How I Tried to Break Our Market Curse
The Adelaide Central Market is a local icon and has quite a reputation as the place to go for your fresh produce, but I will admit…. we are not market people.
We have attempted a few times but it never ends well.
Things just seem to happen when we go to the market which means we end the trip in tears….and it’s not always Miss Logical or Master Mayhem that’s doing the crying.
For example:
Gingerbread biscuits are dropped before a bite is taken,
Organic chillies are bought for extravagant prices,
Miss Logical trips over laces, vegetable carts, tables…,
Master Mayhem messes with cheese stands,
Smoothies are spilt everywhere…,
Tears ensue… always.
So it was with some trepidation that I headed back to the Adelaide Central Markets on the weekend. I had begged planned with Mr T for us to go on a Saturday afternoon, just before closing time to get the best deals, which as it turns out is also the busiest time to go to the markets (who’d have thought!)
I imagined us leaving the markets triumphantly, our bags of fruit and veg bargains raised in joy and therefore breaking our market curse.
As it was the trip didn’t go quite as planned but it did go smoothly. Miss Logical and Master Mayhem fell asleep in the car which meant Mr T was quite happy to sit and listen to the football while I got to stroll around the markets at my leisure.
I say stroll but it was more of a panicked frenzy as I ran from vegetable cart to vegetable cart, sometimes just going round in circles never quite sure if I was getting a ‘bargain’ or not.
In the end I did exit triumphantly with a bag of mandarins for 70 cents, a bag of carrots for $1 and a bag of mushrooms for $3.50. So with the addition of a couple of chocolate freckles (with one thrown in for free – yahoo!) to keep the troops happy I only spent $6.20.
I was quite happy with my loot and am now trying to think of ways to incorporate my carrots and mushrooms into a lasagne.
Have I broken the curse? Well, I somehow managed to lose ten bucks in my frenzy so my whole ‘bargain’ trip actually ended up costing me $16.20. (D’oh!)
While I’m not prepared to say it’s broken just yet, I am feeling confident enough to keep trying.
Are you a market regular and have any tips? If in SA, do you have any particular markets you would recommend?
I love going to markets, but I definately choose carefully.
In Melbourne there are loads of local farmers markets where you can buy and try fresh fruit and veg, free range eggs, cheese etc.
They are usually small enough, about 25 stalls and enough free tastings to keep the kids entertained.
They’re not always a cheap option, but its nice knowing I’m giving my money directly to the growers and producers that are from my local region.
There is one in Mt Barker, might be worth a drive?
Mt Barker could definitely be an option. Thanks for the hot tip. Yes, perhaps I need to start small and build up to the bigger ones to really become a market pro!