Grocery Store vs. Farmers Market: Which Has the Cheapest Produce?

One other factor is the time it takes to go to several places for only a few items. While the food may be better or cheaper going to the produce store, the fish store, the bread store, and the butcher on a regular basis is a very time consuming task. We do it sometimes if we need or want something special, but who has time to do that every week?

We also do a lot of produce shopping at a Farmer’s Market during the summer. Personally, I’m ok with spending a bit more there – I’m helping to support local farms and the FLAVOR of the fruits and veggies is like nothing you can get at the grocery store.

I live in Davis, CA, a college town that is surrounded by ag. There is a farmers market two days a week with plenty of fresh produce and meats/fish/cheese. I find that buying from the farmers market is often cheaper and fresher than anywhere else. I can’t find any produce stands near where I live.

Our “upscale” market is called Nugget, often the prices are perceived to be expensive. In reality, they are actually cheaper than the local Safeway. I know that they are probably the exception to the rule for the higher quality markets.

Sadly, on the few times I have visited my local farmers’ market, most of the produce was being resold rather than locally grown. For example, iceberg lettuce in May (in Michigan) still in the plastic wrapper, avocados, bananas (!). I don’t understand how they can get away with doing this at a “Farmers’ Market”, but as a result I won’t buy anything there.

I live in NYC, where prices are decent if you shop in ethnic markets or from the circular in large-scale grocery stores. Our farmers’ markets are phenomenal (particularly Union Square), but the prices tend to be much higher. I sometimes find myself split between supporting local farmers and the nice Asian couple at the corner food mart.

@MoneyChangesThings – we, too, have a coop in the neighborhood, but are undecided about joining.

Great, great article JD.

I generally buy produce from the local (meaning very small) farmer’s market that runs on Saturday mornings from June through October. For the most part, produce is actually cheaper there and in the few instances where it is the same price as the grocery store (or on occasion, a little higher) I feel like I am still getting better value – fresher, better tasting etc. Our farmer’s market requires that you grow everything yourself in order to have a stall there.

I frequent two grocery stores near my house…one upscale and one not so much. The produce at both stores is decent although the upscale store has a much wider variety and usually higher prices. However, the upscale store has better and more frequent sales so it is not uncommon for me to buy produce that I can’t get at the farmer’s market there. And, I have an addiction to bananas which I clearly can’t buy at the farmer’s market.

I am trying an experiment with buying locally raised, grass fed beef. I read Fast Food Nation and was a little grossed out. The local beef is more expensive than the beef I have been buying on sale at the grocery store or at BJ’s Warehouse Club. However, it is about the same price as beef that is “regular” price (ie not on sale). This is an area where I have decided that I am willing to pay more to be more environmentally friendly and to line up with my ethics.

We have two basic big stores here. SuperStore (aka Loblaws to many Canadians) and Sobey’s (which is an Atlantic Canada owned company). I find produce at SS is great, and I always live closer to one, so that’s where I shop. I live really close to the Farmer’s market, but unless I get up early, I don’t go because I can’t handle the crowds. I love the idea of supporting local farmers, that’s almost impossible if you shop at a box store. We also have one organic store, but I rarely shop there because it’s not in my neighborhood, and a locally owned grocery store called Pete’s Frootique, which I find expensive, but it’s a trendy place to shop. We are lucky to have a local organic produce delivery service here, but I haven’t used it (though I plan to when I move to my new apartment), and a grainery co-op, which sells bulk baking items, coffee and dry goods. There are farm stands, but not in the city (I’m carless). It’s too bad the big stores don’t support local farms, but it’s a supply issue. I find less and less that I will buy produce if it’s not at least grown in Canada. For me price means less than where the food is from. In the coming months I hope to make many changes in where I buy my food.

Great article … thanks for doing a lot of work to get that done. I’ve always wondered how things would compare.

We get our veggies through a local co-op farming system. It’s expensive, but we justify the cost through supporting local and organic practices. We may switch to farmers markets, though, which would certainly be cheaper.

I shop at whole foods and typically only spend about $40-$60 every week or so.. . is that a lot? We typically buy *real* food, and some of their grass-fed beef.

Anybody know a good source for grass fed beef?

Looking through the list, the mom & pop gocery stores in San Francisco Chinatown sell veggies at about 25%-50% the price of the produce stand surveyed. Fruit is 50%-75% the price.

I like to stop at Trader Joe’s because it is a small store with quality goods and they don’t do all those “on sale” promos.

