That little farmers market in my town changed how I think about meal planning

So I went to the one in Oakwood last Saturday, just poking around. There was a guy selling bags of bruised tomatoes for like 2 bucks, way cheaper than the grocery store. It hit me that I've been overthinking meals with fancy ingredients when I could just grab what's cheap and seasonal and build around it. Anyone else started shopping at a market and noticed their grocery bill dropped?

4 comments

4 Comments

pat_roberts5511d ago

Yeah I was totally in that same boat honestly. I used to think buying random produce without a plan was just asking for a science experiment in the crisper drawer. But then I started doing this thing where I just grab whatever's cheap and look up like 3 simple recipes on my phone before I even leave the market. Last week I got a huge bag of bell peppers for like 4 bucks because they were a little soft and made stuffed peppers that lasted me 4 days. The key for me was learning like 5 basic ways to cook any vegetable, roast em, stir fry em, throw em in eggs, that kind of thing. Now I actually spend less because I'm not buying random fancy stuff I'll use once.

ray_sullivan11d ago

pat_roberts55 said "learned like 5 basic ways to cook any vegetable" and that hit me. I still remember the first time I went to a market with no plan, bought a bag of kohlrabi cause it looked weird and interesting, got home and just stared at it for like three days. Ended up googling it and found out you can slice it thin and eat it raw with salt. Now it's one of my favorite snacks. Funny how half the battle is just knowing what the vegetable is and one simple way to eat it.

hannah_west3911d ago

The thing is, I've actually had the opposite experience with farmers markets. What I've noticed is that without a proper meal plan, you end up buying a bunch of random stuff that looks good but you have no idea what to do with it. Then you're stuck with a fridge full of weird vegetables you don't know how to cook, and you end up ordering pizza anyway, plus you wasted money on the stuff that goes bad. I'm not saying the bruised tomatoes aren't a good deal if you know exactly what you'll make with them, but for me, the grocery bill actually went up when I started grabbing whatever seemed cheap and seasonal without a plan.

anthony76311d ago

Ngl the farmers market thing really depends on where you're at too. I've got a buddy who runs a stall and he says a lot of those "bruised" tomatoes are actually just the ugly ones that taste fine but won't sell to stores. The key is knowing your market, some are way more expensive than grocery stores even for the beat up stuff. Honestly if you're just grabbing random stuff without knowing what you'll do with it, you're probably better off sticking to a list.