I've been going to the Lewiston Farmer's Market quite a bit this summer and am pleased to say it draws a bigger crowd each week. I am in the process of changing my cooking ingredients over to anti-inflammatory foods for my health, so preservatives and other chemical ingredients from industrialized foods have to go. This has led me to do a lot of price comparison between our usual grocery store, the Auburn Hannaford, and the Lewiston Farmer's Market. I have found that all Hannafords seem to have the same prices. I'll share with you what I discovered, but keep in mind, this is a snapshot of the prices on the day I was there. Prices and availability come and go.
There is fresh lobster available at both locations, the Hannaford offers them from $5.99 to $6.99/lb.
The lobster at the Farmer's Market was $3.99/lb, from the lobsterman himself, presumably.
Hannaford had Canadian blueberries for $2.99 for a pint on sale, regular price $4.99. Canada does follow European standards for pesticides, GMOs, etc, and I do not know how they maintain freshness for shipping. I use the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables most tainted with pesticides and blueberries are not on the list.
The Farmer's Market had local, fresh picked, pesticide free blueberries for $5.50 a pint, $7.00 a quart.
Hannaford's hot house tomatoes were $1.99/lb and what I consider the tastier ones for $2.99/lb. These tomatoes were not advertised as organic. I learned from the Hannaford Produce Department about Backyard Farms' tomato crop succumbing to white fly invasion. They had to rip out all of their tomato crop and replant, so it will be October before they will be available. We love their tomatoes, usually picking up 4 a week averaging about $1 apiece, so we will be looking for a new tomato to hold us over till then.
The Market had tomatoes from several local farmers from $2.99/lb for regular slicers to $3.99/lb for a mix and match of several varieties, all with claims of no pesticide use. Heirloom tomatoes were available at a higher cost, but would make the most delicious tomato sandwiches.
Organic Maple Syrup at Hannaford was $6.19 for 8 fl oz (77 cents per fl oz). The Pure Maine brand of Maple Syrup was $18.99 per quart (59 cents per fl oz).
The Market had organic Maple Syrup for $22 per quart (69 cents per fl oz).
The fresh produce at the Hannaford has always been of good quality but most is conventionally grown, though they do have many organic fruits and vegetables available. Conventional cucumbers - 99 cents each, organic garlic in packaging - 99 cents, conventional onions - $1.59 to $1.99 per lb depending on the variety, conventional beets - $2.99 per bunch, conventional carrots - $1.69 per bunch of 3 medium sized carrots.
The Market has many vegetable farmers to choose from and their produce varies in type and weight per bunch. All organic and local, the prices were: cucumbers - 50 cents each, garlic - $1 for a large head, onions, beets and carrots - $2 per bunch. The bunches were slightly larger than those at the Hannaford, but honestly I did not weigh them. The prices and the size of the bunches were close in comparison, but knowing the vegetables were organically grown and transported less than 50 miles that very morning was (and always is) a great relief to me. The Auburn Hannaford now features a table of fresh produce from a local farm which is awesome. They are feeling the pressure to compete with the Farmer's Market which is a free market system on its best behavior.
Observe shoppers in the produce department and observe your own habits as you determine which piece of fruit or which bunch of herbs you choose. The choice is made carefully, bringing several, if not all of your senses into play. At the Farmer's Market, you can use these senses to assess the farmer as well as the produce. Looking someone in the face and speaking to them, assessing their eyes and their smile gives you information you never get when buying from a store. Speaking to the produce manager at Hannaford will give you honest information but he didn't actually grow the stuff.
It is the meat department that the difference is most pronounced. I'll say right now, the meats at the Farmer's Market are more expensive than at the Hannaford. Many years ago, we switched from buying meats at the Hannaford to buying from a local, independent butcher, Pat's Meat Market in Portland. Most of their meats were driven up from Boston but the quality and taste was much better that even the best meats at Hannaford. Conventionally farmed meat is extremely worrisome. It is industrially farmed and contributes to the damage to our ecosystem and to our health far more than any other industry. There is much written and reported on this topic so I won't go into that here, but rather focus on costs. The true cost of industrially farmed meats is not reflected in the price we pay. Due to the corrupted state of our law-making and enforcing systems, extreme costs are deflected and go unpaid by the manufacturers of conventional meats to make the price we pay artificially low. This ensures maximum profits for agri-business leaders. Know that when I type the word meat, it is actually a living creature we are talking about and I do consider the cost of brutality and cannot support it with my dollar. I also consider packaging and shipping as part of cost. The meat at the Market is minimally packaged and minimally shipped and that, to me is worth paying for.
The Hannaford's price for their highest quality meat, with no guarantee of being pharmaceutical or pesticide free: Shoulder steak - $7/lb, Ribeye - $8/lb, Ground Beef - $6/lb, Sirloin - $8/lb, Stew Meat - $5/lb, Whole Chicken - $1.49/lb, Beef Ribs were on sale for $2.59/lb.
At the Market is Erskine Farm, where 3rd generation owners Charlie and Iris, raise all natural, hormone free beef, chicken, rabbit and pork; they butcher the meats themselves along with Bubier Farm's products. They also keeps bees for honey, make meat pies and sausage to sell, and have fresh, free range wholesome eggs. Charlie and Iris are sitting right there and can tell you all about it, if you want to ask.
There are several other farmers which feature all natural, hormone free meats at the Market, I described Erskine Farm because I have purchased from them but I will, in turn describe the others as I buy from them. This is a link to Meet the Vendors Meet the Vendors
Farmer's Market prices for meats: Shoulder Steak - $8.50/lb, Ribeye - $14/lb, Ground Beef - $5/lb, Ground Rabbit - $9/lb, Ground Veal - $8/lb, NY Sirloin - $12/lb, Stew Meat - $6/lb, Whole Chicken - $4.50/lb, Beef Ribs - $8.50/lb. These prices reflect the true cost of sustainable, humane and wholesome farming. What is your health and the health of the planet worth? Don't wait till your health is compromised before you consider this question.
In my next post, I will present more findings from my price checking. I'm in Portland from time to time, so I've compared prices of the new anti-inflammatory items on my grocery list at: Target, Walmart, the Big Hannaford, and Whole Foods, all in the Portland area, and our own long time health food store in Auburn, Axis.
Thank you for reading!
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