WiseOwlKnits Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 It's a co-op that's popping up around the country. We've been participating for a few months now and I wanted to encourage you to check it out and see if it's in your neighborhood! It's $15 bi-weekly in most areas. (Some areas have a weekly delivery, which is $15/week). You order Monday morning through Tuesday lunch. You pick up in most places on Saturday. You get a basket of fruits and a basket of veggies. You can get conventionally grown or 100% organic produce. They also have add-on packages that vary weekly - granola, bread, honey, special fruit/veggie packs. We've been very impressed with the quality and quantity of food that we've received. The URL is http://bountifulbaskets.org. Here is a blog post (NOT MINE - I just found it on the net) showing what was in a basket one week. Our experiences have been similar in what we get. You can also check out their FB page and people talk about what they get from week to week. NOTE: I'm not affiliated with them in any way, other than purchasing from them. I'm not getting a kick back or benefit for posting about them. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I tried it and wasn't so impressed. I got an organic basket and the quality was mediocre, and the price tag per pound high. I also realized I could have just gone to the farmers market instead (and supported a local farmer; BB food is not necessarily local, its what the stores get). The best benefit is the add-ons, but you can't get those without first buying a basket, so I gave up on it. Just one more thing to try and stay on top of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKidAcademy Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I got both December baskets (my first) and enjoyed the fresh produce very much. Grocery store quality out here in the desert is ... um, not really fresh. Today is our order day, but I'll be out of town on Saturday, so no basket this time. I will be ordering again in two weeks though. (Our farmer's market is July-Sept, so that's a huge chunk of the year without an alternative to the stores, which I've hated from the day I moved here.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 My oldest loves BB- she works the morning of pick-up sorting and filling the baskets, so she gets some money off hers. Also, their location has a table where people leave stuff they know they won't use, and folks can take what they want or leave things from their basket. She stays until the end and often takes home quite a bit of extras- she waits to see what's left so she's just taking true extras. For her struggling family, it has been a real budget saver. She menu plans based on what she gets, and the kids have learned to like lots of new things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniBlondes Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 have heard a lot about this. I really wish they had one in my area. Is there a way to request? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseOwlKnits Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 I tried it and wasn't so impressed. I got an organic basket and the quality was mediocre, and the price tag per pound high. I also realized I could have just gone to the farmers market instead (and supported a local farmer; BB food is not necessarily local, its what the stores get). The best benefit is the add-ons, but you can't get those without first buying a basket, so I gave up on it. Just one more thing to try and stay on top of. Awww, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience. Our farmer's markets are considerably more expensive that BB...to the point where I simply can't afford to support them. I wish I could afford to do local and organic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseOwlKnits Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 have heard a lot about this. I really wish they had one in my area. Is there a way to request? I know you can start your own group, but I'm not sure how you go about that. I'd send them an email or post on their FB page and ask them! Worst they can do is say no, right? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 The link didn't work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 We tried it once and found it just wasn't feasible for our family. My dh walked in with 1-2 of things which is a joke given our family size. I remember there were exactly 6 pieces of something teeny tiny (grape size). Um, what does one do with that?? We ended up giving most of the basket away to friends and decided that the $ would be better spent shopping local markets and store sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 We tried this in Utah and it was not a good deal. It wasn't local produce, at all, and it was stuff I would never use. I lived blocks from the store, so it didn't make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshin Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 They usually tell us in our email what is local and what isn't. From my understanding, they try to do local whenever possible, then they go to small farmers (that aren't local), and only as a last resort do they get it from big agribusiness farms. We used to do it weekly a year ago, but last summer we finally got our garden up to size to provide the bulk of our produce needs so we no longer need to buy produce. I still occasionally get an add-on -- my mom still orders BB's so I add it on to her order if something appeals. Our baskets seem to average about 30 lbs in size, which is an excellent winter deal on produce where I'm at. My sister lives in a different state where BB's are new, and her baskets are smaller. She was told it has to do with the amount of participants. More participants means more money in the collective pool and they get a better deal in the bulk ordering. I think it also has to do with the volunteer sites. We have lots of sites in our area and we have ordered from two different ones. One we always got more produce at, the other (which is no longer in operation) it was obvious the site managers were filling their baskets a bit more than everyone else's. Also, some weeks just weren't as good. To be expected, I guess! Apples and potatoes figured heavily in our baskets as well, so this upped our basket size. These were almost always local but we are in apple and potato territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitilin Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 We just received our first BB basket this past Saturday. I had paid for the organic basket, and I was pleased with what we received. Here the growing season is so short that I think that BB is totally worth it for us. If you live somewhere with a longer and more fruitful growing season, then no, it's probably not as good a deal for you as it is for someone like me. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I love Bountiful Baskets! One benefit to this type of food co-op over most others I've had experience with, you decide which weeks you would like to participate. Often times in a food co-op you pay $xx to participate for x amount of time, and if you can't pick up then you're out that produce. Also, most food co-ops you get foods you might not necessarily purchase, but that's part of the fun for our family (I get that not everyone feels the same). I didn't know I liked brussel sprouts, because I had them once as a child and thought they were nasty. They were in our BB recently, and not only did I like them, but so did the rest of my fam. I've compared the cost of the conventional basket to local produce prices, and I find the cost of BB to be much better than what I can get in the stores. I do love the add-ons, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Thanks for reminding me ... like you, probably, we're on a B week only in this area (I go to the NW Travis county site) ... we enjoy the chance to try things that we maybe ordinarily wouldn't try. My littlest has found that she LOVES brussels sprouts and kale, based on our BB shares, and is planting her own now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandymom Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 This is what I got 2 weeks ago. It was my first time to participate. This was two conventional baskets ($15 each) and 5 loaves of organic 9 grain bread ($12 total). I thought it was an EXCELLENT deal, and I can't wait to get my basket this week. I ordered one conventional basket ($15) and 1 organic basket ($25) this time to pick up on Saturday. Oh, and the bread is amazing! I love it! There are all sorts of add-ons available each week and vary week to week. I find them to be well priced to very well priced. I also priced out my basket with the local grocery store (Kroger). Even taking into account sale prices at the store, the produce part alone would have been $79.11. I paid $30. I haven't gotten an organic basket yet, and I will price that out when I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandymom Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 I got an organic basket this week and did a price comparison with the local grocer store (Kroger). Here's what I got in the organic basket: It cost $25 with Bountiful Baskets and the Kroger price was $41.83. They didn't have everything in an organic variety, so I just used the non-organic prices in those instances, so it probably would be a bit higher. I also got a conventional basket for $15 and this is everything together: I was very happy with everything I got today, and I feel like it was an amazing value! A total of $40 for everything that would have cost $78.23+ at my regular grocery store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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