Have you ever wanted to attend a food swap?

Want to know what to do at your first one?

The Snarky Gardener and the Snarky Girlfriend have been fortunate to have attended three Countryside Conservancy food swaps this year.  A food swap is a gathering where people bring food they have grown and/or made with some local ingredients.  Items are “bid on” through a silent sign up sheet per unique item.  If you want something, you write your name down along with what you have to swap.  Then, when the bidding is over, everybody swaps who wants to swap.

Here are some general rules to help your first food swap a success:

1.  Read the rules first so you have an idea of what you are getting yourself in to.

2.  Bring surplus from your garden and/or make something you’ve made before.

3.  Google and Pinterest are your friends.

4.  Label your produce with your name, contact information,  ingredients, and storage instructions.

5.  Know that you may be bringing some of your produce back home, so be willing to eat your own dog food (so to speak).

6.  Speaking of which, you can make pet treats as well as people food.

7.  Be ready to use your people skills as mingling and talking about yourself and your stuff will be expected.

8.  Be open to what other people have.  Trades are between 2 parties so if you are more accepting, you’ll get more trades.

9.  Have a variety of products, though not too many.  3 unique offerings is probably a good number.

10.  Packaging does matter.  If it looks professional, people are more likely to want it.

Good luck and happy trading!