Noticed something wild at the Portland farmers market last weekend

I was at the Portland farmers market on Saturday and saw a guy selling produce for half the price of the stall next to him. Same tomatoes, same peppers, but he had way less fancy packaging and no signs. People were walking right past him to grab the pricier stuff. I asked him why he charges less and he said he grows everything in his backyard with no loans or overhead. It got me thinking about how much of my grocery budget goes to branding instead of food. Has anyone else checked out smaller vendors at their local market and found way better deals?

2 comments

2 Comments

white.alex18d ago

I actually talked to that guy for a few minutes after buying a basket of his cherry tomatoes for four bucks. He told me he used to work at a big farm outside of Salem but got tired of all the rules about labeling and packaging. Now he just shows up with cardboard boxes and lets the quality speak for itself. His peppers were way better than the ones I got from the fancy stall last month too. Makes me wonder how many of those "artisan" vendors are just buying from the same wholesalers and slapping on a sticker.

jackson.jenny18d ago

Whoa, wait - four bucks for a whole basket of cherry tomatoes? That's wild. I've been playing six or seven dollars for those little plastic clamshells at the grocery store and they go bad in like two days. And you're telling me this guy just rolls up with some cardboard boxes and sells them for less than half that? Man, that really makes you think. I bet half those "farm to table" vendors at the nicer markets are doing the exact same thing, just with fancier packaging and a higher price tag.