OC Farmer's Market Day! // Week 2

written by erin //

Today's trip to the farmer's market ended up being two trips to the farmer's market. I grabbed my camera on my way out the door this morning, dropped Jon off at work, and headed over with my mom. I really wanted to see if I could get the same deals in the morning that I found last week near closing time. So the morning visit became my I'm-just-photographing-right-now-and-will-be-back-later-to-buy visit.

 

I found that most of the produce was the same price in the morning as it was just before closing time, which was good to know. Obviously there was a bit more to choose from in the morning hours, including some produce that had been freshly picked this morning.

 

One of the vendors sells potted herbs, spices and some baby greens. I had not budgeted to purchase from him this week but I am hoping to soon! 

 

The vendor who brought the green zebra tomatoes last week forgot them this week, so we'll have to wait until next week to purchase more, but we did get some extra zucchini this week. CA zucchini has so much more flavor than the local zucchini we found in TX. We love it.

 

We ended up sampling some raw almonds at one of the vendor's tables and they were seriously the best almonds I have ever tasted. I am not one to snack on almonds, even though I know how healthy they are, but I have been munching on these ones all afternoon.

 

We found one of the vendors especially amusing today...he thought my younger sister was my older sister and offered me a job.

Overall, I'm happy with what we purchased this week. 5 large zucchini, 2 red onions, 1 head of broccoli, 2 heads of garlic, 3 pears, tomatoes on the vine, 2 bell peppers, 2 cucumbers, a pint of cherry tomatoes, that yummy Greek pita we discovered last week, and a pound of raw almonds, which were a gift from my mom. All the produce is organic. Yum!

Orange County Farmer's Market at the Fairgrounds

written by erin //

There's a farmer's market every Thursday just down the street from us at the fairgrounds. Jon and I love farmer's markets. Walking around, meeting the vendors, trying new things, getting fresh, organic local produce for the week and sometimes buying in bulk for canning is on the top of our favorite-things-to-do list. When we moved to TX, we found that our local "farmer's markets" weren't farmer's markets at all. They were just stores set up to look a little like farmer's markets that carried a bunch of Mexican produce you could find in the grocery store. Needless to say, we've been missing true farmer's markets, so visiting the one here was something we wanted to do as soon as we could. We drove into town on Tuesday and the farmer's market was on Thursday. Perfect. =)

This week, our purchases were mainly veggies. (We did indulge in a treat item, though, as you'll see later.) The variety of organic food was excellent. We didn't get there until a few minutes before closing time, so some of the vendors were already packed up, but there was still so much from which to choose. This Thursday, we want to go right when the market opens.

I think we spent less than or right around $10 this week. We are still apartment hunting and are in a transitional living situation, so we didn't want to purchase much food all at once. $10 did buy quite a bit of organic produce, though! We got a pint of cherry tomatoes, a pound or so of these green "zebra tomatoes." 2 red bell peppers, squash blossoms, 2 cucumbers, a large bag of baby bok choy, and some fresh Greek pita bread.

The green "zebra tomatoes" turned out to be a favorite. They were incredible raw, but I absolutely loved them lightly cooked. I want to make a green salsa out of them. Definitely wanting to buy more of those this week.

If you have never bought fresh pita bread from a Greek family, you have seriously never had real pita bread. The difference between it and the pita bread from the store is incredible. Fresh pita bread has a light, fluffy texture. Yeah...it's pretty much modern-day manna. We weren't planning on buying it, but the vendor was closing up his stall and was willing to bargain. We purchased a bag of 6 for $2.

If I had purchased all of the above at Whole Foods or another health food store, my total would have been between $20 and $25. For those who have asked me about how to make healthy eating more affordable, shopping at your local farmer's market or participating in a local CSA or co-op is one of the best ways to get organic produce at a good price. Plus, it's way more fun to walk a farmer's market than the grocery store. ;) Buying in bulk and spending the time canning fresh produce and homemade salsas and sauces can also save a lot of money. 

So those were our finds for the week. Can Thursday be here now so we can go again? ;)