I just returned from an amazing visit to the San Francisco Bay area of California–where I am originally from. During my stay, I took a weekend roadtrip to Lake Tahoe for a friends party. Traveling today is expensive, but one thing that gets CHEAPER as you travel is the prices of my favorite foods… produce! Veggies and fruit prices seem to plummet as you drive out towards the farms…
Lets take a look at just how LOW they can go. AND my Whole Foods Market debate….READ ON! I had STICKER SHOCK as I roamed the aisles of my NYC Whole Foods today. $2.99 a pound for apples, $2.50 per avocado, $2.99 per pound of oranges, 50 cents for one small lime. Now the quality is amazing at my Whole Foods, but its not as farm fresh as the stands along California back country roads. A few of those prices said 39 cents a pound for apples, 5 ears of corn for $1, 2 for $1 avocados, $1 heirloom tomatos…I could go on but you get my point.
We always seem to rave over the quality of life in our big luxurious cities like New York or Boston or Los Angeles. But isn’t eating healthfully and affordably a big part of ones quality of life? Now I don’t suspect I will be seeing anyone pick up and leave the big cities for 39 cent/pound apples, but with the economy in a headlock right now it feels like eating healthy foods is harder than ever. Since when does one large peach cost $2.74!! (Yes I paid this much for a beautiful one…)
It seems sadly that eating at fast food restaurants might come back in style if the prices of produce don’t start to drop for us city dwellers..I love having everything I want just a few blocks away, but is it worth the premium price? And is my quality of life in the higher-paying job city area really BETTER than those in farmland, USA????
All I want is the old days when farm fresh peaches were on sale for 19 cents a pound… Not $2.74 per peach……
Do they have exotic fruit like Ugli fruit and Star fruit at the farmers market?
I love farmers markets. LA has a great one. But its still not the same as cheap far fresh produce.