(BTW, the Nugget and Farmer’s Market KM mentioned are really fantastic. I used to go to school up in Davis and I still miss the Nugget a bit. Wish they’d open a few down in the San Jose area)

There’s also local “Fresh Box” delivery services, where they deliver local produce to your front step. I found a few of my local listings via yelp: http://www.yelp.com/topic/dWb-Xl9PDoAXctkdHpvTQw#E8fq_EYQqSL2a8UViGGNqw

When comparing food prices for farmers’ markets vs. brick&mortar stores, keep in mind that prices may vary between markets depending on overhead charges and (maybe?) vendor quality control requirements.

I also live in the Portland area and work near the Pearl District farmers’ market. I have been reluctant to shop there often, as it was hard for me to swallow how fast $20 would disappear there with little produce to show for it. (Even compared to New Seasons & Wild Oats! Not to knock them: I’m a HUGE fan of New Seasons.) When I visited the Hollywood farmers’ market for the first time this summer, my jaw dropped at how noticeably lower the prices were overall. Personally, I now take my market business there since in enables me to buy local AND keep within a budget.

Adding to freecia’s mention, organics home delivery is another option to consider if organic/local food is of slightly more importance than lowest cost. Organics to You and Pioneer Organics are two services located in portions of Oregon/Washington.

I usually do the trio of Trader Joe’s, Costco, and Fred Meyer (all within 3 miles of my house). TJ’s covers most stuff, but their bread sucks and with their ever-changing stock you just can’t find “everything” there most of the time. I used to shop New Seasons for “good” stuff, but TJs has most of the same things I bought there for a lot less. I’ll still go by New Seasons on the weekend sometimes for their “tasting” events and then buy lunch, fresh bread, and/or drinks (best drink selection I’ve seen).

I’ve been telling myself to go to the farmer’s markets for the last year. Maybe this weekend will finally be my time. I’ve not noticed the sundry produce stand though, maybe I need to pay closer attention. Seems like they may be a better place for me to go.

Re MizD: Sellwood may be populated by a lot of not so wealthy hipsters (I say that in a nice way), but there are also wealthy ones. And since it’s so “hip”, it’s pretty expensive to buy there (no idea on renting). I was thinking about it, but for a comparable price you got about half the yard and half the house as in SW. So yeah, it’s expensive .

I used to live in Hilo, Hawaii. The farmer’s market there is heaven! Fresh food and flowers straight from the little farms around the town as well as fresh coffee from the Kona side and packaged honey and macnuts. Five papayas (or more, depending on size) for $2, sometimes $1. A hand of apple bananas for $1. Three green peppers for $1. 4 tomatoes for $1. A bunch of anthuriums for $2. A bag of green beans for $1. Need I go on? I could leave loaded down with bags and bags of produce that felt like it weighed at least 25 pounds for a mere $8. Not only was it inexpensive but the produce was fresh, fresh, fresh. Fisherman also sold fish right from the bay. It has spoiled me for anything else called a farmer’s market. My sense from markets here on the mainland is that they go for the novelty factor and thus charge more. I miss the Hilo market–it’s not to be missed–Wednesdays and Saturdays; it also takes place on Fridays but the other days are the biggest ones.

You have a pretty different Grocery Outlet from the one near me in Western North Carolina. I’m within walking distance of one with a pretty good produce section.

yeah, there really is no reason to pay more for organic, other than the fact that organic growers are charging more on the “organic” craze. organic = poop fertilizer to me…and i’m really not wanting to eat poop. however, we did use poop in our own garden growing up. there is also the difference in “organic”, so you might look into what it means to be “organic” and have the “organic” label.

second, i don’t think organic tastes any better than non-organic. i think the biggest difference between produce tasting good is if it picked riped off the plant or not. farmer’s markets and the like normally have the luxury of picking when the items are actually ripe (in general, because i’ve seen plenty that want to be able to sell longer by picking non ripe), rather than grocery stores which normally pick when non ripe (ok, i’m cutting out the people who actually are doing the picking, you get the picture though). stuff in our garden tasted much better than the stuff in the store because we picked when things were ready, not ahead of time. this is another reason i like to go to farmer’s markets and the such.

i have no issue with people choosing “organic” for whatever reason, heck it’s your choice anyways, but stores like whole foods have made a killing on the “organic” craze when in fact that that there really is no reason for “organic” to cost more than non organic. it should cost less since poop doesn’t need to be processed and is readily available.

