Quality, Cost & Commitment Oh My!

With all the options out there why did I choose Bountiful Baskets over some of the other co-ops available in our community? 
I know that in reading the information it seems like I may not have put a ton of research into co-ops and Bountiful Baskets when I first began participating. You can read the post on my personal blog here if you would like. The truth is I did a lot of research particularly in the areas of quality, cost, and ongoing commitment. 

 

Quality…if it’s bad you aren’t going to eat it. 

This is where you put a lot of trust in your site coordinator as they frequently make the call if something will be flagged for quality issues without the participants even knowing. There have been weeks where certain items were flagged for quality issues and none were put into any basket, but then other times there will be a mushy apple in the center of the case. This is just not distributed into a basket and set aside for disposal. Are there things that fall through the cracks…..yes, we are all human! That is why everyone is asked to inspect their items prior to leaving the site and you always have the option of refusing due to quality issues, at which point in time the site coordinator will submit for a credit on your behalf. In my entire time there is only 1 item that I probably should have refused but didn’t and that was a case of strawberries. I was encouraged at the pick up site to refuse them as the volunteers and site coordinator were aware that these were not the usual quality. Were they bad, not really they didn’t have any mold on them but weren’t the same high quality strawberries I had received the week before. Did this stop my children from hiding and eating 3 pounds of strawberries on a Saturday afternoon, not at all! What I did with them was exactly what I had planned wash, slice, and freeze for our smoothies, but there were some mushy spots that I cut off because I wasn’t comfortable with the softness. Was the case price still a really good deal in my opinion you better believe it, we have a bunch of sliced strawberries in the freezer where my kids can take out a few or a bunch for anything from smoothies to putting in water bottles for some fresh fruit ice.

I do want to say that I began writing this post 2 days ago and when I left work I knew that tonight I would be getting it set to publish. When I sat down at my computer I checked my email and there was an email from Sally & Tanya in my inbox....hmmm.....the subject reads "You've got credit on your account from the July 20, 2013 distribution". Well that is about the same time I received the less than stellar strawberries I talked about above, so I opened the email and was in total disbelief as I read it. I have copied the portions that pertain to this subject below because if I wouldn't have read it myself I wouldn't have believed it.

We just processed credits from 7/20/2013.  You may have rejected an item or had an item missing at the site or you may not have.  Bountiful Baskets places a very high value on having items be of high quality.  7/20/13 was an annomoulous week with many quality issues.  We have taken the last few weeks negotiating with growers and producers to get you your money back from several items.

- ALL Participants who received STRAWBERRIES were credited as they were not the quality that was represented to us.
You couldn't ask for anything better than that, people who are so passionate about ensuring we have high quality produce that even without asking they make sure that our co-op experience is exceptional.‏

 

Cost…..the decision maker. 

Cost is always a concern for me as with many families I heel the pinch of higher prices across the board and although I love the show Medium and still have it in my Net***x favorites I cannot see into the future, so I am always watching the budget closely. What drew me to Bountiful Baskets is there is no membership fee, requirement to participate, and it is relatively low cost. The only “fee” to speak of is the $3.00 additional on your first order to help defray the cost of the baskets that the sites use to distribute the produce; these do not go home with you so you will need to bring something to carry your produce home. If you should be going on vacation you can skip a week or two and then pick right back up when you are next available. And the biggest benefit to my budget loving self is the fact that I can get our produce for the week for less than $20.00. This does require some rethinking when it comes to menu planning and desires because I do love guacamole grilled cheese, and was hoping this past week we would get guacamole fixings in the basket. This was a big no so I will put off my desire for guacamole grilled cheese until the necessary items are in the basket, because I can no longer bring myself to pay the high grocery store prices. 

 

Commitment…..what is required of me and my cash. 

