Bountiful Baskets




Have you heard about Bountiful Baskets before? I have been hearing about it for a while now & finally remembered to get my order in on time to participate last week. I was so delighted!

It is a produce Co-op that started small but is now in most of the western states. You go to their website & order a basket of produce- it is half fruit & half vegetables. You are never quite sure what you will get- it is based on availability. The produce is all from the surrounding states. It is beautiful produce! For 1 basket it is $15 plus a surcharge of $1.50. You get a huge basket full of produce. It's a great value! (They say it is about $50 worth of grocery store produce)

They also have several extra things you can order each week. They have 9-grain bread, sourdough bread, granola, & other things that vary from week to week.. Last week's extra was a Mexi-Pack with onions, limes, cilantro, garlic, tortillas... This week's is an Italian pack with mushrooms, onions, eggplant, oregano, rosemary, basil... & a few other things I can't remember right now. The prices on the extras all vary. It is all run by volunteers & is non-profit They ask you to come an hour early & volunteer every so often. If you don't pick up your basket within 20 minutes of your time, it gets donated to local places in need.

One important thing to know is that they have limited baskets at each site. There are tons of sites all over the place, but they run out, so if you don't order it early, you may miss out on the site closest to you. You can order from Monday @ noon to Tuesday @ midnight.

The picture below shows how they set it up- ours was in a local charter school gym. There are 2 baskets side-by-side, one has fruit & one veggies. They line up the baskets. You bring your own container to carry your food home in & empty it from the baskets into your container.

It's a pretty incredible thing & a great way to support smaller, local farmers. Also, it is so good! If you are trying to get healthier this year, look into it & you'll be pleasantly surprised!
In my basket last week I got lettuce, spinach, 3 butternut squash, appples, oranges, pears, asian pears, asparagas, pineapple, tomatoes, a bunch of peppers, & maybe more that I am forgetting. It was a ton! I was SO excited!

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