Farmers Markets

badkitti

back to school for me on Sunday as well.

I'm quite lucky as the Leed's farmers market is very good.

I will buy chicken breasts at £2 ish a breast - but they are enormous - one will easily feed two. I could get the 5 for £1.99 from the supermarket but they are full of water when you cook them and shrink stupidly.

I thought we would spend more shopping that way but as you buy good quality food itseems to last longerand you are more careful spreading it all out. Plus the food miles are less so it's greener and i am supporting local farmers rather than the supermarket.

I'm trying to ween myself off buyng food that is out of season and flown halfway across the world (apples in morrisons mainly from new zealand!!:eek:)

I am lucky not be in a position where I have to scrimp but it is good food and well worth it. If I can only persuade H its not necessary to have meat at every meal.:rolleyes:

Its a shame not everyone has good grocers nearby

meanmarie

Mrs A,

Would have to agree with what other posters say about farmers markets...and I live in Ireland! What I would advise you to do however, is to visit the localish one and see what you think yourself...there are two near to me who have really good fresh fish which costs roughly the same as it would in a supermarket, but there is no comparison in respect of quality and freshness, so go and make up your own mind.

Marie

kj*daisy

OUr Farmers market (wakefield) is good. There's a stall there does Turkey legs for £2 which feed a family for roast dinner then make stock with the bones.
The other stuff like suasages and eggs etc are no more than the supermarket and are much nicer

odds-n-sods

Supermarket or farmers/local market or store??

It depends on what you are loooking for. If its the cheapest price, then the supermarket, as a rule. If its freshness, quality and that 'human' touch, then the market stalls/store. I know almost all the regulars at the daily market; I get an extra plant, croissant etc and a good ol' chat. At the butchers the meat never shrinks, the bacon/chicken breast are a decent size, and like Queenie I can get free chicken bones for stock and I use the meat on them in soups or other dishes. That almost evens out the higher prices for the meat - those chicken bones give me 4 meals for 2 people every time I get them!

Debt_Free_Chick

I think it's highly unlikely that buying in local shops & farmers' markets is going to be competitive, price-wise, with the supermarkets. Look at the buying power of the supermarkets and look at how they hammer down the price that they pay the supplier. Only the very larger farms in the UK can produce the quantity required to get a half-decent deal from the Supermarket. In addition, there's a lot of waste as the SM insists on "perfect, blemish-free" food and the smaller food producer can't take the cost of wasted food.

For me, it's about buying an entirely different product. I don't want SM fruit & veg - it's picked too early as it spends about week to get it from the farm to the shelf, so there's no point in it being ripe. I think many of us have become accustomed to "not ready" fruit & veg, hence the ripe stuff at the farmers' market seems "past its best" - I wonder if it is, or if it's simply ripe and has a few natural blemishes

But the SM simply cannot compete with fruit & veg bought at the FM or direct from the farm shop for flavour.

I shall never again buy meat from a SM and haven't done so for more than 5 years - not a single piece (actually, I buy very little food in the SM anyway - just tins, bottles & dry/cupboard goods). We adore meat - but what you get in the SM simply doesn't cut the mustard with us. No taste, not hung (despite the use of the word "matured"), or not hung properly, unnecessary packaging, no identity as to breed, cuts incorrectly labelled, no information about how the animal was reared or fed. Just a slimy lump of flesh on a sanitary towel in a plastic carton - eugh!!!!

I'd rather economise on a few other dishes during the week so we can buy decent meat from the butcher. Of course, you need a good butcher - not any old butcher. Many butchers these days simply punt "supermarket style meat" which they've bought from the wholesalers. Again, the meat is slimy, too red (so not properly hung) and an endless supply is laid out in front of you. It was almost certainly bought ready-cut, in bulk from the wholesaler. Not so much a butcher as a meat seller

My butcher? Has a few bits on display, usually chicken, veal, game. You simply ask him for what you want - he disappears into the cold room, brings out a carcass or a large part of it and butchers it there and then in front of your eyes. Mince? not on show - he'll ask if you have a preference for the cut and then put a piece through the mincer for you, with extra fat if you want it! Most of the meat he sells he has reared or finished himself and he can tell you the breed, how it as reared, where etc. And he knows just as much about any he hasn't reared himself - he has a few local "favourite" farmers whose meat he trusts to be good as his own. Afterall, he has his own reputation to protect!

