Loading up at farmers' markets & cycling

[MarieV]

What about eggs? How do you keep them from breaking on the ride home? The first few times I bought eggs at the farmers market, half of them were broken by the time I got home.

[OakLeaf]

I've never broken an egg, but then my ride to the farmers market is only about 4.5 miles with only a few really jarring bumps.

My panniers are fairly square on the bottoms, bungied at the bottoms so they don't bounce against the rack. I put the egg cartons at the bottom so they can stay flat.

Avoid soggy cardboard cartons if the farmer has other options. A lot of times if I'm on my bike, they'll specifically pull out one of the two-layer PET cartons for me, but if your market allows the farmers to re-use cartons, then they should have lots of EPS cartons, which are almost as protective. If all they have is cardboard, and if the market requires the vendors to refrigerate eggs, then in summer you might need to reinforce your pannier with maybe a piece of plywood, or some of that corrugated plastic signboard, cut to fit, so the carton doesn't sag when the eggs sweat moisture. Or get a top box that will stay flat on top of your rear rack, and cushion it with a piece of EPS packaging material, some foam, or just a folded towel.

But if I had to transport ripe tomatoes, especially slicing tomatoes (vs sturdy paste tomatoes), I'd drive too.

[MarieV]

I have a big grocery basket that attaches to my rear rack, so it has a large flat surface. The eggs at our market aren't refrigerated. I usually bring my own cardboard cartons and put the eggs at the bottom of the basket and stack flats of berries, meat, vegetables, etc., on top of the eggs. It's only 1.5 miles and mostly flat to/from my house to the farmers market, but our roads are pretty rough, so unless I ride super slow (<6-7 mph), everything bounces around. Would bungee cords work, or would the eggs still break from bouncing in the cartons?

[smilingcat]

Big beefsteak tomato must be the "mortgage lifters" or one of brandywine, cherokee or Kellogs breakfast... I'm on the other side as a vendor at a farmers market. As for safely transporting tomatoes and eggs. Definitely place tomatoes single layer in a hard container such as tupper ware. place something to cushion the bottom and sides so it doesn't rattle around. Bubble wrap works, soft terry cloth works, paper towel works if it is loosely wadded up but not too loose. regular paper is a big no no. And don't squeeze the ripe tomatoes. They will bruise and shorten the shelf life!!

Eggs, we have to have a label on them. We use paper egg carton and yes it has to be refrigerated by law in Oregon. having the egg carton sit on a stiff flat surface and then wrap the carton in something to cushion such as a bubble wrap is a great idea. Egg shells on our eggs are pretty hard, it shouldn't be all that fragile. Find out what the chicken are fed. It should have lots of green such as carrot tops, beet tops dark greens, and some regular feed. There are soy free feed available for chicken. Organic certified is good. Animal Welfare Approved is good.

If you want to try something different:
ball zucchini (8-ball or rhonde de Nice), armenian cucumber (light green skin looks like melon very mild tasting), lemon cucumber (dark yellow is the color you want. can get to be tennis ball size again mild without the cucumber bitter taste). Japanese suyo cucumber (don't let the alligator looking skin turn you off. It's crunchy and tasty). If you want a purple cauliflower that stays purple after steaming or cooking, look for graffiti while other varieties of purple cauliflower will turn green upon cooking.

another bummer weekend at the market. Last weekend, it was blazing hot so no one was out shopping. 100F in pacific northwest is unheard of well almost. Today was rain day with less than 70F for the high. burrr... Welcome to PNW weather...

What happens to produce we don't sell? We donate it to local food pantry. It's the only right thing to do!! Less fortunate people should have access to high quality food and not just canned/processed food.

[lph]

What happens to produce we don't sell? We donate it to local food pantry. It's the only right thing to do!! Less fortunate people should have access to high quality food and not just canned/processed food.

Smilingcat, you're awesome, you know that?

