Bountiful Baskets

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Bountiful Baskets!

How does my family eat healthy? PRODUCE! So much produce.

How does my family get produce? Co-ops. Bountiful Basket to be precise.

I’m sure that many of you have heard of grocery co-ops but there is a chance that a reader or two is ignorant to the value of such organizations.

Be ignorant no more.

Grocery Co-ops have been around FOREVER. Like I’m sure one caveman claimed to be good at gathering berries and another had an eye for walnuts and they decided it would be wise for them to share. See! FOREVER! But they have had a recent resurgence in the past 10+ years.

Co-ops are volunteer run, non-profit, member-owned organizations. The idea is that you put in your time and money then there isn’t a store that pockets a profit and the savings can be shared among the ‘owners.’ It sounds complicated but most of them have this down to a simple science.

People like the idea of eating local, organic food and cutting costs as well. Why wouldn’t you? But usually with a co-op you can have two of the three of those awesome things. If you have a co-op that is able to hit all three then feel free to mention them in the comments because that deserves some accolades. Bountiful Baskets, the one that I use, is really good at costs and organic but not so great at local.

There are minuses to using a grocery co-op as well.

• They usually have a small ordering window and a small pick-up window. If you are busy during those times then you don’t get produce that week. 
• The pick up locations can be ANYWHERE. Our baskets are on the floor of the local fire station. That might weird some people out. 
• They need you to volunteer. Not every week but it wouldn’t work if nobody helped. 
• And one of the biggest concerns for most people with Bountiful Baskets (and some other co-ops) is that you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit. The produce that comes that week is the produce that you take home. Do you have a family that hates brussel sprouts? Don’t know what to do with jicama? Well they were in your basket so…eat them, share them, or toss them. But they’re yours.

Personally I love this problem. It forces us to eat our rainbow. If my family only ate the produce that I typically bought from the grocery store they would be stuck with boring staples every week. I’m grateful for the opportunity to find out what a diakon is how to prepare it. Maybe I’m weird that way.

If you’d like to explore co-ops available to you CLICK HERE

If you’d like to explore Bountiful Baskets CLICK HERE

Shelly Brown is a mother to five crazy kids, caretaker of five crazy chickens, and wears the hat of children’s book writer at least 5 days a week. Her debut children’s book Ghostsitter comes out October 1st  but you can preorder today on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local independent bookseller.