to hate people who go to farmers' markets

[kittensrockmyworld]

I went past a famers market yesterday and the kids were totally sucked in by the cake stall, it was at this point that i had to drag them away due to the prices!

£5 for some chilly Jam & £10 for some pasta. Maybe I'm slightly jealous of people being able to afford it, however it is just plain annoying that people can waste so much money on the stuff!!!

YANBU. The stall holders totally see you coming. Sadly I'm a sucker for a nice chutney so I am one of the fools they fleece. I am deserving of your hatred

It's normally good quality food.

You hate them? Really?

Do you have any idea how much it costs to make things like jam and chutney from scratch just by ingredients? Factor in the time element plus jars and people do it for love not profit.

Chuckling at 'chilly' jam though!

YABU

You should try and support local businesses whenever possible.

Farmer's markets round 'ere are cheap as chips.

I don't hate the people. I hate the farmers markets though. I always think of bit of genius when they are mentioned.

YABU I buy locally whenever I can.

I 'waste' my money at farmers markets buying locally produced meat that I know contains what it says on the label, for not much more money than I'd pay in the supermarket.

Hate away, if it makes you happy.

I do go to the local farm shop for some bits. It's not all that poncey.

Depends on the market doesn't it. There are poncy ones that charge a fortune and cater to Waitrose shoppers and there are ones that really are farmers markets that are jut selling their stuff for good prices. Just like there are farm shops that charge a fortune and then there are ones like our farm shop which is the farmer selling his meat from a little shop and is cheap as chips for well reared aberdeen angus and such.

YANBU
Round here they are just the same suppliers as the garden centre shops and just the same very affluent pensioners prices.

YY round here they are like that Startail. VV expensive. they set up stalls on a Saturday in town.

The ones actually on farms are better.

Did they chilly jam have a little scarf?

In London they are pretty much the only alternative to the supermarkets and I am glad that we have one locally.

Feel free to hate me. I have to say, I really couldn't give less of a fuck! :)

I knew that link would be Armstrong and Miller before I even clicked on it.

I will pay for quality stuff and like it even more if it is locally sourced, but famers' markets round here are overpriced. I would love to ask if they are actually farmers too.

sparklingbrook - brilliant! And a cameo from Morton Harket to boot!

There is a farmers market set up in our town centre occasionally, The woman who runs the cake stall also runs the cafe on my local park. So shes not really a farmer

I paid £1 for an onion in one of them, I think it is expensive to produce food locally but farmshops are becomming this kind of gourmet shops where everything is expensive, whether that is justified or not. Not all the products they sell are good enough for the price.

I quite like a Pick your Own place.

My MIL has one near her, and pays £5 for a couple of slices of ham

When she came to visit she had the shock of her life when she could buy a massive sack of potatoes for the same price, and crate of meat for £30.

Depends where you live/how gullible the local populace are.

Mine isn't that much more that Tesco.

I tend to buy our meat there, coz I know it's been cared for and killed properly. None of your battery hens and pigs thanks.

£8 for a shoulder of local lamb isn't taking the piss, and it's what we're having today.

Thank you Sparklinbrook that link started my day of with a grin.

Farmers markets sometimes look expensive because supermarkets have hugely distorted what we think food should cost.

As other posters have already said, if you cost up what it costs to make good quality cakes etc with real butter and free range eggs at home, they appear to be expensive, compared with cakes from the supermarket. I once made some rocky road for a cake sale at work and worked out that the ingredients to make a small tray of the stuff (chocolate, nuts, dried fruit etc) had cost about £8 to buy, and that was from Aldi.

Add on even minimum wage for time spent if you're doing it as a business and you start to see how FM costs are arrived at.

However, the quality of the farmers markets stuff will be several leagues above most supermarket produce. Next time you're in a supermarket, have a look at the ingredients in manufactured cake and see how many unrecognisable ingredients they are. Most ready meals etc are produced using imported meat, where animal welfare is very poor. And obviously there's the whole horsemeat issue.

I buy meat from farm shops, some is much cheaper than supermarkets, some might be more expensive, but its all locally produced, I know whats in it and that the animals have been treated well and the producers have been paid fairly for their labours. It is unlikely that any of these points apply to most supermarket produce.

HAHAHA Sparkling I hadn't seen that.. PMSL at Morten's Mustard!! And yes, if I'd a pound for every Bugaboo I've seen at our local market I'd be a millionaire