[rebeccaC]

We have a number of farmer markets in my area with all of them being year round. Saturdays I can walk across the street to a small farmers market for salad and micro greens, Indian food ingredients, artisanal items, a vegetable breakfast crepe and of course chocolate hazelnut truffles. On Wednesday there is a very large farmers market with a huge selection a few blocks from where I work and on Sundays there is one in size that’s between those two and closer than the Wed one. Mostly on Sunday and sometimes on Wed I get berries/fruit, veggies, Maggie Farms organic greens/herbs, Asian ingredients, great breads and on Sunday sometimes breakfast with friend/s. Heirloom tomatoes, ‘Orange Flesh’ or smaller ‘Sun kiss” melons and Flame and Black Emerald grapes are all in the Sunday and Wed. markets at the moment. I can ride with a melon or hard fruits/root veggies in a day backpack and other foods just in a front basket (with a thick anti-vibration foam pad in the bottom) with harder foods on the bottom and berries, eggs, greens on top. Never had a problem with any of it. I use a soft canvas grocery bag that fits in the front basket. Crossing the handle straps over the bag and attaching them to the sides of the basket keep things secure. We have a market refrigerator in the office for people needing to use it on Wed or store those market foods for lunches.
At both the Sunday and Wed markets there are bike racks set out for around 75 or so bikes and they are usually close to being filled during market hours.

For eggs I just keep reusing a container I got with store bought eggs that keeps them reasonably cushioned and protected. Never had a problem.

[smilingcat]

YiXing teapot! I've always loved the varied design and the visual texture of the pots. And how lovely to have so many choices for farmers markets. Even better is the fridge at your work! How grand is that?!!

[OakLeaf]

Would bungee cords work, or would the eggs still break from bouncing in the cartons?

I'd try cushioning the bottom, first. Whenever I buy something that comes in potentially handy packaging material, I save it. What I keep on the bottom of my motorcycle tail pack is a slab of that thin soft closed-cell foam, either black or white, that often protects laptops in their original packaging. A slab of foam rubber would work too, you can usually buy that cut to order in any size, I'd opt for a thinner, higher density piece. I might put a slab on top of the egg cartons too, if you don't put your meat in a soft cooler for the ride - frozen meat is pretty darn hard!

[Blueberry]

I'm wondering of the eggs are actually breaking because of other things bouncing on top of them. Might try putting them nearer the top, but still appropriately supported? *knocking wood* I haven't had an issue with eggs. Easily bruised fruits and veggies are what I have the most difficulties with.

[shootingstar]

Hauling only 4 unhusked cobs of corn, bag of hazelnuts, etc., plus other fruits made me feel like cycling bounty queen today. As for bruised fresh local fruits, I'm just grateful to buy local at reasonable prices.

The market that I cycle to weekly, for whatever strange reason does not attract many cyclists. It is located near bike routes and on weekends the roads are pleasantly quiet with indoor facilities, stalls and washrooms. Very clean. It is also within 1 km. of historic residential neighbourhoods. It is in my opinion, the best local market with the widest range of local farmers, vendors with good pricing. It doesn't just have yuppie-like, chic stalls of goods like some other markets. In fact several major vendors/growers are run by immigrants...yes, I will say this that their English reflects a 2nd mother tongue and their stalls are family run operations.

I think I'll have to slowly promote this long-time, working class oriented market through the cycling group and I know cyclists do live close to this market. I am not certain if the city where I live just is not accustomed (still) cycling with a lot of groceries.

[OakLeaf]

Where I usually break down and take the car, is leafy greens. I always make sure I have a plastic bag big enough to cover them completely (or use two), but if it's more than a bag of baby lettuces, they just get beaten to bits in a pannier. Especially if it's anything larger like chard or beets with greens, that sticks half out of the pannier and flaps around in the wind.

What I wind up doing is taking the car to the winter CSA pickup, which I do midweek and is usually heavy on greens, then supplement that with a ride to the market on Saturday for juice, eggs, strawberries, meat, fish and dairy products, and any extra veggies I might need. With the small soft cooler and freezer packs for the fish and frozen meat, it's usually all I can fit in my bags anyway.