Last time, I wrote about how we budget and today I’ll share our splurges at the farmers market. It was the first farmers market of the year and it wasn’t raining! If you know anything about the Pacific Northwest, you know to get going when it’s not raining. We haven’t been out for quite a while so we had a bunch of cash allowance saved up.
I was really surprised by the amount of vegetables for sale so early in the season, but I suppose the farmers must have nice big green houses. Also, I’m taking a tax deduction for my new Sigma lens so there are quite a few pictures in this post. 😉
Here are our farmers market splurges
Baguette – $2
Venison Pate – $7 (This pate was so good, I feel sorry for the vegetarians!)
Saucisson Sec – $9 (This was really a splurge. We usually don’t buy salami, but the sample got us hooked. What the heck, we are supporting a local business right?)
Macaroons – $1.75 each (I think this was pretty pricey, but I have never had one before and Fabulously Broke is always writing about macaroons. 🙂 They were good, but just a touch too sweet for me.)
Chevre with a layer of chopped Kalamata olives on top – $8 (The chevre tasted so fresh and light, this must be what foodies mean by Spring Cheese. This chevre used to be $6 a few years ago, inflation is no fun. )
A baker’s dozen of sweets – $8 (So Good, I can hear James Brown sing!)
Brie from Safeway snuck it’s way into the picture somehow. 🙂
Usually we don’t splurge quite as much, but what the heck, it’s the first farmers market of the year. Since we saved up our cash allowance, we did not feel guilty about these purchases and we enjoyed them tremendously. What about you, any splurges lately? How is the farmers market in your neck of the woods?
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Yum.
I love good food. I will always pay more for a quality product especially when it comes to food. Yeah, I shop sales on some stuff, but if I can really notice a difference, I’m okay paying more.
Our farmers market sells these coconut macaroons that are like 100 times better than the ones I tried making, so now I’ll splurge.
Gorgeous photos. I wish our growing season was longer. I’d love for my farmer’s market to be open right now.
Thanks! We love good food too. Usually we limit ourselves to $25 when we go to the farmer market, but this time we wanted to splurge a bit.
Amazing pictures, perhaps you should look into photo blogging, too? Yummy. Occassional splurging is nice. Saving all your money and not enjoying is taking it to the extreme.
Oh man, those pictures make me want to splurge!!! I dont go to the farmers market that much for that very reason, I know I will go crazy with the spending and the cute things and knick knacks and pretty packaging.
Yum yum!
There are tons of farmers markets around here, I like how you can talk to the vendors and ask where things come from etc.
It all looks Great! Sometimes you just gotta splurge. Our farmer’s market won’t get going until later in April. In the meantime, we went and splurged at a middle Eastern market.
In our area, there are a lot of farmer’s market that you can go too. I believe you can buy a lot of organic food in there. We go and shop there once in a while because of the savings that it provide.
Food is my weakness or should I say joy! That is one reason why I avoid the farmer’s market. I would lose control in a New York minute. As I read about those tasty treats, I am getting hungry.
We love good food! Quality over quantity for us. 🙂
Those little gluten free pies look amazing! Makes me want to spontaneously make some dessert…
The Mrs. turns up her nose when she hears gluten free. 🙂 It’s always a bit off.
Here in Canada the produce hasn’t started coming out of the ground (it’s still frozen!) but we LOVE our farmer’s market.
We actually made a conscious decision last year to increase our food budget by 66% (+$200) just so we could buy local organic foods from our farmer’s market and grocer. We want to support the local small farms while getting super healthy food. Yes, $2400 a year could be invested but we figure we’re investing in our health, in small businesses that spend money where we live and in our community as a whole.
The produce at our farmer market cost quite a bit more than our grocery store, but we still try to support the farmers. I heard that farm stalls are quite a bit cheaper and we’ll try to find them this summer. Less over head, I think the farmer market charges quite a bit of money to rent space.
We also have a community garden down stair, but it doesn’t get enough sun so…. Our farmer market is quite expensive. I think we’ll try to find a cheaper farm stand this summer.
It’s going to be a while before a farmer’s market opens here, but in the summer I do like to splurge on it every now and then… it’s not cheap, but everything there tastes so good and fresh.
We don’t splurge every time we go, but this was the first time this year so we let it go a bit. 🙂
Our farmer’s market won’t be open for a while (shoot, it’s actually snowing today in my neck of the woods).
It could be the fact that I’m hungry right now, but your pictures look fabulous!
Now, I’m ready for my area’s farmer market to be open 🙂
I can’t wait for the weather to get warmer. Thanks!
Hey, you can’t put a price on eating healthy! Plus you are supporting your local community not some corporation.
BTW, you take excellent pictures!
Thanks!!! The key to taking good pictures is to take a lot of pictures. heh heh. It’s much easier with digital camera these days.
Oh, I am so jealous!!! 🙂 It will still be another two months before we have our farmer’s market, and it never looks as good as this one. I am glad you enjoyed!
Really? I thought you guys were in farm country. 🙂
Nom!
My wife and I will be splurging on food soon too! We are moving in the next couple of days, and I realized that we won’t have any food at all in our new place! Time to rack up some bills….
Hope you guys found a nice place to live!