Any suggestions for doing as the subject title suggests? Not only right now but throughout the year.
Uhm, try the local markets?
Buy whatever is cheap in the super market?
Are we talking veggies and fruit here, or everything?
I tend to stick with what’s reasonably affordable and you can generally only get certain things as and when they are in season.
For foods in season
you must try
to eat your mangoes
in July!
If you want
some Cho Dou Fu
Anytime
is right for you! :discodance:
Morning market. If it ain’t growin’ right now, you probably won’t find much of it in the fresh fruit and veggie area.
Ah, of course. The local markets. Why didn’t I think of that. Thanks.
On the same market/local tip, has anyone gone along and picked out a chicken and had it ‘prepped’ on the spot? I’ve seen a couple of shows lately on the life of a farmed chicken. Putting your money into that sort of suffering has got to condemn you to a few millennia of coming back as a cockroach/earthworm. Not to mention an animal farmed that way can’t be good for your body in this life.
Get to know your farmer. The free-range chickens raised by my aunt-in-law lived the life of kings…and they were very tasty.
Definitely hit the local (wet, or traditional) markets every couple days. The vegetables there are often very cheap compared to the big chain supermarkets, and fresher too.
Right now broccoli is very expensive, which sucks, as it’s my favorite.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]
Right now broccoli is very expensive, which sucks, as it’s my favorite.[/quote]
You know, somehow I can’t help thinking that if Buddy wanted to know what Dragonbones’ favourite vegetable was, he’s start a thread called What’s Dragonbones’ favourite vegetable?
It’s allll about you , isn’t it?
Sorry, I don’t know where that came from, I owe you an empanada.
As for the “tailored” chickens, yeah, it’s cool to be able to pick which one you want and then Buddy skrags it right there for you.
I wish we’d had those big blue plastic barrels on the farm when I was growing up.
Containment, man, you gotta love it.
I kinda lost my appetite for mutton after watching almas john skrag a sheep once.
I kinda miss the countryside having grown up there. We used to buy half a calf or lamb in the autumn (or both mind you) and have the local butcher come over and chop it all up. Friend of my dads use to bring us some moose meat as well…
Sure beats eating intestine on a stick 
Cabbage, cucumbers, mushrooms … whole year ‘in season’ …
[quote=“Dragonbones”]Definitely hit the local (wet, or traditional) markets every couple days. The vegetables there are often very cheap compared to the big chain supermarkets, and fresher too.
Right now broccoli is very expensive, which sucks, as it’s my favorite.[/quote]
It is? I picked up a broccoli in my local wet market the other day and didn’t notice any major price difference, although I bought a whole lot of other veg as well. Possibly the broccoli went up but something else got cheaper to cancel it out.
Right now I’m munching a little dish I concocted using the last of my veg supply. Olive oil, fresh garlic, chilli with some fish sauce, then added Thai shrimp paste (the smelly stuff), carrot, onion, red pepper, asparagus, and finally a whole lot of leafy greens. Very tasty.
Our local fruit juice and milkshake purveyor in Neihu told me that now is the season for Taiwanese avocados. They are grown mostly in Madou, Tainan County. Madou avocados are really excellent - the best I have ever seen by far. Taiwanese like to have them put into milkshakes, but I’m sure you can think of other things to do with them.
Just try the local wet market in the am. Get there early while the fish are still flopping about. The veggies were plucked the night before and the meat is VERY fresh. The “leg o’ lamb” was on the critter a few hours before. It’s a great place and try it sometimes.
While in Hsinschu, I get the BEST salmon fillets at the morning market or directly at the harbor. Go where they deliver and get the best.
Every morning market near my home has home grown stuff at a fraction of what I could buy it in the supermarket. Just look around and expect to see heads on the meat products. If you indicate that this is not acceptable, they will make it acceptable. (ie, cut the heads off).
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]I kinda miss the countryside having grown up there. We used to buy half a calf or lamb in the autumn (or both mind you) and have the local butcher come over and chop it all up. Friend of my dads use to bring us some moose meat as well…
Sure beats eating intestine on a stick [/quote]
I can second that about local butchered food as my grandparents had a dairy and bullock farm, raised chickens, grew potatoes, gooseberries, cooking apples etc. Supermarket meat and dairy is a pale comparison. Moose meat with mushroom sauce rates among the best dish I have EVER eaten. But whose to know intestine on a stick isn’t as good for Taiwanese 
One thing that cannot be missed in Taiwan is ‘Tu Ji’’ or free range chicken. There are variations such as Hei Ji ‘Black Chicken’. In case you don’t know already wild chicken (guinea fowl) meat is naturally black, it’s only recently that farmers started breeding white chickens for the appearance. This ‘Hei Ji’ stuff tastes like chicken on taste steroids. Its commonly found in Chinese medicinal chicken soups, one of the best things you can try. The meat falls off the bone and has a very nice texture compared to supermarket rubbery chicken. Seriously awesome.