By Samantha Moll
With the Fourth of July weekend fast approaching, many students are starting to plan cookouts. Students looking for the right ingredients for a fruit dish or salad might want to consider skipping the supermarket and instead shop for locally-grown produce.
By shopping locally, students can find food that fits their lifestyles and budgets.
With two pints of strawberries for $2, 10 limes for a dollar and five pounds of potatoes for $3, Haymarket is a popular place for people to buy cheap produce, herbs, fish, meat and cheese.
Located on and around Blackstone Street, a block away from Faneuil Hall, Haymarket has been a Boston institution for more than one hundred years.
Sanat Regmi, a middler electrical engineering major, said he frequents the Haymarket vendors.
“I like to walk around for a while and compare the prices at different vendors before buying,” Regmi said.
Although he said the vendors are sometimes rude and the walkways are always crowded, Regmi said he enjoys Haymarket because the prices are lower than at the grocery store.
Haymarket is open every Friday and Saturday from dawn to dusk. To get there take the T’s Orange or Green lines to the Haymarket stop.
Although the farmers’ markets in Boston are slightly more expensive than Haymarket, the produce and other goods all come from local farms in Massachusetts.
According to the Federation of Massachusetts farmers’ markets’ website, the City Hall Plaza and the Copley Square markets are the only two farmer’s markets in Boston managed by the Federation of Massachusetts farmers’ markets, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping support 150 farms in Massachusetts.
Some of the vendors’ goods can be expensive, said Shirlui Meng, a middler economics major. However, she said she likes the variety of the farmer’s market.
“There are many choices of fresh fruits and vegetables,” Meng said.
The City Hall Plaza Farmers’ Market is open from now through Nov. 26 Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. To get there take the Green line to Government Center.
The Copley Square farmers’ market is open from May 20 to November 25 Tuesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and typically has more vendors. To get there take the Green line to Copley Square.
While not a farmers’ market, Whole Foods does offer produce and other goods from local farms, along with the conveniences of a grocery store.
The closest store, on Westland Avenue, receives direct deliveries of a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs from two local farms twice a week, said Chuck Olivieri, a Whole Foods spokesperson.
Buying locally-grown food has several benefits to the consumer, the environment and the economy, Olivieri said.
“The produce is fresher because it’s not shipped from California or something, which also saves on energy costs,” Olivieri said. “Buying local food also supports the local economy.”