I’ve worked in the produce business 9 years, and I started working at the aforementioned Spicer Brothers Produce when I was 16 years old, now I work for New Seasons. I can say with full confidence, your assessments of those two stores are not fully accurate.

And before I get started, for the love of GOD, please never buy anything from that fish market. I’ve known people who work there and seriously, please, I’ve heard stories and seen things that would turn the stomach of Chuck Palahniuk.

First, let’s tackle the produce stand.
You gave them good marks on quality, cost, locality, organic-ness, and convenience.

On quality, this is entirely hit or miss. Produce stands in the Portland metro area operate just like large grocery stores: they have suppliers that farmers ship their produce to, which in turn ship to them. The way that places like this stay afloat, is by buying large quantities of produce that are past their prime, at a huge discount from their suppliers.
Example: there’s a palate of bananas at the warehouse, and they’re starting to get spotty, so they decide to put them out at half price. The produce stand orders them and has to sort through the boxes, losing anywhere from 10-90% of the product…you only see the “good” stuff from among all those rotten bananas.

On the topic of Locality, this is completely based on seasons, and what is cheapest. I have been at that exact store, working for those exact people, and they will buy a palate of California, or Arizona lettuce instead of Oregon lettuce, because it’s cheaper. They don’t necessarily buy local stuff…they’re not a glorified farmers market, they are trying to sell as much product as they can, for the lowest price they can. It’s all about volume sales here, and they don’t really care if it’s local or not. They’ll sell strawberries in February from Cali, just like everyone else will, if they can move them.

This leads us into cost. I’ll give you that; produce stands like this are cheap, for a reason. TANSTAAFL. You’re getting what you pay for. The items are often picked from all those old lots…they’ve often been sitting in a warehouse for quite some time. These items are nearly never organic, oftentimes from lots of bad produce, and not necessarily responsibly farmed, or traded. But they’re way cheap, and if you know what to buy when you’re getting non-organic items, you’ll be in great shape.

Finally, you’d better be checking the certification on this stuff. Spicer Brothers, and many of the other produce stand models out there (Limbo, right by Trader Joes near Holgate is an exception) don’t give a shit about organic produce because it’s expensive and has a really short shelf life.

Now, as for New Seasons yeah, they have expensive produce. But like the commenter before me said: it’s cheap for organic produce. The quality on stuff at that place is insanely high, it comes in fresh on a super regular timetable and those higher prices reflect a really healthy food economy….try finding Certified Oregon grown organic corn anywhere, anytime of the year in Oregon. You can’t do it (only one certified organic corn grower in Oregon, and I bet you 20 bucks you won’t find him). Corn is really hard to grow without spraying it to obliteration, so you only yield 2-3 ears of corn per stalk. Now, these sell at wholesale for about 10 cents, and retail for 25 cents. But, if you paid a dollar for that same ear, there’d be Organic Corn coming out of the woodwork around this time of year.

Oh, and at New Seasons, your produce worker is paid enough not to fuck with your food. Basic food industry premise.

If anyone has more questions on the produce economy, especailly in portland, i’d be more than willing to answer them to the best of my ability.

A local store in Lansing, MI, named Horrocks has 90%+ of its products from local Michigan suppliers. The prices on nearly all of this stuff is cheaper than the chain grocery stores. We typically just buy anything non-canned, non-boxed and non-frozen here (fruit, veggies, dairy, bread). We spend probably $50 a month on this stuff, whereas buying the same items at the chain store (Meijer/Kroger) would cost nearly $200.

Examples: romaine lettuce is $.99 vs. $3-4, green peppers are $.16 vs. $.69, cucumbers are $.20 vs. $.89, strawberries are $1.50 vs. $3-4, peaches/plums are $.15-.20 vs. $.50, the list goes on.

Buying those products from that store saves us a TON of money.

We also shop at Sam’s Club for canned/boxed/frozen items that we can store long-term in bulk, and we make a trip there once every couple months.

We also shop at Meijer/Kroger (usually interchangeably) for canned/boxed/frozen that we can’t get at Sam’s, or that we only need a small amount of, or that can’t be stored long-term in bulk for some reason.

If you can find a store that sells locally grown food, it’s most likely significantly cheaper than whatever chain store is shipping it in from another state.

I live in Houston, Texas. The idea of a Farmers market or Produce Stand here seems to be lost. Sure we have people selling stuff from the back of their car or on the side of the road, but for the most part it’s shopping at the big grocery chains.

