Fresh Veggies!

[chris49]

We have door to door vendors local produce. Mainly kalabasa (pumpkin) beans and tomatoes. Sold in bunches not by weight. The better kind still comes from Baguio as I posted above.

Pumpkin is 20 or 30 for one. Beans 20/- per bunch maybe 500 gms. Tomatoes in season 30 per bag. Tomatoes are small not succulent like our Aussie kind. Pumpkin is good but would not touch our Queensland Blue. Ampalaya the small kind but can be slightly bitter.

But door to door it's not too bad.

I think a lot of Aussies would remember getting it door to door in the 50's to 60's. Sometimes in an old bus.

[sonjack2847]

2 hours ago, DavidK said:

As my Grandad would never harvest his sprouts until after a frost I think you might have to wait a very long time before you got decent ones here................

They grow them in Mantalongon on Cebu but I think that here it is maybe a little too warm. I did have 3 plants start to grow but the wind blew them over and they never recovered. Still you don`t get if you don`t  try.Maybe they could grow up the road in Valencia.

[Queenie O.]

OMW, it seems like a good deal you've got going there with your vegetable supply. I don't think that such a situation exists here in our area.

Getting good vegetables in our town market here in northern Cebu can be hit or miss. Many vendors must purchase  fruits and vegetables from the big Carbon Market in the city, and bring them back here to sell. It seems  from the looks of it, that some might be buying some cheaper sub-par batches too. For expats living in the south of Cebu or in/closer to the city with upland farm areas,  they are at a better advantage than us in the north. The on and off droughts too, that have affected the harvests and quality and quantity of some vegetables too.

 Calabasa squash keeps well so you can't go wrong buying that in the province. Some sundays we have a woman farmer from the town who brings a traveling basket of vegetables-- baby eggplants, long beans, onions and squash from her farm, so that's good that we can buy from her. There's one vendor in town, who texts us when local papayas are brought in, and we go and get them. I think that some vegetables like carrots are varieties that might grow better here, but are not the ones we're remembering. The carrots I won't buy in the province look pretty "dead" and aren't even worth eating.

In the city decent vegetables can be found, but lettuce, celery, carrots, peppers, mushrooms can be pretty pricey of course.

We "bite the bullet" and buy as much as we can, because we don't get to the city all the time, and we mostly cook/eat at home. Fruits and vegetables are important for keeping your health up we all know.

There is what looks to be an great organic farmers market in Cebu City a couple of times a week, and I hope to get there in the future. I think I'd be willing to pay extra for tomatoes and carrots and some vegetables that are unique and higher quality.

[frosty (chris)]

2 hours ago, Queenie O. said:

OMW, it seems like a good deal you've got going there with your vegetable supply. I don't think that such a situation exists here in our area.

Getting good vegetables in our town market here in northern Cebu can be hit or miss. Many vendors must purchase  fruits and vegetables from the big Carbon Market in the city, and bring them back here to sell. It seems  from the looks of it, that some might be buying some cheaper sub-par batches too. For expats living in the south of Cebu or in/closer to the city with upland farm areas,  they are at a better advantage than us in the north. The on and off droughts too, that have affected the harvests and quality and quantity of some vegetables too.

 Calabasa squash keeps well so you can't go wrong buying that in the province. Some sundays we have a woman farmer from the town who brings a traveling basket of vegetables-- baby eggplants, long beans, onions and squash from her farm, so that's good that we can buy from her. There's one vendor in town, who texts us when local papayas are brought in, and we go and get them. I think that some vegetables like carrots are varieties that might grow better here, but are not the ones we're remembering. The carrots I won't buy in the province look pretty "dead" and aren't even worth eating.

In the city decent vegetables can be found, but lettuce, celery, carrots, peppers, mushrooms can be pretty pricey of course.

We "bite the bullet" and buy as much as we can, because we don't get to the city all the time, and we mostly cook/eat at home. Fruits and vegetables are important for keeping your health up we all know.