While spreading the word, I have repeatedly been asked the same question regarding commitment. I don’t think that our community is full of commitment fearful people, so I want to clear up any confusion regarding the required commitment. To participate for any given week you log on during the contribution period (Noon Monday to Tuesday evening for Texas), fill in the contribution form with the number of baskets and which add-ons, if any, you would like, enter your payment information, then contain your excitement or cheer at the top of your lungs until Saturday morning and pickup your items. If you do not want or need to contribute every week there is no requirement that you do. When I began I contributed every other week, until a Wednesday rolled around and my sweet little boy opened the refrigerator and said “Mom I think we are about to have a lettuce emergency because there is no more”…..well now I contribute at 2 sites so I can participate each week. Because this is a volunteer run co-op you are asked (if you are physically able to) to help distribute every 6 to 8 times. Volunteering is really where friendships have developed and I look forward to seeing my volunteer friends each week. Plus when you volunteer you always get an extra item that you get to choose from the case ends. Last time I volunteered I choose an extra head of Romaine lettuce, in the past it has been everything from staple items to the ever loved berries. This week I am helping some new participants so I will not be volunteering, and am super sad about that. Yet I know that spreading healthy eating and helping my neighbors is just as important.


I do want to say that this particular set up is not for everyone, and I honor that and encourage everyone to do only what they feel comfortable doing. There are some other co-ops in Weatherford with varying cost, quantity, and commitment requirements and I encourage their participants to participate where they feel most comfortable. I have looked at some of the other co-ops around the Metroplex and this is where I feel most comfortable as a budget loving Momma.

Aug 24 Basket Contents and my plans for them

This is completely informational for the people who have never participated in Bountiful Baskets before. I tempted you earlier this week with what was offered for the week and now I wanted to let you know what this week had in store for us.




I do want to say that only once before had I ever seen a huge disparity between the quantity of fruit and vegetables, but I sure wasn't disappointed in this week's basket. Now to get down to the contents list in case you aren't a visual person.

Contents:
Let's start with the Veggies first
4 ears of corn: I have a feeling we will be eating this straight up as our mid week splurge
8 Hatch Chiles: I love to add peppers to everything including taco meat, meatloaf, salads, you get the idea
4 Roma tomatoes: These have to be the biggest roma's I have ever seen and are now living in my vacuum sealed salad jars.
4 Green Peppers: These didn't last long as I still haven't been feeling well and my mother rode to pick up with me and these are now living in her refrigerator. If they were in my kitchen they would be in salads, hamburgers, tacos, and they are pretty tasty raw dipped in spicy hummus and even ranch.
3 Zucchini: These I am super excited about. Years ago my Grandmother made spaghetti with sliced zucchini instead of noodles and I have been thinking about it recently. I hated it then and now am thinking this would be a great way for us to have spaghetti without all the bad that comes with spaghetti.
2 Avocados: These are mini's and destined for our beef taco's; shredded beef, slice of avocado, a little shredded cheese and salsa how can this go wrong.
1 bunch of spinach: Yum gotta love the greens, and this is all living in our salad jars.
2 heads of romaine lettuce: Greens equal salad jars.
2 packages of carrots: Carrots are one of the items we go through a lot of not because we eat that many either. We have labs and labs love to chew so as pups they chewed on refrigerated or frozen carrots so when the refrigerator door opens there is the crew ready for a snack. Most baskets only had a single package but we chose carrots as our case end. Case ends are what is left over after all baskets get equal distribution of the available produce and the case ends are then split equally between the baskets. I was the hero of the day....well at least in the eyes of the dogs!

Onto the Fruit!
6 Bananas: We love bananas in smoothies, sliced into yogurt, frozen into slices, and occasionally straight from the peel.
5 Peaches: These are amazing! I have them hidden and have eaten almost all of them.....shhh!
4 Golden Apples I think but these were mentioned on the Bountiful Baskets Facebook page as Asian Pears: There is frequently something that I am unsure exactly what something is or what to do with it and this week this item is it. My plans will be to either add these into a smoothie or to try to slice it and see how it goes. You never know if you will like it until you try it.

As I said the mix is typically a lot more balanced, but I didn't mind the heavy veggies at all because when we began participating earlier this year we were heavy fruit eaters, now we are heavy veggie eaters. In the coming weeks I will share how I make it easier for my family to eat our veggies during the week.

An Introduction to Bountiful Baskets

Well I had planned to photograph this past weekend’s basket and share my plans for each item in the basket, Italian pack, and Juice pack which is what I contributed for. Well throughout our participation in Bountiful Baskets my kids have gone from completely horrified by the thought of that much produce in the house to attacking the tote I use to carry the produce home before it’s even out of the car. So I am not 100% certain what all was in this past week’s basket but I do know that I was super excited by a few of the items that I want to share.

