Saturday, September 1, 2012

My first Salem Saturday market haul!

OMG, in love with this farmer's market! There is also a year round indoor market at the Salem Public Market. The Salem Public Market is actually just down the street from my house so in trying to save money I could really easily walk there, especially if I got myself a shopping cart of some sort for the walk back. I would love to go grocery shopping once a week and get everything I need at the market. Then I could go once a month or so to a bigger grocery store for things like oils and spices and whatnot. I've started doing some meal planing thanks to tips found in the Paleo cookbook Well Fed. I'll get into this more, especially once I figure it out a little more :)

Part of Paleo is eating grass-fed and pasture raised meat and eggs and eating organic produce. Unfortunately pastured eggs run about $7/doz at the farmer's market. This is ridiculously expensive so I won't be purchasing those eggs any time soon. After reading Ominivore's Dilemma and watching Food Inc., I prefer to spend the extra money the further up the food chain I go. You are what what you eat eats!


My Haul:
$2.50 Kale
$3.45 peaches (@ 1.75/lb)
$2 for 2 red peppers
$1 for 2 zucchini
$3.90 (@ $1/lb) 3 apples & some pears
$6 buffalo jerky
$40.70 Grass fed longhorn beef sampler pack (frozen)
    2 Sirloin steaks
    2 ribeye steaks
    2 lb ground beef
    1 lb beef patties
$15 flat of berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)
$3 lamb stick two
$36.85 subtotal without meats
$77.55 TOTAL

On the ride home picked up Dutch brothers
$3.50 Medium Carmelizer for the fella
$2.50 Medium hot chocolate for myself!
$6.00 TOTAL


I am a berry fiend! I freaking LOVE berries. When I moved back to the PNW last summer it was peak berry season and I had big ol' bug eyes when I went to a farmers market in Seattle and could just smell berries in the air and I divined my way over to the berry stand, bought a 4 snack pack of berries (4 1/2 pints), went back to my friend's place and just ate a big bowl of berries. Heaven!

Next summer I'm going to be more on top of U-pick farms. Price is a huge reason to do U-pick. A pint of berries in season at the farmer's market is about $3. A pound of blueberries at the place I went was $1.10. For a POUND of berries!!! I picked up a 7.7 cubic foot upright freezer when it was on sale at Home Depot after moving into a bigger place, and it's got a lot of berries in it, but not nearly enough to feed my berry habit through the winter (aka-non-berry season). My only rule for doing U-pick is that once a berry is in the bucket, you can't eat it! I think that may have been my mom's rule when I was a kid :P

Next summer, I'd like to pick and freeze blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and peaches. I'm hoping to do apple picking later this month and make apple chips and apple sauce. I was super excited to get into preserving this summer but I just haven't been home enough. So... next summer :)

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