Jul 14, 2012

Bountiful Basket

Bountiful Basket contents + Fidel
Last week, my dear friend Rachael posted about getting a Bountiful Basket on facebook, and I was intrigued. Bountiful Baskets is a non-profit co-op designed to help people eat more fruits and vegetables for less money. Basically, you pay $15 ($25 if you want all organic) and get a basket full of mixed produce once a week (you don't have to order every week, but you have the option to order/pickup once a week). The produce you get varies from week-to-week, but it's always about half fruit and half vegetables. The website says the produce you get retails for about $50. My guess would be more like $30, but that's still a terrific deal.

So I did my first pick-up this morning, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Getting up at 7:30am on a Sat was strange, but surprisingly kind of nice. (I still have so much Saturday left! And I've already done something productive!) The pick-up went smoothly and I'm excited about eating the food I got (while writing this, I've already consumed a peach).

The Contents of My Bountiful Basket + How I Feel About Them
  • 1 canary melon - I have no idea what this thing is, but I've never met a fruit I didn't like, so I look forward to try it. If I keep doing this basket thing, I'll probably be exposed to all sorts of fruits and vegetables I haven't tried. Exciting.
  • 4 bananas - These will be gone instantly. If there is easy-to-eat fruit in my house, I am eating it. It's just the best snack.
  • 8 peaches - See above.
  • 8 plums - See above.
  • 6 oz blueberries - I love blueberries and never buy them because they're fairly pricey for the amount of fruit you get. I'll be designing some sort of dessert around these soon.
  • 1 bunch kale - Kale is supposedly the most nutritious green, but it's so strongly flavored that I'll probably mix it with some romaine or something in salads. I don't think I've ever bought kale before, I'll need to do some recipe research.
  • 5 ears corn - I'm kind of meh about fresh corn (I think it tastes better canned, I know this makes me a Bad Person, but I can't help it). Trevor, however, loves fresh corn-on-the-cob like nothing else and complains that we don't buy it enough. So I'm excited for him.
  • 2 zucchinis - I'll have to try making some zucchini bread. Because it's the only way zucchini tastes good.
  • 3 tomatoes - I wish there were more. I go through tomatoes like mad. Apparently these ones are organic (I didn't get the organic basket, but these have a sticker saying they're organic); I wonder if they'll taste special?
  • 1 head cauliflower - I need to buy more ranch.
  • 2 bunches radishes - I don't know what on earth to do with this many radishes. I like radishes, but they're kind of a garnish in my mind, not something I need a ton of. Also, do people do stuff with the greens? I'll have to do some research to make sure I use my bunches here productively.
Overall, good experience. I'll probably do another pick-up in a couple weeks.

If you're interested in Bountiful Baskets, you can see if there's a location in your area here. They've got a lot of sites in mountain west states, and a few others scattered about the country. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has good/bad experiences with them.

Note: This isn't locally-grown food. If that's what you're looking for, go to a farmer's market or join a CSA. This is about cutting out the middle mad and saving money to eat fruit and vegetables, but it's still your typical grocery store produce. I just mention this because a lot of reviews I've read complain about how they're not trying to save the environment or whatever. But that's not the goal, so chill out.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

the secret to kale salads is to sprinkle a little bit of salt on the leaves, then massage them until they're softer. it cuts the bitterness and makes them less intense than the raw.

my favorite cooked kale dish is this one:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/crispy-kale-and-tofu-salad-with-coconut/print

but i know a lot of people have an issue with tofu.

fortitude_north said...

i guess if we had really started a radish farm, we would have figured out what to do with a lot of radishes.