What a way to start a Saturday shopping at our local farmer’s market, due to some health challenges I am currently facing, my doctors have advised me that I need to be more proactive in my health and change my diet around for a while to see if this will improve things. That means for me cutting back on meat, now I am not going vegetarian completely as I do like meat and I have always suffered from Anemia even as a child. But they did state I need to cut back on it, for me I decided this means only consuming it three times a week, now I do know my body is going to go through a transition as I do this. This might mean feeling more tired to begin with, maybe some stomach discomfort but in the long run if I am healthier then it is all worth it.

I am lucky enough to have amazing girlfriends to can help me create some wonderful healthy recipes with this new path I am taking. But I wanted to not only wanted to change my diet but also my life in general. I want to live a sustainable life, making less of a foot print on our planet. So I have been slowly changing how my family does things. From how we package things instead of using plastic, we are using glass containers, switch from using plastic bags to using cloth or mesh bags (which I have just ordered a bunch from amazon), to buying more food that is fresh and not packaged. Today we did just that, going to the farmer’s market today, my daughter and I used our wicker baskets to carry our items in. My daughter enjoyed it so much getting to choose her fruits and vegetables and place them into her basket and carry them around with pride.  What I find great about farmers markets is go get to talk to the people who grow and harvest the food you are going to eat. It gives you more knowledge about where your food comes from, thus giving more control on what you are putting into your body. Now around us we do not have weekday farmers markets ( I seriously wish we did though), they are only available on Saturday and sometimes Sunday depending on what market you go to. We usually a patrons of the Campbells farmer market located in downtown Campbell, however I have been finding the urge to explore other areas and lucky for me we found just the right one today. Saratoga Farmer’s Market this wonderful slice of heaven is located at West Valley College in Parking lot 1, it has over fifty vendors from produce, to meat, nuts, bread, and tons of flowers ( I have an addiction to having fresh flowers in my home). We arrived about 30 minutes after it had opened which was a good thing as by the time we left an hour later it was getting packed (Hint: getting early to the market means you get the first pick at the produce which I love).

Now as you can see from my pictures I got a lot of wonderful items , my total spent was 50 dollars!! Can you believe that, I was in shock that is half the amount I spend at the grocery store for almost the same items. My big purchases were the fresh squeezed orange juice, eggs, and berries ( half gallon $9, 3 dozen brown eggs $9 and 3 bushel of berries $10), but let me list of for you what I got. Now take this into account I am feeding a family of three people, so obviously I buy a little bit more since I am not a party of one or even two.

Haul: 3 dozen brown eggs, Half gallon fresh orange juice, 1 basket strawberry, 1 basket blackberries, 1 basket raspberries, 2 head of large Romaine lettuce, 2 bunches spinach, 1 bunch kale, 4 sweet potatoes, 3 white nectarines, 2 red pluot, 2 yellow pluot, 1 lb finger potatoes, 1 vine of grapes, 2 bunches beets, 1 bunch radishes, 2 zucchini, 1 lb green beans, 1/2 brown mushrooms,  1 small watermelon, 2 heads of bok choy, 1 bunch of carrots, 1 bunch of multicolored carrots , oh and 6 honey sticks for a $1 (my daughter was beyond excited).

Now looking at that, oh my goodness I got a bang for my buck to feed my family and create some amazing meals. Not only did I get great food for my family, but I supported my local market and these farmers who’s products I bought, which always is a wonderful thing to do. also because I used my baskets instead of plastic bags I didn’t create any unnecessary waste. Now I plan on cooking all this wonderful food this week, as I don’t want to waste I morsel of it. But for some reason if they are started to meet the end of there freshness, a type I learned from my girlfriend many is to cut them up and place them in the freezer for smoothies, this a great thing to do with berries, apples, and bananas I have found. I am looking forward to next Saturday and seeing what amazing food items I can get!

PS :Saratoga Farmer’s market also had a fresh sea food stand were I saw people picking fresh calms, muscles, and also fish, there was also a cheese and pasta stand. I defiantly will explore that next time. What’s your favorite farmers markets?

Love,  Allie