ob1kanob

Try Aldi's.

ob1kanob

Could go with an Italian and eat spagetti

paulry

Well, we tried Mitchell Farmers Market yesterday. The prices there seemed pretty much as outrageous and often worse than at the supermarkets.

Something which perplexes me a little is where goods are clearly expensive and yet people herd together and snap them up. For example in Aldi the other day bananas were $1.99 a kilo but few seemed particularly bothered to buy them. We did and they tasted fine. Then yesterday at the Farmers market they were selling bananas (ladies fingers, apparently) which looked identical to the Aldi ones but the price was $4.99 a kilo and people were jostling with eachother to snap them up. Meanwhile also yesterday and to a luke-warm to cold response, larger bananas were selling at Wollies for $2.99 a kilo. Surely there's not that much if any difference between them all that people are so particular as to go for the significantly marked-up ones? ...Maybe I'm not sophisticated/fussy enough to appreciate the difference? ...Or maybe I'm the only sane one??

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Welcome to my world, where the 'cheap' farmers markets... aren't.
I've never understood why people bang on about them as I've never found them cheaper than anywhere else.

'Lady Finger' bananas have one major plus point over the standard banana you get here... they taste of banana !!

Bermudashorts

Agree, we find them more expensive than supermarkets.

I cannot comment on the banana issue, I don't think I have eaten a banana since we moved here.

Beedubya

Do you know in 30 years I have never even tried a Lady Finger banana??

What is supposed to be so special about them besides the price of course? Which is probably why I have never bought them, with them being 3 x the price of normal bananas.

bcworld

When I first asked what the difference was I was told they were sweeter.

Another one here who doesn't generally find markets & greengrocers any cheaper than supermarkets. I do remember thinking that the Paddy's market in Sydney was pretty cheap though.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

We are both old enough to remember when all the UK's banana's came from the Windward Isle's and tasted of banana.... well the Lady Fingers remind me of them.

paulry

Now waiting for the "What is a banana?" question

The $1.99 ones that we bought in Aldi the other day tasted pretty good and looked very much like the Lady Finger variety.

quoll

C'mon Paul - this is the Farmers' Market - lots of organic stuff!!! Havent you worked out that it is GOOD in Canberra to pay through the nose for organic stuff (I dont but the DH and son wont buy anything else!). The best thing about the Farmers' Market is the macadamia man - he really is cheaper than your bog standard supermarket. DH also gets organic lamb pretty cheap but he does buy a good percentage of the beast to do so.

If you want cheap then the best place is the Belconnen or Fyshwick markets at 3pm on a Sunday where you can get boxes of stuff (on the point of rot) for next to nothing. Unfortunately you usually end up buying more stuff than you actually need so spend the same amount but have to toss away more than half of it because it has gone off by Sunday tea time.

Beedubya

I only remember the Fyffes sticker on banana's and have only today found out where they came from, such matters never entering my head before.

"Fyffes offer a full range of bananas, from loose to prepack. The bananas are sourced in the Tropics from countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Belize, Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Honduras. The invention of steam ships, and a little later, of refrigeration, allowed marketable volumes of bananas to survive the long voyage to Northern Europe."

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Fyffes banana's are similar to the type grown here in Australia, large fruits, that grow quickly and always, to me at least, has a slightly tangy/metalic flavour to it. The Windward island banana used to be a different banana tree, one that ripened slower and had smaller fruit.... but tasted a whole lot better.

I would guess that the Windward Island banana's are now the same as anywhere else, as they lost the exclusive, and favourable terms, contract with the UK because of the EU and WTO. They most likely had to switch to the fast growing/big fruit/no taste type of tree to be able to compete on the world market.

Steve2009

Fyffes is an Irish company? I think they have a lot of their own plantations in Brazil.

Beedubya

I never thought a die hard Man U fan could be such an expert on the merits of banana's, who'd a thunk it?

iamthecreaturefromuranus

We used to buy the cheap ones to throw at City fans during their phase of taking blow up banana's to matches.