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.