Make the most of your farmers market buys

SALT LAKE CITY — The farmers market offers a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, some that you’ve probably never seen before. How do you pick and plan meals around such a big selection?

In the latest Let’s Get Moving with Maria podcast episode, Maria Shilaos spoke with Lea Palmer, assistant director and program manager of Utah State University Extension Create Better Health, to learn how we can enjoy local ingredients without letting them go to waste.

Visiting a farmers market is a great way to support local agriculture. However, it’s not always easy to plan meals around it because it’s hard to predict what will be available.

Palmer’s tip is to plan your menu in reverse. There are two different ways you can go about this.

“One way is to just go to the market first, get what looks good, and then create a menu based on that,” Palmer said.

The second method is creating a more generalized menu and then going to the market.

“You can use MyPlate and get the right food groups, but be open to different types of produce to fill in those blanks,” said Palmer.

Palmer said it helps to be flexible and creative. If you need ideas, you can ask the vendors for inspiration.

“When you go to a farmers market, you’re talking to farmers who are around that food a lot,” she said. “They’ll have a lot of good recipes or ideas for how to utilize the produce that they’re selling.”