Here in the North Seattle/Everett area, it seems (aside from bulk food places like Costco), that Grocery Outlet has pretty much the lowest prices on produce, etc., but the quality of the produce is often questionable. I have my own system of checking how tasty/nutritious produce really is, but we’ll get there in a bit. So, aside from Grocery Outlet, Fred Meyer is a good place to buy 100% juice, including the never-from-concentrate stuff, as well as good prices on milk substitutes (almond milk, etc.), and grocery items like nuts, seeds, cereal, that sort of thing. I’ve never been impressed with Fred Meyer’s produce though. Trader Joe’s has decent prices on nuts, seeds and dairy sustitutes as well, but I think Fred Meyer has a slight edge on TJ’s overall, even though TJ’s has a bit better produce quality (but its not THAT much better, and its a little pricy sometimes). Safeway and Albertsons are good when things are on sale. I like the quality of produce at either store (Albertsons or Safeway) in general, but you still have to be picky. Tangelos and Nectarines at Albertsons = Heaven. But watch out for those regular oranges, they can be tasteless. QFC is overpriced, period. Haven’t been to Whole Foods for a while, but I’m pretty sure they are a little pricy as well, just like Larry’s Market in Redmond.
We don’t have a whole lot of Farmer’s Markets up here, at least, that are open all the time, not just the temporary ones. Pike Place is crowded, Country Market is ok, but not THAT spectacular… I personally have a preference for GOOD Farmers Markets over supermarkets-I think the quality of the produce is much higher in fm than supermarkets-for the most part, plus the prices are often a bit more reasonable, especially for fruits like raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. There are also a lot of specialty and ethnic markets up here-Indian, Mexican, Russian, the list goes on and on. Star Produce seems to have a lot of stuff that you don’t see everyday, especially including produce, but I am not sure about the quality/source of much of the food they sell (I don’t doubt the healthiness and natural-ness of the produce, meat, etc., but I have a few concerns about pesticides, etc. with these kinds of markets.)
Now, just a few tips to make sure you know what you are buying, and how good tasting, etc. its going to be: 1.) Smell. Does the fruit you want to buy, smell like you want it to taste? You can check the smell with fruits that are more naturally fragrant. Tangelos, grapefruit, mandarins, cherries, apples, pears, raspberries, blackberries, lemons, limes, these kinds of fruits should smell REALLY good if they taste good as well, just how you would want them to taste. 2.) Firmness. Ideal texture and firmness vary a bit from fruit to fruit-not too firm, not too soft. I don’t squeeze fruits much, as I don’t want to bruise any of them, ruin any for customers, etc. Just a little, eensy weeny squeeze is all it takes. I do check for firmness with oranges, nectarines, mandarins, plums, grapefruit, lemons, limes, a few other kinds of fruit as well. 3.) The hidden berries with the mold growing on them but you can’t see it problem: You can pretty much take care of this “little” problem by doing a few things. Take a good, solid, long look at the inside of each container. Pick up the container and roll it around a little bit, but careful not to be too rough on delicate berries. ALWAYS check blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries, etc. at grocery stores, all small, very perishable berries. Don’t be too eager to buy large boxes of berries/berries in bulk, this makes it MUCH harder to see any hidden mold inside. The exception to the berries in bulk has to do with buying flats, etc. at high quality Farmers Markets, being able to pick your own berries individually (like with cherries), that sort of thing. Take a good, scrutinizing look at the general quality of the berries around the berries you want. Check if the quantity of berries is fairly low in general in the area or has already been sifted through a bit, if there is a sale that is ending very soon, like the next day, and the berries look like they are on their last legs (remember, produce managers, clerks etc. try to make every section look as appealing as possible to sell more produce, they aren’t trying to intentionally deceive, with very few exceptions). As long as you get good help from the produce clerk if you need it, you can expect that typical retail “deception” will be kept to a certain, more or less tolerable level. 4.) Look for fruit flies. You can be sure that something is overripe and/or very moldy with these little guys in the area, 5.) For melons: tap/knock on the melon, should sound hollow, not “thuddy”, and 6.) Look at what is selling and why, and watch out for the “novelty” tropical fruit, unless you are sure that it is in good condition, etc. (See above). For more info on choosing high quality fruit (and vegetables), check out the following:
1.) http://www.fruitgod.com/howtopickgoodfr.html
2.) http://www.wikihow.com/Choose-Fruit
3.) http://www.slate.com/id/2102005/
4.) http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/gardening/plants/article/-/5831750/choosing-fruit-and-veg/