Farmers Market - Load of Bo**ox?

az2wp0sye65487

Decided to head to a Farmers Market yesterday and see what was on offer. The main reasons for going were

1) To support local/independent producers
2) To sample 'fresh' & 'organic' foods
3) Curiosity

Anyway, some of the fruit & veg looked nice, got some carrots, broccoli & peppers.

Then went and got an apple tart & a soda bread from another stall.

Finally, picked up some strawberries and some home made jam.

Now, in fairness, the quality of the food is better than supermarket quality. But after leaving, on the way home; I started to think about the prices.... when we were there we didn't even think about the prices, everything looked lovely and we picked up the few things we wanted.

Veg - €7.50
Strawberries - €9.00
1 jar of jam - €3.00
1 soda bread - €4.00
1 apple tart - €6.00

Total:€29.50 !!!

WTF!

As I said before, what we got is very tasty, but still... We ended up in a supermarket yesterday for 1 or 2 other things, and while there I had a look at some of their prices - €5.00 for 2 punnits of strawberries!

Where was your woman going with her €9.00 for one?!?

Have any of you been to farmers markets? Would you go back? On reflection, the food is good, but very expensive...

bronte

Overpriced to feck tbh! Puts me right off them.

Run_to_da_hills

In fareness you pay the price for organic and home grown, if you are not satisfied, Lidl orTesco is only down the road.

djk1000

I agree completely! I've given up on farmers markets, mainly because of the price, but also because I have a strong suspicion that some of the stalls are just buying wholesale and selling retail with a big markup.

Believe it or not, I bought some Asparagus in a farmers market last year and I remember the girl at the stall apologising and looking embarassed when she told me the price.

Cuddlesworth

Economy of scale. What's hard to understand about it?

WindSock

Wow, you got ripped off. I got 3 punnets of berries yesterday for €10. And a few plums thrown in and a gourd. You've got to haggle a bit. 'You know...10 for that you must be mad! :pac:.'

tech77

Botox at a farmer's market?
WTF, talk about dodgy.

That_Guy

No use crying over it now really. What's done is done. Those crafty farmers.

biko

I get some stuff at markets and some in the shop.
It will cost a bit extra to get fresh stuff at the markets, the farmers don't have the same backing as Tesco/Dunnes/... but to me it's worth it

Jesus Wept

€9.00 for a strawberry does sound extortionate.

Fratton Fred

so they sell you produce at greatly inflated prices, grown on farms that are heavily subsidised at the tax payers expense.

Bargain.

builttospill

Kassidy Little Necktie wrote: »

Decided to head to a Farmers Market yesterday and see what was on offer. The main reasons for going were

1) To support local/independent producers
2) To sample 'fresh' & 'organic' foods
3) Curiosity

Anyway, some of the fruit & veg looked nice, got some carrots, broccoli & peppers.

Then went and got an apple tart & a soda bread from another stall.

Finally, picked up some strawberries and some home made jam.

Now, in fairness, the quality of the food is better than supermarket quality. But after leaving, on the way home; I started to think about the prices.... when we were there we didn't even think about the prices, everything looked lovely and we picked up the few things we wanted.

Veg - €7.50
Strawberries - €9.00
1 jar of jam - €3.00
1 soda bread - €4.00
1 apple tart - €6.00

Total:€29.50 !!!

WTF!

As I said before, what we got is very tasty, but still... We ended up in a supermarket yesterday for 1 or 2 other things, and while there I had a look at some of their prices - €5.00 for 2 punnits of strawberries!

Where was your woman going with her €9.00 for one?!?

Have any of you been to farmers markets? Would you go back? On reflection, the food is good, but very expensive...

You were like, totally merc'd dude.

My name is URL

Local produce FTW!

I sell free range eggs at our Farmer's Market :pac:

az2wp0sye65487

The-Rigger wrote: »

€9.00 for a strawberry does sound extortionate.

