My First Farmer's Market Visit (And Tips!)

The last time I went to the farmer's market, I was in high school and I was being dragged there because I wanted to go to the mall after, and this was part of the journey that my mom took me on before going there. Looking back on it, I wish I had gone sooner and more frequently. However, as I had just missed the one in downtown Syracuse (EVERY Tuesday, plan on seeing me there from now on), the Regional Market was happening on Saturday (yesterday), and it was the perfect opportunity to test my minimal waste knowledge and try to save some money while shopping local. I learned a few things, and came up with a few tips to help you along the way!

First and foremost, bring your own bags! While you are shopping locally, a lot of the farmers or people selling goods will try to bag your items in plastic. My mom and I brought 3 bags, but we should have had 4 altogether. Because we got things besides fruit and veggies, like bread (multigrain, banana, pumpkin), we reluctantly took a plastic bag so the breads wouldn't be crushed by heavy veggies. Going forward, we'll bring another bag for the bread so we can nix the plastic. A lot of people were using Wegman's reusable bags, but any canvas bag works! I carried with me two bags, one, was an Old Navy canvas bag from a giveaway and one was a wine cooler bag.

These jars were PERFECT for getting grains, like oatmeal, pasta, and other small things. BUT they are heavy. Bring 1 or 2 for a trip.

The wine cooler bag is really helpful, but we could've done without it this trip. The wine cooler bag is great, though. It's got six compartments, so you can separate glass jars or jars of any sort so they're not hitting each other and nothing is breaking. On that top, my second tip is to bring jars to hold loose items! I discovered quickly you don't always need to bring them and they just cause added weight, but if you're getting pasta, grains, oatmeal, cookies, homemade soaps, etc., these are perfect for holding the teeny tiny items! We didn't get any of those, but we are getting pasta next time so I'll be sure to bring one! I use mason jars, but if you have old jam/jelly jars those are good, as well as peanut butter jars if you haven't recycled them yet, it just depends on the size you want! Most of these places that sell these things have plastic bags to put them in, so bringing your own jars reduces plastic!

The market we went to had 5 GIGANTIC buildings with 30 vendors in each one! I was pretty overwhelmed.

The last thing that I learned was that it's okay to walk through once or twice. My mom and I walked through each of the 5 buildings twice! The Regional Market is pretty big, with over 100 vendors ranging in flowers, pasta, meats, veggies, fruits, to wine slushies, kitchenware and sunglasses. So, if you have a big market like mine, (or a small one), it's okay to look in multiple places for the best price. I knew I wanted strawberries, and I wanted to get them right away, but the first place that sold them was selling them for $5 a box, in what looked like store-bought containers. So, this wasn't really local. We ended up finding a place on our second round through the third building with a 2 boxes for $7 deal, and they looked and smelled fresh, and the farmer emphasized that they were grown chemical free! That's a win-win for me! I also really wanted to get broccoli, and a lot of people had it, but my mom pointed out this great vendor who she went to a lot because they had a 3 for $5 deal, any 3 boxes of veggies, for $5. Or, you could get one box for $2. Seemed pretty good to me. We ended up getting cucumbers, tomatoes and broccoli, which basically stocked up our fridge no problem! Going around to other places we realized it was the best offer, so don't be afraid to look around, write down prices, and come back later! It ended up saving us a lot more money than if we had just gone with the first option every time.

This was the 3 for $5 tent! They were SURROUNDED by veggies of all sorts. Such a great deal!

My mom also only brought cash, which I was kind of surprised by. One thing I didn't realize was how much is wasted on receipts, and if you do use a credit card, you have to write down every purchase you've made to keep track of expenses. Not only do the vendors in Syracuse not take credit card, but if you do want to use your credit card you can use a ATM-esque coin machine that gives you coins for cash. Basically, you insert your card and you get tokens, and you can use the tokens at most of the vendors, and the vendors can redeem them for real cash. However, the price actually GOES UP if you use the tokens. We saw a vendor sell strawberries for $4 but it was 5 tokens! A token is supposed to be equivalent to a dollar, but you can see how the vendors can get more money this way. If you're trying to save, I suggest bringing cash. Not only do you save money by not going over what you have, but it's also easier to pay in cash to the vendors, so there's no receipts and no wait. You can just grab what you want, pay, and then be on your way, making it super quick!

For my first farmer's market experience, I'd say it was pretty good! I was surprised by how many local farmer's there were in the area (and the farm where I did my 4K was there!), and how fresh a lot of the food was! It felt really good to shop locally instead of in the big grocery store in my town, because it meant that all of the money was going straight to making more produce and to their family instead of going to a corporation. I think that alone stands for something that makes you just feel really good about shopping local. Overall, my mom and I spent $25.50 on groceries, enough to last our family about a week, which is a pretty big accomplishment since it would have cost TWICE as much in a grocery store with taxes.

Everything we bought! Really happy with this purchase too.

I think I'll definitely be heading back! It was such a fun experience and I learned a lot about how to shop a market instead of a store, which I loved. Is there a farmer's market near you that you like, and why? In August, when I had back to school, I'm going to need some tips on shopping local only, so anything helps!