Blog Post: Could You Shop Only At The Farmers Market? Take The Challenge

The Washington Post had a wonderful article this week about how farmers markets along with a well stocked pantry can eliminate the need to go to the supermarket -- Most area farmers markets have vendors who offer a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables and also bakery products, cheeses, eggs, honey, coffee, tea, meats, pickled vegetables, dips, herbs and ice cream.

The article reminded Farmer Dave and I of the first year we operated this market when we challenged ourselves to live off of the Farmers Market without going to the grocery store. We’re proud to say we did so except for going to Booth’s Feed (now defunct in our area) to get dog food our dog- Katrina. It was an interesting experiment and we actually ate so well that we put on a few pounds.

The following year we decided to be a bit more careful, adding more beans and tofu to the diet, which necessitated visits to the grocery store.  Each year as spring rolls around we look forward to our ritual of avoiding the brick and mortar grocery store except for a few things--Greek Yogurt is one of them, and there are two or three others items, some of which I've alluded to already.

All of this of course brings us back to the challenge. Let's get to it shall we? Start designing those meals around healthier, fresher meal choices. 

This weekend the market will be chock full of apricots, peaches, apples, blueberries, red raspberries, cherries, red currants and gooseberries, just wonderful. Just think what you could make from this delectable selection of fruits--what a fruit salad. Don’t forget that these fruits along with vegetables like broccoli, carrots and tomatoes are super foods because they are full of antioxidants. It’s easy to integrate them into your daily diet.  Plus, the wonderful Inova.Org which publishes the ”Buy Fresh Buy Local” guide has gone electronic and is now available via an e-newsletter.  The guide is a nationally recognized program that is dedicated to reintroducing Americans to good food, subscribe at inova.org/subscribe. See you at the market. 

Do you think you could shop for six months at the market with minimal supplements from the grocery store? What would you need the most from the grocery store? How could you start to plan your weekly meals around the farmers market and the spring/summer and fall seasons we are open? We’d love to hear about your plans. Write to us on Facebook at Vienna-Farmers-Market or at manager@viennafarmersmarket.com.