Sprouts Farmers Market and produce variety/availability in Colorado (Rocky Ford: sale, live in)

[bmcass]

How easy is it to get good fresh produce year around? I'm in California, shop at Sprouts Farmers Market a lot, and wonder what the produce availability is like in Colorado on a daily basis. I've visited numerous times, and have been impressed with the City Market and Natural Grocers, but my visits have never been more than a week, and only in the summer. I do follow a vegan, whole-food, plant-based diet and lifestyle, which is very important to me. What surprises or obstacles could I be in for as an avid fruit and vegetable consumer, especially coming from California?

[COcheesehead]

In summer there are numerous farmer's markets with produce/fruit brought in from the western slope or the Arkansas River Valley. In winter the grocery stores have plenty of stock. We have Sprouts here as well.

[randomparent]

If you're anywhere near a city, you'll have your pick of full-service groceries with stocked produce departments. There's a Sprouts less than a mile from my house. Other nearby groceries include Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, King Soopers, Safeway, Target, Walmart, Costco, and Sam's Club, along with a couple of smaller groceries you've likely never encountered. We also have farmer's markets throughout the summer. You'll be fine.

[jim9251]

Just about every single town has a local farmers market in summer, you'll also find fresh vegetables and fruits on roadside stands. Colorado is an agricultural state.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by jim9251

Just about every single town has a local farmers market in summer, you'll also find fresh vegetables and fruits on roadside stands. Colorado is an agricultural state.

Jim9251 is right. Right now the City Markets in Mesa County is running a sale on Olathe sweet corn--8 for a $1. Then there are always those Palisade peaches. Yums!

[bmcass]

Sounds good, thanks guys. I know there are lots of Sprouts markets in Colorado, and as I said, I've seen those Natural Grocers in select areas. It sounds like I won't have a problem.

[blindside]

Wait a second here. I lived in the Bay Area (Berkeley) for a few years and the produce selection in Colorado comes nowhere close to what you would get at places like Berkeley Bowl. In California I was used to having a choice of a dozen types of fresh mangoes, whereas in Colorado you’d be lucky to have two, and it’s not ripe at all. I have yet to see fresh figs stocked regularly here (if at all). Persimmons? Occasionally I have seen them and they’re not the best. Pomegranates? Eat them fast when they do truck them in because the arid weather dries them out quickly.

In the summer you might come close to the freshness and variety but in he winter? Anything fresh in Colorado fell off a truck on I70 coming from California. And you’ll pay a pretty penny too, cilantro in the summer is probably 3/$1 but in the winter maybe a $1 each. Same thing for another favorite of mine, flat leaf parsley. In the winter there is nothing grown locally, and the summer has as incredibly short growing season (3 months of night time temps above 60 if you’re lucky ). In CA you can grow produce nearly year round.

I’d say the produce selection in Colorado (aside from a few items like Palisade peaches) are pretty poor compared to California.

[otowi]

I don't think our produce selection year round can compare to California. We do have a couple of Sprouts mostly in the NE part of town, and plenty of other options for grocery stores. But fruit etc. here is not the same as CA, imho. Farmers Markets don't start in earnest until I think nearly the end of June and finish up by early October at the latest. Our growing season is shorter here. We do have less variety, a lot of our stuff doesn't taste as good imho, particularly in winter. There are vegans here, but your options will be more limited and perhaps not as tasty and fresh in some cases. Some stuff is more expensive than in CA. We do have a few local specialties like Rocky Ford Melons and Palisade Peaches.

[Vision67]

My kids live in California. When I recently visited the Safeway in Burlingame, the freshness of their produce blew me away. You can smell the difference. The strawberries smelled sweet!

It was much better than Colorado, especially in winter.

[brown_dog_us]

There is a decent selection here, but the quality can be very hit or miss. Actually, it's only a hit in the summer when one of the few local varieties hits. Think peaches and corn. Winter can get really rough. My family refers to winter as Beet and Kale season, and not in a positive way.

Also, often the fresh produce that is in good shape costs a lot. I remember paying $12 a pound for asparagus once for my daughter's birthday meal. It was excellent, but the price stung!

There are a lot of vegans here though, and they're thriving.