Want Alternative Fuel? D.C. Farmers Markets and Specialty Grocers Provide

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After my last post, The “High Fructose” States of  “Partially Hydrogenated” America, I decided that I can’t just rant and rave about how horrible our food options are without properly educating my reading audience about how to make the switch to the green side. In that post I eluded to alternative grocery stores and farmer’s markets as a great option in the Washington Metropolitan Area.

So lets get the most convenient method to get your alternative “fuel” out of the way, THE GREEN GROCERY STORES. I almost hate to call them grocery stores, because at these places you can get cleaning products, books, clothes, beauty/makeup, baby food/products, kitchen gadgets, skin care products, vitamins, etc. They are really like mini GREEN- Walmarts (without the Auto and Electronics sections)…..

Green Stores

If you aren’t quite ready to whip out your wicker basket and straw hat, you can still enjoy all the luxuries of good wholesome, clean, and organic, produce, meats, poultry, dairy, and packaged products at several of the following places. Its as easy as this:  Drive there instead of your normal grocery store, with your grocery list, ask for some assistance at the front, and voila!

1. Whole Foods Market (Fair Lakes, Vienna, Reston, Burke, Wisconsin Ave, P St, Gaithursburg, etc)

This is the grocery store that I frequent the most, and I absolutely love it. Whole Foods isn’t just a grocery store, its an experience. Not only do they offer probably the greatest variety of organic and natural products, in comparison to other natural stores (probably b/c they are a nationwide chain) they also offer a great variety of “other” foods that you sometimes find in recipes, like for example Marscapone cheese. So I would dub it not just a natural store, but a specialty store, all wrapped in one.

Their organic produce is separated into either “conventional” or “organic.” Organic can be from anywhere, but it will be certified organic. Conventional means that the item is brought from within a few hundred miles of where that particular Whole Foods is located unless the item cannot be grown in that area. (For example, pineapples do not grow in VA) Whole Foods enlists specialty shoppers to go out and hand pick their vendors based upon quality of product, quality growing practices, and the utmost care and concern for health and the environment. Therefore, even their conventional produce is of a high standard and freshness than what you’ll find at the regular grocery stores.

In addition to their produce, they offer a huge selection of hormone-free meats/poultry and wild-caught fish, and a phenomenal selection of wines and cheeses. The Fair Lakes location is probably the biggest in the area and has restaurants within the Whole Foods that serve everything from sushi to seafood and pizza.

Hands down, its a fabulous store and it is also rated as one of the top 50 best companies to work for by Fortune magazine. The atmosphere is lively and feels healthy unlike the cereal/candy aisle at your local Walmart where I don’t know what you’d see the likes of! Like anything else in life, you get what you pay for, and although the prices on things are more expensive, the quality can be tasted and in the long run will be reflected in the health of you and your family. Once I started buying produce at Whole Foods, I just couldn’t eat another Giant apple without cringing. Its that big of a difference.

Advantages:

• specialty items you can’t find at many other grocery stores
• largest variety of organic and natural products that I’ve seen
• offer coupons and sales just like regular stores, so you can often find deals on organic items that are priced similar to their non-organic counterparts
• refunds for bringing your own bags
• Whole Foods 365 Brand offers organic and natural products at cheaper prices

Disadvantages:

• can be more expensive if you are used to buying many packaged products

2. Trader Joes (25th st, reston/herndon, fairfax, centreville, springfield, alexandria, rockville, bethesda, silver spring, etc)

Its hard to describe exactly what Trader Joe’s is without selling it short. Yes, its a competitor of Whole Foods, and yes, it’s a natural and organic store. But they just do things different at this place. For starters, every Trader Joes’ I’ve been to tends to be small and have a small town general store feel to it. They offer organic products and their natural non-organic counterparts as well. However, the Trader Joe’s brand has some of the best stuff I have seen for a grocery store’s brand. For starters, my favorite peanut butter in the world is Trader Joe’s organic valencia peanut, peanut butter for $2.50.

Although their variety isn’t as great, they have much of the same offerings as Whole Foods, and you can find unique Trader Joe’s items, such as their natural oatmeal raspberry muffins that are to die for. They are made by Trader Joes so you won’t find anything like them anywhere.

They also have produce, meat and dairy, but to a smaller extent.

