There are many reasons that I enjoy going to local farmers markets, but when a farmers goes that extra mile, it just makes you want to keep on going back every week. You see, the market I go to has the option to pay with a credit card, if you so choose. I usually pay cash, but this time around I didn't have the energy nor time to stop at the bank with little E. Therefore, I just thought I would use my credit card.
I chose, and packed up all my fruit and veggies in my cardboard box, and took out my credit card. And, wouldn't you know, they didn't have their credit card machine. Without a second thought, farmer Jon smiled and said “Just pay me next week.” I probably stared at him for a good minute. It is those types of people and businesses that make me want to be a repeat customer. That simple gesture made my day, heck my week-end, and I was so happy I didn't have to unload my heavy box of produce.
A few weeks ago, I had someone question the origin of the dates I eat. I could have sworn they were a product of the USA. Just to be sure, I had to dig further to make sure I was right. Whole Foods gladly showed me the date box that confirmed that Oasis Garden in California is their date provider. I did the happy date dance. One more thing I can add to my list of domestic foods I consume!
1-PURCHASES
Farmers market (all grown in Texas)
- 30 small cucumbers
- 3 cartons of strawberries
- 4 cartons of small tomatoes
- 6 large tomatoes
- 8 red peppers
- 20 super large carrots- I mean gigantic
- 1 bunch of basil leaves
- 10 oranges
- 6 lemons
- 10 apples
- 1 large carton of green beans
- 2 dozen eggs
Sub-Total: 85.00
Whole Foods
Bulk
- Cashews (2.38 lbs)
- Almonds (1.18 lbs)
- Oregano (0.05 lbs)
- Raisins (2.05 lbs)Grapefruit (3.08 lbs)
- 2 bunches of celery
- 2 bunches of bananas (4.36 lbs)
Non-Bulk
- 5 glass bottles of kombucha
Non-food items
- 2 boxes of compostable bags
- Hydrogen Peroxide in plastic (couldn't find an alternative to plastic)
- 2 bags of Sun Warrior Protein (2.2 lbs each)
- 2 pouches of Chlorella tablets (1000 tablets in each pouch)
Sub-total: 248.17
Restaurants
- Monday: We went to Chipotle for dinner. 14.88
- Thursday: J.P had his weekly lunch at Chipotle. 10.07
- Friday: We went to the Food Truck Park and ate at Good Karma Kitchen Food Truck 26.50
- Saturday: J.P went with his dad to watch NASCAR live in Fort Worth. He spent 30.00 on beer and food.
Sub-Total: 81.45
Total: 414.62
2-COMPOSTING
I was a “juice” monster this past week, and made my grapefruit gender juice often. I had a fresh juice every morning and sometimes one in the afternoon. I felt so full of energy all day while I was sipping my juice. On the downside this creates a large amount of compost and we do not have a lot of room. I am looking forward to the day when we have our own compost pile and do not have to worry about where to put my food scraps.
The total weight of our compost was 20.5 lbs.
3-RECYCLING
Again this week, we surprisingly did not have a lot of recycling. Our recycling bin seems to be a lot less full than previous weeks.
4-TRASH
We didn't do as well as previous weeks when it came to our trash. By all means, we didn't have a lot of trash- just more than our usual.
Our garbage this week comprised of the usual suspects: receipts, pieces of plastic from my Kombucha bottles, 1 piece of plastic wrap from tempeh, chip bag and a many random pieces of plastic.
5-TRAVEL
This week, we travelled home from Austin, the farmers market, Whole Foods, Arlington three times for little E's daycare, and did some local driving.
The total distance traveled on the TDI was 346.1 km ( 216 mi) and we filled up 37.9 L (10 gal) of diesel for 40.00
I would have flat out passed out right there when he said pay me next week. You are right though it is that type of ideology that just endears you to them. I wish we had a farmer’s market that worked with my crazy schedule. You think it is busy now. Wait until little one gets in school. Although, you live in Canada so maybe things are not as high pressure there. 🙂
I know! I thought it was fantastic! I love farmers markets
I had to smile when you talk about how much compost you create while juicing. My wife and I are having the same “problem”, we routinely juice large amounts of celery, carrots, apples, and kale Fortunately we have a large compost pile in the garden. Trust me, a lot of gardeners out there would envy your 20 lbs of compost! 🙂
LOL! We have been living away from home for 3 years so we have not been able to compost for ourselves, we have been bring it to local farmers and whole foods. I wish we could compost, but until we are home no dice. 🙂
Dumb question, but is that total amount for groceries for just one week of groceries or will that last you several weeks? I have been trying like crazy to get our costs down but I simply cannot do that without sacrificing how responsibly we eat. So I was just wondering how long you think that shopping will last you so that I can compare to our costs 🙂 Maybe I should publish mine too!
Jenny, not a dumb question. The fruits and veggies we generally eat in a week with a few stragglers left. I juice and eat a lot of produce since I am vegan. When it comes to nuts, seeds, beans, legumes etc I buy in bulk so they general last a month sometimes more sometimes less. The one thing we spend a lot of money on is food. We don’t really buy much else. For us, eating organic, local foods is important, so that is what we put a good chunk of our money! Yes, publish and write about what you buy and consume! 🙂