I joined a produce co-op this week. You order a basket online and pick it up on Saturday mornings at a local pick-up spot. It's through a local organization called Bountiful Baskets: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/. I heard about it from a girl at work, she says she's been using them for a while and saves a ton of money this way. Yesterday I picked up our first order and boy, did I get my moneys worth! We got all of the following items: a pineapple, 9 plums, 8 oranges, 9 apples, 10 bananas, a pint of blueberries, 6 red peppers, a head of romaine lettuce, 6 tomatoes, two bunches of spinach, a bunch of broccoli and two cucumbers; all for under $20! Normally the price is $15 plus $1.50 handling fee, but this time I also had to pay a $3 fee for being a first-timer. This will probably last us at least 2 weeks and then I'll have to order some more. The only downfall is that you don't get to pick what you are getting, so you never know what you are going to get at the pick-up. Luckily, neither John or I are very picky, so we will probably be able to use it all. There wasn't anything this week that we wouldn't eat. I plan on continuing to order from them, so hopefully this will eventually expose Cole to all sorts of fruits and veggies. Now I have no idea what I am going to do with 6 red peppers, but I figure this will also force me to try some new things, like learning to make roasted red peppers.