 

First there were the surprising herbs in the Italian pack. After picking through everything and hiding what they each wanted for themselves my children said there were some weeds in the Italian pack. I was working on the computer and thought that is very possible but told them to set them on the counter as sometimes weeds are the occasional item they know they are not fond of….currently kale comes to mind as this is a juice pack staple that they do not like. I sure am glad that I didn’t tell them to throw it away as it was a baggie of fresh herbs. I was rejoicing when I saw it laying there as I had recently used the last of my herb cubes and desperately needed some more. If you haven’t ever been introduced to herb cubes you can check out this pin or the post I wrote up about it here. My favorite use of herb cubes is to “fry” pork chops. I grew up a pork chop and white gravy loving gal and have the high blood pressure to prove it. In an effort to not be a prolific pinner and not pin doer I decided that I would give the herb cubes a whirl except I had just gotten some of the bountiful baskets coconut oil and I was dying to crack it open and this sure seemed like a great excuse. So move over olive oil hello coconut oil!

 

So now I have rosemary, sage and basil herb cubes while I wait for another herb add on pack to roll around.

 

The next thing I want to share is something that I was not excited about but am now super excited that they were included in the basket....plums! I do not like plums, it isn’t the taste because the taste is typically fine it is the texture of the ones I have had that I do not like. So after getting plums 2 cycles in a row I had quite a few piled up in our fruit drawer. So I was going through my phone contacts looking for someone who would take them off my hands and enjoy them. This is something that I frequently do when we have too much of an item, I see this as a little thing that I can do to make someone’s day a little brighter. So as I was scrolling and talking out loud my mother who is very much like my third child gets super excited about making plum jam for the ladies she works with. Not exactly what I had in mind but I tend to choose my battles. So as I was using the food processor to chop up the plums the sweetness was overwhelming and I was thinking these would make amazing ice cubes for in water bottles and what a great way to spice up the boring water bottle that has to go to school each day. But alas I was on the jam making trail and was not about to throw up a roadblock and listen to the fallout. I wasn’t planning on sharing the plum jam recipe here or on my personal blog so I have a huge lack of photos but here is how we water bath everything since glass top stoves are risky to use a water bath on.

 

Well I went from dreading plums to hoping this week would have some more plums.

 

I have to admit this week when contributions opened up on Monday I was not feeling well, so all thought was out the window and I went only for the staples.  I know many people in our community are participating already and making the drive like I do, but for everyone that is not familiar I want to share this weeks offerings.

 

Conventional Basket: 15.00

            This (or organic basket) is required in order to contribute for any add on items.

Organic Basket: Add 10.00 making it 25.00

 

Add ons: This is where it gets exciting folks!

 

Veggie Lovers Pack Italian theme: 8.50

            The veggie packs are usually something I go for to ensure we don’t run out of veggies mid week! Please see this post on the Bountiful Baskets page to get ideas about how to use the contents of this past week's veggie pack.

 

Assorted bread pack: 10.00

            This is a 5 loaf assortment of bread. I personally haven’t ever tried this add on as we aren’t suppose to eat a lot of bread. This is almost always available as an add-on and always super popular.

 

Bountiful Baskets Granola: 10.00

            I have found that people either love or hate the granola. I love all types of granola and this granola is both salty and sweet. If you make your own custom granola you may not love this as much as you love the one you have spent years perfecting, but this is definitely an occasional treat at my house.

 

Juice Pack: 8.50

            If you juice this is definitely something you want to add to your basket. If you don’t juice but love veggies then go for this as well. I almost always add it as typically there is pineapple, spinach, kale, lemons, lime, carrots, apples and some other items that are slipping my memory right now.

 

California Gala Apples: 27.50

            This is a 36 lb case of apples, and where it is best that you have a plan for this many apples. Think applesauce, dehydrated apples, apple butter, apple jam, cinnamon apples, and apple pie filling. I contributed for a case 2 cycles ago and dehydrated the entire case as my kids love dehydrated apple rings as an afternoon treat and I love a few added onto my salads for a little sweetness. I also have seen a few people go together in order to split the case into a more manageable amount for their family and I love seeing the friendships that form at pickup.

