Pro marketer Lorin Adolph, a private chef and a regular at farmers markets in Chicago, Southern California and the south of France, offered tips for making the most of the farmers market experience.
*Go early. You get the best parking spot and the best selection.
*Bring lots of small bills. Especially early, vendors need change, and most don’t take credit cards.
*Develop relationships with the vendors. They might hold items for you or give you discounts.
*Scope out all the offerings before buying anything. You might find better strawberries two tables down.
*Go with an open mind and “let your imagination and your stomach guide you.”
Cart smarts:
Call it a grandma trolley if you wish, but when you accumulate enough loot you’ll be happy for the wheels to give your arms a break. Crate and Barrel’s aluminum shopping cart has swiveling front casters to help you maneuver through market crowds and a large enough base to minimize squishing. The lightweight cart folds to facilitate storage, and comes with a lime green liner that can be wiped clean with soap and water.
Cost:
$52.95 at
crateandbarrel.com
(online only)
Chill out:
More than just a quaint European way to meander through the market aisles, this basket from British manufacturer Picnic at Ascot is superbly practical. It is insulated to double as a cooler. It is collapsible to take up minimal storage space. It is leakproof and wipeable for easy cleanup. And it has a lifetime warranty. The Collapsible Insulated Basket, as it’s called, measures 18.5 by 10.5 by 11.5 inches.
Cost:
$44.95 at
picnic-basket.com
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Bag it:
As fashionable as they are functional, Envirosax’s reusable bags pop with color and whimsy while keeping paper and plastic grocery bags out of the waste stream. Each bag holds 44 pounds, or the equivalent of two grocery bags, and is made of wipeable, hand-washable polyester. Buy individually or in a pouch of three or five bags that roll up tight with built-in snap closures for easy storage.
Cost:
$8.95 each ($39.95 for pouch of five) at
envirosax.com
Mesh:
Transparent mesh produce bags make it easy to separate, weigh and scan your fruits and vegetables without accumulating those flimsy plastic sleeves that serve little future purpose. Find these reusable, machine-washable sacks amid the cornucopia of farmers market-friendly items sold at the Container Store.
Cost:
$7.99 for a package of three at
containerstore.com
Farmer chic:
Picking the perfect strawberries may not be worth it if you end up looking like a strawberry yourself. Shield your face from the sun with the Gap’s floppy striped straw hat.
Cost:
$34.95 at
gap.com