Mid-Michigan Dining

WILX picked up on what I’ve been saying for quite a while.  Ditch the supermarket when you can and you’ll get fresher food. (I’ve made grammar corrections so they story makes sense)

To compare the prices at the Farmers Market to the Supermarket we bought all of the same items that Anne bought at a local grocery store, broccoli, zucchini and 10 baby potatoes, now while we may have spent the same amount of money at (as) Anne this (the) difference is her produce will likely last longer; us on the other hand, we’ll probably have to make another trip back to the grocery store pretty soon.

“Really we’re getting produce here usually just a day after it’s been harvested, as a oppose(d) to  (a) supermarket(.) (I)it could be a couple days or a couple weeks,” said Earl Threadgould, a Farmers Market vendor.

The local grocery stores we contacted said they get trucks of produce 5 days a week but they couldn’t tell us when they’d been picked and said most don’t even come with the a packing date.

“The customer buying produce here will have a longer shelf life of most of the post of the produce then what you would get in the supermarket,” Threadgould said.

Besides the fact that WILX is making assumptions they can’t back up (“we’ll probably have to make another trip….”) and the grammer sucks, they hit on something that’s kind of disturbing.  Grocery stores can’t tell you when their produce was picked?  They probably should have named stores and quoted direct answers.  That’s a pretty broad statement. 

More supermarkets are putting an emphasis on produce and that’s what is drawing customers back.  Meijer built their brand around a good selection of fresh produce.  If you’ve noticed Wal-Mart recently has been putting more effort into theirs as well.  They will never be as good as a Farmer’s Market because there’s not enough local supply to stock the mega-marts, but it’s much better than it used to be.  I would also dispute the idea that a Farmer’s Market is cheaper.  From the Farmer’s Market’s I’ve been to, they’re usually a little more expensive. 

I know someone who works in the produce department of a supermarket….maybe she can shed some light on this subject.