Advantages:

• prices are sometimes cheaper than Whole Foods for equal/better quality items
• Trader Joes’ brand products are top of the line and unique
• natural and organic offerings right down to chocolate and wine

Disadvantages:

• smaller variety or offerings
• not as many locations in the metro area

3. Also check out M.O.M. (My Organic Market) located in several locations in DC, but I have never been to it.

4. Wegmans also tends to carry a fairly well laid-out Natural and Organic section, but is totally eclipsed by #1/#2 above.  It’s not a bad place to start, especially if you already shop there. (I’ll also give Shoppers (at least the one in Herndon) an honorable mention, for making a conscious effort to carry a small selection of organics that are interspersed among the regular groceries).

5. Farmers Markets

If you’re ready to dive right in and jump off the large-scale conglomerate agricultural food train there are PLENTY of farmers markets in your neck of the DC woods to keep your fridge packed year round! I first found out about the abundance of farmer’s markets in this area in the summer of 2008 but didn’t start going on a weekly basis until this summer. I think part of that can be attributed to their odd hours (there is one on Thursdays from 2-5pm…WTF?) and to my uneasiness about just what I was going to be getting. So lets break it down here. I’ll show you how I do it, and you can take it from there.

I attend the Reston Farmer’s Market, which is every Saturday from 8am-12pm (Yes, I know it’s early!).  Now in the Dulles Corridor this is one of the bigger farmer’s markets, so this is why I like attending this one. I want to go to one place and get all my groceries for the week. Which brings me to my next point.  I go to the farmer’s markets once a week and buy ONE WEEK worth of whatever it is I need. Fresh is important, and is one of the things you pay for when buying locally.

Why Fresh Is Important

Fresh is important because from the minute that produce is picked from the tree, off the vine, etc, the item begins the decay process where it starts to lose it’s vitamin/mineral content. Vegetables lose approximately 75% of their vitamin C content after only ONE WEEK in the fridge. It’s natural. It’s SUPPOSED to happen. To combat this and achieve maximum nutrition, you want to eat your food as soon as it’s picked/killed/etc. (RIPE), whatever! This notion also extends to the condition in which you store your food. If you cut up all your fruits and vegetables they do decay faster and lose nutrients than if you keep them intact (skin/rind not broken) in your fridge and cut right before consumption. Wanna see what they’re packin (Your vegetables that is…NUTRIENTS!)?

If you think about buying groceries in the sense of nutrition, you want to pay the least amount of money for the most amount of nutrition. You wouldn’t buy a box of cereal that was $5 for 10 oz. when there was an identical box of cereal for $5 but was 15 oz… would you? Buying a 2wk old prematurely picked apple grown in New Zealand for 1.29$/lb may be cheaper initially vs. the organically grown apple picked yesterday in Loudon County count for $3/lb but you will have to eat many more of the New Zealand apples to quench your body’s need for the vitamins it contains!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but like I said earlier………………you get what you pay for!

So in essence, the $3/lb actually gives you MORE nutrients per $ paid. I would argue that that translates into more nutrients per calories which lends itself to a another common sense conclusion for all you out there watching your weight! You want to get the most nutrients per calorie consumed. Your body will continue to crave food until you provide it with all the energy it needs (not that much,… about 2500 cal/day for an average individual) and with all the nutrients it needs (vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, etc). One way people gain weight is consuming many calories (>2500cal/day) while not fulfilling their nutritional needs, but I’m off on a tangent. Maybe I’ll talk about that in my next post….for now I digress….

So the point is that Farmer’s Markets are a great place to get all the groceries you need but fresher and SAFER. See how a woman was paralyzed by eating bad meat here.

What to Bring to the Market (and what to expect)

There are 3 things I bring with me every time I go:

1. Cash
2. Reusable shopping bags (or your old plastic/paper bags from your trips to the grocery store)
3. Sunglasses
4. A list of groceries (duh!)

1. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I literally live on plastic. I hardly have cash, and rightfully so! I don’t know what happens to $50, when I’m out and about, but at least with credit cards, I can monitor my transactions and always have receipts. However, most farmer’s market vendors are….FARMERS. Generally, they are concerned more with growing their products, than providing a comfortable shopping experience for you. I’ve only seen one vendor in all my visits that had a CC machine, and it was one of those old swipe across kinds from the 60’s where they have to fill in the information by hand. Save yourself the trouble; bring some George’s.