And it's hung for at least 28 days (I think the EU forbids hanging for more than 31 ? days). The result? Well, it's not bright red for a start - it's the colour of dried blood, rather like mahoghany. And the meat is dry - not slimy or bloody. I have never had a bad piece of meat from him - even cuts you would expect to be tough are beautifully tender.

SMs aren't interested in properly hung meat. Firstly, time is money - why hang it when it can be out on the shelf? (Incidentally, this is reason for the sanitary towel - the meat was not hung and was bloody when it was packaged). The other sin of SM meat is that which is vac-packed so it's stored marinating in its own blood - eugh!

Secondly, they play to those who think that good meat is bright red (if beef or lamb). Thirdly, they buy meat from the larger processors or cutting plants attached to the big abbatoirs - so they buy ready cut (or largely ready cut) rather than a carcass which is then butchered. In many cases, the cutting plant also packages the meat and then simply puts a Tesco, Sainsbury or Asda label on it.

The butchers you see in the larger supermarkets are really only producing a smaller piece of meat, on request, from a large piece of a particular cut. They're not "butchering" as such.

I know that my meat was reared in a field 5 miles away, then went to an abbattoir a further 5 miles away and then returned to my butcher.

That, for me, is why I use my local butcher - but we all have our own priorities and have to decide for ourselves what's important. I want to know exactly what I'm paying for and with meat, I'm prepared to pay for the quality & taste of the final product and economise in other areas.

But - each to his own

anniebooklover

Mrs A, it wouldn't be for the Preston Farmer's Market that is held monthly in the centre of the city, would it? I noticed you're from the North West.

I've been to a couple of them and yes, some of the produce costs more than the supermarket but it is fresh and "fairly" local (some of the stuff had come from further afield than Lancashire but still in the north of England) and very good quality. You can buy dips, cheeses, chutneys, jams, falafel, haggis(!), sausages, veal escalopes, the list is really quite long. DD bought a smoothie that was made right in front of her and it was sooooo good! They also have a few stalls selling jewellery, prints, incense holders, etc. Even if you didn't buy anything, it's still a good way to spend an hour sampling some of the foods, breathing in delicious smells and admiring all the crafts. We make it a monthly event in our house.

joannasmum

If anybody in the North-West can get to Ormskirk market (Thurs and Sat) I would recommend the Butchers,Wilkinsons. The owner has his own farm near Blackpool the meat is excellent quality and they are always happy to suggest ways to cook it (as a good butcher should imo).

Hapless_2

I won't use the local butchers, their sausages are iffy and I'm not keen on the premesis, but I do get my meat box from a farm near us.
I was getting a riverford veg box, but too much was being wasted as there are only so many courgettes you can feed your kids with before they call an all-out strike.

Mrs_A_4

anniebooklover wrote: »

Mrs A, it wouldn't be for the Preston Farmer's Market that is held monthly in the centre of the city, would it? I noticed you're from the North West.

No, but that sounds good! This one is in Castleton in the Peak District. Apparently most of the produce is from within a 30 mile radius.

Thanks for your comments so far - looks like i should be prepared to pay a bit more but have it "go further". My pet hate at the moment is supermarket meat that boils instead of fries - yuuuuuuuuuuueeeechhhhhhhh.

MoaningMyrtle

Our farmers markets are held once a month, the produce is lovely but very expensive. There is a baker selling speciality bread for £2.00-£3.00, yoghurts for £2.50, loads of chutnies, cakes etc. It is a luxurious treat if we go there. We don't have any markets near us, the closest is 15 miles away.

We have a lovely butchers in our village, again this is very expensive, I've been there twice in the past year.

We have a couple ofd farm shops in the vicinity, 7-8 miles away so you would have to make a special trip, these are good for sacks of spuds for £4.00-£5.00 and apples, they also do pick your own. These are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination either.

Hence my veggies are home-grown or from a supermarket, fruit from supermarket too.