to worry that market food is too cheap sometimes

[returningtotheuksoon]

Today I bought a kilogramme of cherries for €2 in Germany. That just seems far too cheap, they aren't even grown in the country (Italian). I've been enjoying them but I can't help think I may be supporting slave migrant workers. Back in the uk i suspect in wait rose these would be 8 times the price, but they would have a good supply chain.

Would they have a better supply chain though? Or would they just overcharge you for something you can buy at a fair price in other countries?

I love out local market. All the local produce at affordable prices.

Today I got:

Strawberrys
Apples
2 Cucumbers
Massive cauliflower
Broad beans
Peas
Runner beans
Peppers
Cherries

All for £8

All local.

You got English apples now? What variety are they? Or were they from cold storage?

I stopped buying early strawberries as this involved shipping in bees to use and then killing them all! Its no wonder bees are dying out. Locally produced isn't always lovley and fluffy.

No not apple season yet just coming into it. Think these are last years. We have a good farm nearby that has a huge Orchard with loads of varieties in, they tend to do an open day in August time where you get to try them all its brilliant.

Germany and Italy aren't that far apart. Plus I think you're forgetting that a stall holder who uses their own labour just pays for a comparatively cheap pitch and the petrol to take their goods from the wholesale market to their stall.

If you buy from Waitrose you are paying for massive building costs, lots of staff, high fuel bills, tax, administration, a large head office, plenty of packaging and a fleet of vehicles. And above all the marketing. Oh yes the marketing. Which seems to have done a bang up job on you.

Cherries are in season, both in Italy and the UK at the moment. Which means there's a glut of them and they need to sell them cheaply to get rid of them. If you were buying from Waitrose you'd be paying for all the things which make them last longer - sealed packaging, chilled trucks to transport, chilled shops etc. If I go to my local market I can get a bag of them for £1, but I know that even if I put them in the fridge immediately they need using within two days. Last time I bought Waitrose ones (half the amount for twice the price), they lasted two weeks in the fridge.

my apple tree is loaded with fruit but there is no way it is ready to eat yet, but i'm looking forward to getting started by early september !

I would be more concerned about supermarkets.Not only do they abuse their suppliers, they don't pass the savings on .
A friend who is a farmer recently had to sell tons of beetroot to ASDA for £0 because when the lorry turned up (having beaten him down to a ridiculously low price already)they changed their mind and decided they didn't want it, but would take it off his hands for nothing.This turned out to be his cheapest alternative.I bet they didn't sell it on for nothing.

Some of the food in markets will be that which has been rejected by the supermarkets for a variety of spurious reasons.

It will be absolutely fine, just not the exact size, shape, colour etc demanded by Tesco etc.

Waitrose fruit is ridiculously priced. I would be suspicious about what they had done to it, to make it last that long.

If you were a market stall holder, and you had a ton of cherries to sell because they were in season, and you knew that the cherries would soon go out of date, what would you do?

You'd sell them for a reasonable price, on the grounds that if you have a perishable commodity in stock, you're better off getting something for them than getting nothing for them, which is what would happen if they went mouldy!