2. It’s just easier. A lot of places provide those cheap plastic bags, kinda like the ones you get when you go to a cheap ass Chinese carry-out spot. The quality of their product did not spill over into the quality of their packaging devices. Bring your own bags. It’s easier and more Earth-friendly!

3. This one may seem obvious, but some of you may not realize that farmer’s markets are OUTSIDE. And for my melanin-challenged readers, I suggest sunscreen as well.

That’s it… that’s all you need. Now you’re ready to get fresh, go green, and have fun!

Other than the intended purpose of the place ( to get great fresh stuff), the farmer’s market is really a fun experience. There are usually unique vendors that offer some tasty treats. For instance, at the Reston Farmer’s Market, “A Bit More” Sweets, sells the most AMAZING cookies, and some other lady there makes fresh pet food! And the best kettle corn in the world comes from Colonial Kettle Corn. There are also people selling jewelry, hand make crafts, people playing music, and PLENTY OF FREE SAMPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s really a great weekend tradition that is a lot of fun. Totally trumps the Safeway frozen aisle experience….

Offerings at the Farmers Markets

I would suggest attending a larger farmer’s market on your first go-round, so you can experience what it’s like. But for the most part, every farmer’s market is different so I suggest going to the sites of these markets to see which vendors will be there and what they provide. They usually even provide a direct website to the farms and vendors that bring their products in so you can really do some research on their stuff. But in general, there are always vendors that provide fruits/vegetables/meats/eggs/cheeses, and baked goods.

Here is a specific list of things offered at Loudoun County Farmer’s Markets:

• Fresh/Frozen custom-cut meats
• Fruits
• Dairy Products (Cheese, Yogurt, etc)
• Eggs
• Breads & Pastries
• Vegetables
• Herbs
• Other Products (Wines, Salsas, Soaps, Pet Treats, etc) I’ve seen pesto, dip, kettle corn, smoothies… everything!

Virginia Farmer’s Markets

• Loudoun County Farmer’s Markets: Ashburn, Cascades, Leesburg, Middleburg, Purceville, Brambleton
• Fairfax County Farmer’s Markets: Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Vienna/Oakton, Frying Pan, Wakefield, Herndon, Annandale, McLean, Kingstowne, Burke, Reston, Lorton
• Prince William County Farmer’s Markets: Dale City

Maryland Farmer’s Markets

• Montgomery County Farmer’s Markets: Bethesda, Bethesda Central, Clarksburg, Crossroads, Gaithersburg, Gaithersburg Main St, Kensington, Montgomery Farm, Olney, Potomac, Rockville, Silver Spring, Tacoma Park, Wheaton
• Prince George’s County Farmer’s Markets: National Harbor, Bowie, Cheverly, College Park, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Laurel, Riverdale Park, USDA (Beltsville)
• Charles County Farmer’s Markets: La Plata, Waldorf

Washington DC Farmer’s Markets

• 14th St, Adam’s Morgan, Chevy Chase, Columbia Heights, Dupont Circle, Eastern Market, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, H St, Historic Brookland, Mount Pleasant, New Morning, Open Air, Penn Quarter, US D of A, US D of T, Ward 8

So there you have it. You are informed, prepared, and steered in the right direction to get your local shoppin’ on. Buying local and fresh has SO many advantages, not to mention it really supports your local community, rather than padding the pockets of conglomerate CEO’s. Right now is a great time to get out to the markets as fall is the last portion of the season for many of the smaller markets, as only a few go year round and during the winter have much smaller selections. But in our region, this is a GREAT time to get pumpkins and squash and the beginning of some of our late season root vegetables. Happy Fall and happy farmer’s market shopping!!!!

udothedishes . . .

Related posts:

1. The “High Fructose” States of “Partially Hydrogenated” America
2. Local Ish: Your Alternative 4th of July
3. Step Backwards our Communities are Dying
4. Now Fielding Your DMV Real Estate Questions
5. Washington D.C. Restaurant Week
6. Cashing in on Real Estate
7. Lawsons: Fully-Vested
8. Eastern Market Reopening
9. Sunday’s Food for Thought
10. Best Public School Rankings

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