Produce on a Budget

Back in February, I discovered the single most, wonderful, volunteer run Co-Op I've ever encountered. It is called Bountiful Baskets. If you haven't heard of it, you should really check it out.It's completely run by volunteers, which keeps the cost so cheap. All they ask if for you to volunteer at a site once every 7 times you order. Volunteering consists of unloading the truck and separating the produce into the baskets. You just show up at the volunteer time and help out. As an incentive, whatever is left over and fit equally in the baskets, gets put aside and the volunteers get to chose either 1 large item (pineapple, corn, etc.) or 2 small items (apples, oranges, plums etc.) In my area in South Dakota, we are able to order baskets once a week. You order on Monday, pick up on Saturday. For one basket, it's $15, or $16.50 with tax. For first time baskets, you just have to pay an extra $3 as a "first-time basket fee." If you want an organic basket, it's $10 extra. All you have to do is go to bountifulbaskets.org, create an account and usually at noon local time on Monday, log on and order. Here's an example of what I got in yesterdays basket.

 

3 heads of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, a head of lettuce, a head of kale, 6 oinions, 7 plums, 5 white nectarines, 2 asian pears, 4 huge tomatoes, a pack of red grapes, 7 bananas and a package of Brussels sprouts.

You can also get add-ons for an awesome price. This past week I know there were 20 lb cases of tomatoes for $12, organic 9-grain bread (5 loaves for $12) and sourdough bread (5 loaves for $10). They usually have packages that you can buy such as Italian package, Mexican package, guacamole package, sugar cookie package. The selection comes and goes week-by-week. In order to get the add-ons, a basket must be bought. Here's a look at my 9-grain bread that I got this week!

This is hands down, the best bread I've ever had!

What are you waiting for? Go to the website, find out if there is a site near you and sign up to get your basket on Monday! If you live in Wyoming, be sure to log on at 9am, Montana and Utah is 10am and everywhere else is 12pm. Make sure you log on at the time it opens, I waited until 12:15 to order my basket, and the site closest to me was closed! Another good tip is to check the times before you order. My usual site goes like this: volunteer time is 5am and pickup time is 7am. Yes, I have arrived at 5am on a SATURDAY to volunteer. Crazy, I know, but so worth it. So, really, what are you waiting for? Check out the sites closest to you, set an alarm for 12pm for you to log on and order your basket!