Bountiful Baskets

At 6:50 this morning (yes, a Saturday) I was in my car for the sake of produce.

My friend Annie had a post on her blog about "Bountiful Baskets" - they are a food co-op operating in a number of western states. I looked them up and found that they had a pick-up site right on Center Street in Provo.

You pay $15 plus a $1.50 handling fee (plus a one-time $3 charge if it is your first time buying) and you get an assortment of fruits and vegetables. You don't know in advance what you will be getting and you don't get to pick and choose, but they focus on foods that the average family will use. You can pay extra for an all-organic selection. Or you can add on extra products: this week you could add bread, a case of mangoes, or an "Easter egg dying kit" full of veggies that you could boil to produce dyes strong enough to naturally dye your Easter eggs.

I just got the conventional ($15 + $1.50) basket.

The Provo location pick-up time is 7 a.m. and you need to be there promptly. You can send someone else to pick up your baskets, but if you don't pick them up they are donated to the local fire station. I set out early this morning to find the location and was surprised by the number of cars there. This is a very popular little well-kept secret! In fact, I kind of hate to spread the word because I'm just increasing my competition. (They sell out FAST every week. You have to purchase online in advance. Check their website for details.) But I like you, so I'm telling you.

For my $16.50 I got a box of strawberries, a pineapple, a cantaloupe, 8 apples, 6 tangelos, 4 yams, 2 huge heads of green leaf lettuce, a pound of asparagus, 8 cucumbers, 4 zucchini, a head of cauliflower, and 4 bananas.

If anyone in my area is interested in working out a pick-up trade-off schedule let me know! I think I would either buy a basket every week and split it with someone ($8.25 each) and alternate pick-up weeks or I would buy a basket every 2 weeks and only have to pick-up once a month. Or I would just buy once in a while...or, well, I'm open to any ideas! It wasn't a big pain to go get the stuff...I left at 6:50 and was home by 7:20 - it is just a bit early for me! And it isn't a club or subscription so you aren't obligated to keep purchasing. I probably won't buy anything once we have a lot of garden produce of our own to eat.

I knew I was a sucker for a good deal...who knew it would extend to produce?