There is what looks to be an great organic farmers market in Cebu City a couple of times a week, and I hope to get there in the future. I think I'd be willing to pay extra for tomatoes and carrots and some vegetables that are unique and higher quality.

There used to be a farmers mart in Cebu City run be locals farmers who would bring their produce to sell it on the week ends only, it was organised by a previous Mayor I think, the prices were a little cheaper but the fruit and veg was picked and sold the same day. It was close to were they built the new S.M Mall, don't know if it's still going as it go so popular they were having trouble with parking. I found it on FB

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by frosty (chris)

[Queenie O.]

26 minutes ago, frosty (chris) said:

There used to be a farmers mart in Cebu City run be locals farmers who would bring their produce to sell it on the week ends only, it was organised by a previous Mayor I think, the prices were a little cheaper but the fruit and veg was picked and sold the same day. It was close to were they built the new S.M Mall, don't know if it's still going as it go so popular they were having trouble with parking. I found it on FB

 

https://web.facebook.com/cebufarmersmarket/?fref=ts

Thanks Frosty-- not sure if this is the one that you remembered, but this is the one that I know of. It's on Escario Street on saturdays and there's another location on wednesdays it says. I haven't been there yet, but it looks pretty nice to me. I guess more farmers are trying to go organic.  I'd like to check it out. You might want to too.

[frosty (chris)]

2 hours ago, Queenie O. said:

https://web.facebook.com/cebufarmersmarket/?fref=ts

Thanks Frosty-- not sure if this is the one that you remembered, but this is the one that I know of. It's on Escario Street on saturdays and there's another location on wednesdays it says. I haven't been there yet, but it looks pretty nice to me. I guess more farmers are trying to go organic.  I'd like to check it out. You might want to too.

Hi Queenie, yeah that looks like the one in Escario St, it used to open Sat/Sun, the veggies were ok but not much variety with the fruit. One thing about here is the supermarket at the local mall has a counter that cuts up the fruit for you, apples, oranges, pineapple, grapes, mango etc, you just go and use their containers and take what you want. I usually get enough for 3 lunches as I find fruit and veggies here do not refrig so well, 3 days is all I usually get and then the pineapple start to go off. The veggies there are only so so and expensive, I was looking for a capsicum for my spag bol they had some there but 100pesos for some very average and old looking ones so I passed.

[Gator]

Probably not what you'd call "cost effective " to have some of the organic fruits n veggie's I seen today at a Cali farmers market sent to Cebu via FedEx?

 

[Sander Martin]

On 29 September 2016 at 2:12 PM, frosty (chris) said:

Hi Queenie, yeah that looks like the one in Escario St, it used to open Sat/Sun, the veggies were ok but not much variety with the fruit. One thing about here is the supermarket at the local mall has a counter that cuts up the fruit for you, apples, oranges, pineapple, grapes, mango etc, you just go and use their containers and take what you want. I usually get enough for 3 lunches as I find fruit and veggies here do not refrig so well, 3 days is all I usually get and then the pineapple start to go off. The veggies there are only so so and expensive, I was looking for a capsicum for my spag bol they had some there but 100pesos for some very average and old looking ones so I passed.

I wouldnt buy the chopped fruits. The fruits that get chopped up in supermarkets are the ones that are turning bad (same in everywhere in the world). I used to go to Iloilo central market while living in Iloilo. Vegetables were usually 50% or more cheaper compared to Robinsons and SM and they looked alot fresher! Potatoes were 40-60 per kilo (usually 50) while SM charged atleast 80-90 (sometimes 120) and they were much worse looking (green already from to much light). We had our own venders where we bought certain things and they didnt overcharge a Kano (prob because my wifes aunt was with us and she knew them for years).

It wasnt Baguio quality, but it was much better then the supermarkets. I agree that carrots suck in Phils. And yes its because they are grown to big for profit. The small ones are the juicy ones.

[OnMyWay]

Headed up to Baguio today and we will pickup some veggies on the way out of town.  I'll talk to the relatives to see if anyone wants to volunteer to send me some on a regular basis,

Looking forward to the weather!  High 23 low 17!