It was a BIG strawberry

Abi

Everyone knows you are going to pay over the odds at the farmers market to start out with. Its organic / home made produce, add on the cost that the council charge for the use of the stall, and then factor in that the sellers have to stand there in all weathers. I love farmers markets because the food is tastey, and the sellers always appreciate your custom.


Stevie, did you not ask how much the items were before you purchased them?

jaffa20

The strawberries seem overpriced but the rest seem ok. They are homegrown local vegetables so you expect them to be a bit expensive. if i wan't some, i just go out to my garden;)

BaZmO*

€9.00 for some Strawberries!!

I've some magic beans for sale if you're interested?

dresden8

Abigayle wrote: »

and the sellers always appreciate your custom.

I'd say they're very appreciative at those prices.

ytareh

While I do appreciate some of the finer points of this debate eg how big was the 9 euro punnet of strawberries I pretty much agree wholeheartedly with the original poster.I dont think these places were ever CHEAP(actually they werent that bad at all in the early years ) but they have become a rare luxury treat in the last 5 or 10 years .They have no chance of surviving the recession if they dont become a bit more realistic in their pricing .
Mind you come to think of it a lot of the trouble is the general spiralling out of control of food prices .Like wasnt some Groceries Price Order legislation a couple of years ago meant to mean CHEAPER food?!That was a joke they just put the prices up beforehand and then 'reduced' them .What's the betting the new Tesco 'price cuts ' will be gone(along with all the Irish suppliers jobs...) by Christmas with the prices risen to match todays ...?

ihadu

the buying power is with the supermarkets now, when you shop there you save but someone is getting ripped...the producers.

these are fair prices (i know they seem steep) for fresh, organic produce.
i try to support them and the craft butchers of ireland, the reasons are fairly obvious

That_Guy

Surely they must have their prices laid out for you to see what you are potentially paying. If you didn't take note of the prices then really it's your own fault for paying such prices.
I just hope the food you got was nice so that in some way it was justified in paying that amount of money for them.

BaZmO*

Actually, I was in the one in Temple Bar on Saturday and noticed that one one of the vans that they were loading up at the end of the day had an English reg.
Now, I suppose it's possible that the van was just bought by an Irish producer, but if it wasn't, and it was a case of the producer driving down from the North to sell his wares, would that not go against the whole ethos of a Farmer's Market? Especially the bit about everything being local.

But then again, Broccoli from NI is more local than Broccoli from Spain or Green Beans from Nigeria.

ejmaztec

BaZmO* wrote: »

€9.00 for some Strawberries!!

I've some magic beans for sale if you're interested?

If I buy them is all my money going to disappear?:eek:



What do they do, and how much are they, anyway?

az2wp0sye65487

Abigayle wrote: »

Everyone knows you are going to pay over the odds at the farmers market to start out with. Its organic / home made produce, add on the cost that the council charge for the use of the stall, and then factor in that the sellers have to stand there in all weathers. I love farmers markets because the food is tastey, and the sellers always appreciate your custom.


Stevie, did you not ask how much the items were before you purchased them?

I didn't. We were looking around and the girl held out a plate with some samples of what she was selling. I tried a strawberry, it was lovely, so i said I'll take one of these (holding up a punnit) I got the jam from her too, and she went "its 3 for the jam, so that's 12 altogether" Wasn't even thinking to be honest. only thought about it afterwards!

ytareh wrote: »

While I do appreciate some of the finer points of this debate eg how big was the 9 euro punnet of strawberries I pretty much agree wholeheartedly with the original poster.I dont think these places were ever CHEAP(actually they werent that bad at all in the early years ) but they have become a rare luxury treat in the last 5 or 10 years .They have no chance of surviving the recession if they dont become a bit more realistic in their pricing .?

It is fairly big. I'd say it's about the same size as a catering tub of butter.

BaZmO*

ejmaztec wrote: »

If I buy them is all my money going to disappear?:eek:



What do they do, and how much are they, anyway?

Who said anything about money?! The price for these beans my friend is 1 cow.

As for what they do......they're magic.

AnonoBoy

I saw a pot of marmalade for a tenner in Fresh the other day.

