Well, the last of the 2009 snows are melting (we hope). It’s time to start looking forward to green grass and fresh produce again. For some of us, that means a weekly visit to the local farmers’ market. If you’re still hitting the supermarket for your chow during the summer, you might want to consider a regular sojourn to the bargain fresh stuff you can find at a farmers’ market. The food is great, the prices are good and the savings can pile up.

Why do you save money at a farmers’ market? The answer lies in the removal of the always-reviled but ubiquitous “middle man”. When you buy tomatoes from the guy who grew them, you’re not paying for supermarket overhead, coast-to-coast shipping, the produce broker who made the deal happen or a variety of other hidden costs that go into grocery store prices.  It turns out to be a bargain.

The result can be some very impressive savings, especially if you live in an area where it’s affordable and efficient to grow vegetables. The savings on local specialties can be stupendous. I dare you to find fresh corn cheaper than you can at an Iowa farmers’ market or a bucket of blueberries for less than what you’ll pay in New Jersey at the height of growing season. It can’t be done.

There’s a secondary way that shopping at the farmers’ market can save you some bread. Generally speaking, people turn the whole affair into an “outing”. You’ll see families trapezing through the market and couples holding hands. It’s a social thing, a family thing and even a potential day date. If you turn your grocery shopping into a fun weekend outing, that might just displace forking over the cash for a movie or an expensive dinner out.

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If you do a little homework, you’ll find that people have a few recommendations for saving even more money at the farmers’ market than you can based on “sticker prices” alone. Based on personal experience, I can recommend some of these strategies while others deserve to be ignored.

Here’s a good one: If you can reasonably buy in bulk (for instance, you might be interested in freezing or canning a big ol’ load of a particular offering), ask if the vendor might have a little wiggle room in the price tag. You might be able to shave a little off your bill. Please realize that buying 4 tomatoes instead of 2 is not buying in bulk.  Unless you’re doing some serious shopping, don’t bother insulting the people who are trying to make a living with those foodstuffs.

Here’s a bad tip:  Many people will tell you that the best way to save is to show up about 1/2 hour before the market shuts down.  At that point, they reason, the farmers will be willing to wheel and deal in order to dump their excess merchandise.  They advise consumers to do their best to negotiate a reduced price based on the fact that the clock is ticking.

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This technique is a non-starter.  First, the vendors generally anticipate a level of waste.  They don’t necessarily expect to sell out and they set prices based on the assumed waste.  Second, these people aren’t rubes or hayseeds.  They run businesses and they understand all too well that offering weekly “firesales” in the waning moments is nothing more than a way to train potential full-price customers to wait them out.  Third, many farmers’ market vendors have alternate means of selling their leftovers to others.  You’re not the only game in town.  Fourth, many farmers will attend multiple markets over the course of a week.  What doesn’t sell today doesn’t rot overnight.  They can still try to move it the next day elsewhere.  Fifth, if you’re waiting until the end of the day, you’re dealing with the merchandise others didn’t buy.  The best pieces are already in someone else’s vegetable crisper by the time you show up.  Finally, and this is just a matter of opinion, it’s sort of obnoxious!

You can get great deals on food at the markets based on their fundamental structure and you may be able to negotiate even better arrangements if you’re “going big”.  Enjoy a nice day out, enjoy the savings, enjoy some great food.  But don’t bother trying to swoop in at the last minute for a great deal.