Farmer's Market: Tips for Getting the Most for Your Money

I love farmer's markets. The main reason? I love food, of course. At local farmer's markets, you'll find the freshest produce. It's grown locally and it really does have a straight-from-the-garden taste. Farmer's Markets are often colorful places and just capture the essence of summer.

The big surprise at this year's farmer's markets: the price. But don't despair. Unlike grocers, you can use a few strategies to get the most for your money at markets. Try these tips.

1. Negotiate. In most cases, the people you meet are vendors. They buy the produce and bring it to the market much like a grocer. The advantage to the vendor, though, is that the produce is local and it is fresh. Unlike their grocery store competitors, they're also not locked into the price. Consider this approach: I'm looking for larger cucumbers, but I notice all you have are the small ones. These are a gamble for me, because sometimes the smaller ones are bitter. I don't want to pay 75 cents a cucumber only to throw them away when I get home. Would you consider 50 cents? That would make it a safer gamble for me.

2. Shop after lunch. Vendors are usually eager to head back to their farm (or to their supplier) in the early afternoon. At about 1 or 2 p.m. in many areas, vendors have sold out of most items. One may have some tomatoes, another cucumbers and another green beans. I've bought vegetables for about 25 percent of the original price using this strategy.

3. Ask for any "must eat today" produce. Consider this the clearance aisle of the vendor's space. You will have to eat, can or freeze the produce that day, but you'll get the biggest savings. I've bought a bushel of beans for a dime on the dollar this way. I went home and froze the beans. When thawed and served for supper, the beans tasted as good as if they had been bought fresh off the vine.