups
are not as delicious as with a nice bit of beef or pork or chicken.
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