IvyTheTerrible

Kassidy Little Necktie wrote: »

I didn't. We were looking around and the girl held out a plate with some samples of what she was selling. I tried a strawberry, it was lovely, so i said I'll take one of these (holding up a punnit) I got the jam from her too, and she went "its 3 for the jam, so that's 12 altogether" Wasn't even thinking to be honest. only thought about it afterwards!



It is fairly big. I'd say it's about the same size as a catering tub of butter.

Ah sure if it's that size (a jam punnet?) then it's not SUCH a rip off. What weight was in that?

Berty

Its like the environment. Its all good and well to try to protect it when times are good but when times are tough to feck with it.

The same thing goes for your farmers markets. Its all good and well when we are rich to support local guys but when push comes to shove we need to buy the cheapest products we can.

I have scottish water from Tesco. It tastes different to Evian but cheap as feck!

Aidric

The Farmers Market's grew hugely in the boom years to satisfy the ego's of those seeking organic produce. Darina Allen told 'em all to buy organic and they lapped it up in a bid to outdo their neighbours.
I'm all for supporting local but €9 for a punnet of strawberries, go fcuk yourself. These people need to reduce their prices in line with a decrease in spending power for most people in this country.

kida

Some are genuine(stalls), but there are some dodgy characters at them too.

The one in Temple bar has 2 veg stalls both with their organic certs and 1 meat one with its organic cert also. Organic produce if grown locally could be VFM.

Some of them have veg stalls with nothing specifying organic or local, good chance these could be commercial produce being resold. Some of the veg is even clean:eek:

Beanstalk

Grow your own! 'Dig for Ireland!'

me_right_one

Where would Temple Bar "locally grown meat" come from, Abbey St.?

laugh

Some of the stalls in Temple Bar are big businesses, Sheridans cheese, Hicks butchers and the olive people for example make a tonne of money with stalls at every market and bricks and mortar stores too!

Ardent

Funny you should mention the farmer's market because I just popped down to my local one (just off Cork St) on Saturday and my exact thoughts leaving the place was "load of bo**cks".

Full of crusties and w@kers with west-Brit accents and, apart from the veg, there was really feck all on offer. Prices were ridiculous as well so I left with just some Indian food from the nice Indian woman there.

Won't be going back any time soon.

enniscorthy

HIYA MATE DONT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THEM ANYONE WANT STRAWBERRIES SPUDS COPIED DVDS ALL CHEAP IM YOUR MAN HEHEHEH

rubadub

kida wrote: »

Some of them have veg stalls with nothing specifying organic or local, good chance these could be commercial produce being resold. Some of the veg is even clean:eek:

Tesco value spuds & carrots and a bag of compost from the gardening section sprinkled on top, then charge €10. Easy pickings...

Beanstalk

me_right_one wrote: »

Where would Temple Bar "locally grown meat" come from, Abbey St.?

No, Abbeyttoir Street...

kida

rubadub wrote: »

Tesco value spuds & carrots and a bag of compost from the gardening section sprinkled on top, then charge €10. Easy pickings...

lol - didn't mean that all dirty stuff was ok

in fairness both veg stalls in Temple bar have been there a long time and are prime pickings for chefs on a saturday morning and have all their certs, this is normally well priced and little more than supermarket prices

what i have a problem with is the non organic stuff being peddled as local produce and the ethnic food stalls - wtf do they have to with a farmers market?

convert

Most of the people who have stalls at the Farmers' Markets aren't real farmers in the sense that most of them just have a few plots of land and grow fruit and veg, and/or have a few free range hens running around at home that are fed organic food. And as someone alluded to in an earlier post, most of the 'farmers' there have foreign accents.

Re. the prices: organically produced food is always going to be more expensive than the mass produced food you buy in the supermarket as the rules which must be adhered to for growing organic produce are really stringent and strictly enforced.

If you want organic food at an affordable price I suggest you turn your garden into a vegetable plot and grow all your own fruit and veg - it's much nicer than anything you'll buy in a supermarket...

