Market Fruit & Veg, Cheaper? Better?

hethmar

I always try to get all my fruit and veg from the local market or farmers market. Its not only cheaper, its much better quality and if you hang around til later in the afternoon, you can get enormous bargains like 6 lbs of bananas for a £1 this week As they cant store them.

Teahfc

jenniewb wrote: »

I don't think all markets were created equally.

I The reason for the change in freshness is because many items are frozen with liquid nitrogen or similar. They are then kept in storage and piled high, the stores then have alot of sometimes not even in season fruit and veg, and can sell it cheaply. They tend to keep for longer as they have been kept so 'well' for so long but often lack in taste.

Sorry but that is a load of old tosh !
Product that can be stored are held in Modified Atmosphere storesm this ranges from vegeatanbles like potatoes through to grapes. As Liquid nitrogen is juts dry ice as seen on tv programmes like stars in your eyes and it freezes at minus 150 degress centigrade I think you will agree it would damage the product beyond repair :eek:

Larumbelle

Emuchops wrote: »

I used to live in Coventry which had a fantastic market. The fruit and veg from there was fantastic-fresh and cheap, and loads of choice (but you had to know which stalls were good and which were not so good). It was great for fish and meat and ethnic veg as well. The market is the only think I miss about Coventry.....

I've just been and bought my veg for the week in Coventry market

I agree that you have to be selective about which stalls you buy from - if you are used to shopping in the supermarket you have to get used to using your eyes and nose and hands a bit more when choosing your produce. You soon get a feel for what is good and what is not. I find that market prices beat supermarket regular prices, but not the special offers where they are selling for silly money. Also the seasons are more pronounced at the market when it comes to the highly anticipated seasonal stuff: the very first asparagus etc are dearer then they become cheaper in their main season. That said, not all of it is local food. You might not get air-freighted french beans, but a lot of veg is available all year round regardless of season. This isn't down to spraying, it owes more to container shipping from Spain and polytunnels in Kent

Jenniewb is probably referring to the use of dry ice in modified atmospheres - dry ice is used to 'modify' the atmosphere but not to preserve the food per se. But that is only used for packaged foods, so maybe you are confusing it with irradiation?

hethmar

Im very lucky with our stall holder. I had some ab fab nectarines off him several times and then one bag full was not so good. When I was getting my stuff off him the next week, I mentioned the nectarines hadnt been up to his normal standard and he immediately gave me a freebie bag full, twice as many as Id bought the week before

jenniewb

Teahfc wrote: »

Sorry but that is a load of old tosh !
Product that can be stored are held in Modified Atmosphere storesm this ranges from vegeatanbles like potatoes through to grapes. As Liquid nitrogen is juts dry ice as seen on tv programmes like stars in your eyes and it freezes at minus 150 degress centigrade I think you will agree it would damage the product beyond repair :eek:

I used to work for a greengrocers, I was told it was nitrogen- if it is not I apologise, I am not an expert, I do know that produce are frozen though, I know this as quite frequently I buy it and its frozen, I believe him on that.

Items I have bitten into and have turned out to be icey and frozen in the middle (bought from supermarkets) have been melon fruit salad, strawberrys, even an apple! bagged to-be-steamed veg...the list is long and it does happen.

Emuchops

silvercharming wrote: »

I've just been and bought my veg for the week in Coventry market

I agree that you have to be selective about which stalls you buy from - if you are used to shopping in the supermarket you have to get used to using your eyes and nose and hands a bit more when choosing your produce. You soon get a feel for what is good and what is not. I find that market prices beat supermarket regular prices, but not the special offers where they are selling for silly money. Also the seasons are more pronounced at the market when it comes to the highly anticipated seasonal stuff: the very first asparagus etc are dearer then they become cheaper in their main season. That said, not all of it is local food. You might not get air-freighted french beans, but a lot of veg is available all year round regardless of season. This isn't down to spraying, it owes more to container shipping from Spain and polytunnels in Kent

Jenniewb is probably referring to the use of dry ice in modified atmospheres - dry ice is used to 'modify' the atmosphere but not to preserve the food per se. But that is only used for packaged foods, so maybe you are confusing it with irradiation?

Happy days-Kings and Peter Macs were my favourite stalls. Best market Ive ever come across(apart from posh ones like Borough)

Teahfc

jenniewb wrote: »

I used to work for a greengrocers, I was told it was nitrogen- if it is not I apologise, I am not an expert, I do know that produce are frozen though, I know this as quite frequently I buy it and its frozen, I believe him on that.

Items I have bitten into and have turned out to be icey and frozen in the middle (bought from supermarkets) have been melon fruit salad, strawberrys, even an apple! bagged to-be-steamed veg...the list is long and it does happen.

If you buying FRESH prodcut that is frozen then I suggest you take it back to the store.
A frozen apple would break down internally and before that the skin would scold and be brown.
The closest that comes to frozen would be grapes which are shipped at certain times of the year at .005 centigrade.
I would next time you find a frozen product that is sold as fresh take it to local enviroment office as it is illegal !

Claire_Bear

I think you need to have a good look around the markets and don't just go for the first stall as the prices and quality can vary quite a lot between them, but there are definately bargains to be had! I normally buy my fruit and veg from the supermarket but I was amazed last week when I went to the market and got two punnets of lovely juicy crisp grapes for 79p, 15 clementines for a pound and a big bag of vine cherry tomatoes for 50p. They also had 3 big honeydew melons for £1, they'd probably be about £1.99 each in the supermarket. Just make sure you look the produce over yourself, check it for blemishes, smell it to see if it's fresh etc. And in my experience always go to the ones where you can pick your own and they're not fussy about you handling the produce, the ones where you ask for what you want and they pick it out for you tend to put the good stuff at the front all lined up nicely, then give you a bag of sub-standard stuff from behind the counter

Sarsie

Something else to remember is that the stall holder may well be happy to come to a compromise on price.

A cute recollection (slightly off topic) my partner (the market trader) taught my then 8 year old daughter about bargaining and she took to it really well. I remember just before mothers day we were shopping and she instructed me not to watch coz she wanted to do something, so dutifully I played the game and pretended to go away (but was still watching her from a safe distance behind a shop display). She went up to a trader selling primroses in various colours and said "they're 79p each and I've got £2, but really I'd like to have three of them. If I buy two that means I've got 42p left. Will you sell me another one for 42p?" At eight! It was so funny to watch! People were turning round smiling at her. The trader said "well they're 79p really not 42p", so daughter said "yeah I know and thats ok, but I would really like three for £2, can you do that?" All said super politely ready to take the direct No if it came, just like my partner had been teaching her. She got her discount, she was delighted with herself and to be honest I think the trader found it entertaining too!

Traders by nature are going to take £2 off you rather than £1.58 if they can, so negotiating a better deal than the displayed price is a lot more likely than with a chain of shops controlled centrally. Just like daughter, if you want a good deal you need to persist but reasonably (a direct no is a direct no, but until you get a direct no the game is still on) and be polite and freindly about it even if you're not getting what you want. Trading is dull without a bit of human interaction and every trader I know agrees it's the characters among the customers that make a day pass well.

sinw

After saying my experience of the markets was not good, i went today for some new cheshires, anyway the quality the fruit n vedg looked good so bought a load for £13 odd. Had some so far tastes good see how long lasts................