 

Wrap Pack: 12.75

            This is a 40 count package of 12 inch wraps. There are 10 of each flavor: Spinach, Chipotle, Tomato & Basil, and Garlic & Herb. If you love wraps these are definitely for you as the flavors are an amazing addition to wraps. I was not a wrap gal as I found them lacking in the flavor department unless I loaded them up with dressing, but my kids are wrap lovers so we tried them at their very first offering. These freeze amazingly well and if the size is too much, as it frequently is for us I just cut it in half and have a one open ended wrap.

 

Organic 100% Honey Whole Wheat Bread: 12.00

            This is the bread that my family says is to die for and why there are a bunch of frozen loafs on the top shelf in my freezer. What made me try this one? This is a whole wheat bread which I try to get anytime we are going to eat bread and the honey I knew would make it sweet for my own personal sweet tooth. This is preservative free and does need to find its home in the refrigerator to extend its life so you will need to take it out of the fridge a few minutes before dinner to make the slices easiest to separate; this helps curb my late night toast habit as well since waiting for the bread to warm up to get my slices out usually makes me pass on the toast.

 

Bartlett Pears: 23.50

            This is a case of pears from Oregon and much like a case of any item you need to have a plan for these when you contribute for them. All I can think of right now is Cinnamon Pear Jam that I buy from some ladies at First Monday. If you frequent First Monday then you know exactly where their tent is!

 

Seedless Personal Watermelon: 17.50

            If you love to slice the mini watermelons in half and eat the flesh with a spoon right out of the rind this is for you. This is a group of 8 of these mini watermelons which are occasionally in the baskets. Melon packs are not common but a few weeks ago there was another melon pack offered which was a grouping of orange flesh melons which was super popular and there was overwhelming requests on the Bountiful Baskets facebook page to have a melon pack.

 

Hatch Chiles: 19.75

            25 lbs of New Mexico Hatch Chiles open to places which do not typically get Hatch Chiles like we get here. I am not a hatch chile lover but I occasionally read the comments people make and there was a lady in the upper Northwest that was so thankful that she was able to get Hatch Chiles which she fell in love with when she lived in New Mexico how is that a bad thing. Plus I don’t think that even we can get this amount of Hatch Chiles for this price around here, so if you are a hatch lover rejoice as I know there were a lot of people loading hatch chiles into their cars this past weekend.

 

A few notes that I would like to add. The offerings and basket contents change each week and all the add ons have a limited supply and once they are gone they are gone. But some items are on a rotation and will circle back around again so if you miss out on something don’t despair you will get another chance in the future. Now that I have tempted you with all the great add on items, I mentioned early on when contributions opened up I wasn’t feeling good and went for only the basic. That means this week when I pick up I will be picking up a conventional basket and a wrap pack. Now to make it through Friday while waiting to see what is in this week's basket.

 

 

My Purpose!

If you haven't been introduced to a co-op lifestyle you are definitely missing out on some great benefits for a few hours of work. This past spring I was introduced to Bountiful Baskets by my very sweet neighbor. With very little thought I gambled the 19.50 and went to pick up for the first time. I was instantly hooked and have since participated and volunteered almost each contribution period.

I am super passionate about healthy living, which please do not get healthy living confused with any type of diet, and I want to share it with the community that I love. I have been a Weatherford TX resident for almost 17 years, basically my entire adult life has been spent here and I can't imagine living anywhere else.

With that being said there are a few steps to opening a site in a community.
1. Train 3 times at an existing site. Here I am jumping up and down screaming pick me pick me!
2. Find a location that is accessible by both a semi and the participants in the co-op. I am currently looking for great locations that are easy to find and have parking.
3. Collect 50 emails of people willing to participate in the site. This is where I am lacking. I have 15 emails of friends and family that currently participate but that is a long way from 50 and why I created this website.

While I am collecting the names and finding and gaining permission for the best location I am going to post occasional updates with the contents of the basket for the week and any other add-ons that I personally contribute for as well as some of my favorite uses for the basket contents.

If you are interested in knowing more I urge you to follow the link and read the new participant information portion of the website and jump in with both feet!

Oh I almost forgot use the contact me tab and send me your email address and I will add you to the list of names that would be interested in participating in Weatherford!