Boskowski

One would think 'the correct thing' to do is to buy locally rather than getting green beans from Kenya and lamb from New Zealand - with global warming and all that and the sheer insanity of shipping foods all around the world. One would also think that simply by cutting out the wholesellers and traders and transport the farmers markets should be cheaper if anything. But what we experience as 'farmers markets' don't seem to fall into that bracket. The usual 'extort as much as can possibly be had' policy, no news there, this is Ireland after all.
At least for what's available in my area my best bet is still Supervalue, they have local products at supermarket prices.

dylano_k

Kassidy Little Necktie wrote: »

Decided to head to a Farmers Market yesterday and see what was on offer. The main reasons for going were

1) To support local/independent producers
2) To sample 'fresh' & 'organic' foods
3) Curiosity

Anyway, some of the fruit & veg looked nice, got some carrots, broccoli & peppers.

Then went and got an apple tart & a soda bread from another stall.

Finally, picked up some strawberries and some home made jam.

Now, in fairness, the quality of the food is better than supermarket quality. But after leaving, on the way home; I started to think about the prices.... when we were there we didn't even think about the prices, everything looked lovely and we picked up the few things we wanted.

Veg - €7.50
Strawberries - €9.00
1 jar of jam - €3.00
1 soda bread - €4.00
1 apple tart - €6.00

Total:€29.50 !!!

WTF!

As I said before, what we got is very tasty, but still... We ended up in a supermarket yesterday for 1 or 2 other things, and while there I had a look at some of their prices - €5.00 for 2 punnits of strawberries!

Where was your woman going with her €9.00 for one?!?

Have any of you been to farmers markets? Would you go back? On reflection, the food is good, but very expensive...

I hope they're the strawberries they use to take in the nightclubs...then you got a bargain :pac:

pickarooney

The reason I go to markets is that the produce is cheaper than in the supermarket because they're selling their stuff directly to you. If they're charging you more than esco does you're getting fleeced.

CNN Reporter

Aidric wrote: »

The Farmers Market's grew hugely in the boom years to satisfy the ego's of those seeking organic produce. Darina Allen told 'em all to buy organic and they lapped it up in a bid to outdo their neighbours

Isn't she the one with the paedo husband?

Macha

Yes, keep buying from Tesco until there are nothing but supermarkets left in Ireland. What a great day that will be.

General Zod

me_right_one wrote: »

Where would Temple Bar "locally grown meat" come from, Abbey St.?

Copper Faced Jacks.

laugh

CNN Reporter wrote: »

Isn't she the one with the paedo husband?

That has alot to do with her advising people to eat organic vegetables, please continue to ensure his actions are brought up everytime she is mentioned!

pcurls

i love the farmers market, granted its more expensive than your local german supermarket chain but thats to be expected. my best mate is a vegan so i go to the farmers market in dun laoghaire every sunday with her, she has a better choice of foods there than anywhere else really. and when she's not looking i get the itailian sausage which although its a fiver its f*ckin delish!

CNN Reporter

laugh wrote: »

That has alot to do with her advising people to eat organic vegetables, please continue to ensure his actions are brought up everytime she is mentioned!

I'd question the "advice" given on any subject by any person who stood by such a man.

thelordofcheese

pickarooney wrote: »

The reason I go to markets is that the produce is cheaper than in the supermarket because they're selling their stuff directly to you. If they're charging you more than esco does you're getting fleeced.

Surely it's be the otherway around, seeing as tesco can avail of economies of scale and import from poorasfuckistan, where as the guys at the market can't.
But on the upside, they can give you fresher, organic produce that you won't get in tescos.

thelordofcheese

CNN Reporter wrote: »

I'd question the "advice" given on any subject by any person who stood by such a man.

yes, there is a well documented link between nutrition and moral fiber...

I'm sorry, i'm so sorry.

snubbleste

My local greengrocer sells irish strawberries for a euro a punnet circa 225g, whereas Teshco sell the same for €2.49