Thanks to the most recent SNAP thread, I am looking into CSAs

[Joanne]

There seem to be 2 that have locations "near" me. Their costs are $30 - $35 weekly.

 

I am seriously considering it. Actually, the answer is yes, but  only if "child support" (aka social security benefits on their dad's record) are processed in time.

I will warn you, though I love my CSA, it kind of requires a different way of thinking about eating and preparing food.  Depending on the CSA, you may need to switch from thinking about "what am I going to make for dinner tonight", to "OMG:  I've got 20 pounds of kale to eat by Wednesday".

[kewb]

I love my csa but as pp stated sometimes you do have a plethora of an item and you have to figure out what to do with it.

[myfunnybunch]

I'll third that a CSA requires being prepared to meal plan a little differently. Also, we ended up being forced to try/eat vegetables we'd never in a million years have purchased voluntarily. The good news is that we've come to thoroughly enjoy and look forward to most of them (beets, chard, kale), though not all (salad turnips, kohlrabi).

 

This time of year, we're getting lots of fresh tomatoes and peppers and corn, along with a variety of other veggies. Yummy!

 

I hope it works out! :)

 

Cat

[LucyStoner]

I would do it for that price but here that priced box would last my family about 2, possibly 3, days.

 

Definitely it requires being really on top of the cooking at home thing. "I don feel like cooking tonight" can leave you with a crisper drawer full of rotten chard.

[Lady Marmalade]

Also remember that usually when you purchase a CSA, you are paying up-front for the coming season- no matter how that season ends up.  So you could have a bountiful season with loaded boxes every week, or something disastrous could occur and you end up with very little.  With a CSA you're speculating that your farmer is going to have a bumper year... and if they don't have a bumper year, you're out the money you put in AND you don't have any produce.

 

A farm near me that has a CSA also has memberships in terms of dollar amounts that can be used at their farmstand any time of the year.  A CSA for them costs between $700-$800 for a full share, half of that for a half share or you can buy the membership for $100 or $200.  The only catch with the membership is that it must be used in the calendar year it was purchased.  

[Tanaqui]

Tip for kohlrabi: Try roasting it in cubes under a chicken, just like you would with potatoes. Mmm!

[mathnerd]

Definitely it requires being really on top of the cooking at home thing. "I don feel like cooking tonight" can leave you with a crisper drawer full of rotten chard.

 

This is very valuable advise. I canceled my membership for the local CSA when I got things like 3 bunches of celery, 2 bunches of parsley, a big box of mushrooms etc in the same week. My family cannot consume so much celery and mushrooms in a week. And my crisper drawer was always full of surplus stuff like lettuce and rhubarb that were going into my compost pile after 10 days of sitting in my fridge. 

I use a lot of tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, spinach, broccoli etc and there was always not enough of those.

 

Be prepared to cook a lot - and to cook dishes that you might never have cooked before :)

[Χά�ων]

Freeze the surplus.

[scholastica]

We have enjoyed our CSA. It definitely changes meal planning. And you have to be willing to set aside some time to prep things for the freezer when there is excess. But, the excess is there in the winter months, so it helps the budget, too. Good luck with your decision.

[catz]

I will warn you, though I love my CSA, it kind of requires a different way of thinking about eating and preparing food. Depending on the CSA, you may need to switch from thinking about "what am I going to make for dinner tonight", to "OMG: I've got 20 pounds of kale to eat by Wednesday".

Yes, this exactly! We love our CSA, but it definitely requires some creative and flexible thinking. Love the recipe finder in all recipes where you can specify ingredients to find recipes. I also regularly free lance thowing in other stuff to recipes and thought a little more creatively.

 

I would also ask for info on what is in a few boxes at different points in the season if you have the option. We switched CSAs this year, and I lke the offerings of the new one even better than the old one. They are all slightly different.

[Annie G]

Tip for kohlrabi: Try roasting it in cubes under a chicken, just like you would with potatoes. Mmm!

 

 

Thanks for that tip! My sister was here visiting this week and she bought two kohlrabi at the farmer's market and I had no idea what to do with them except eat them in salad.  Yay!    She roasted veggies last night and one was radishes. I had NO idea radishes were ever cooked. They were delicious!!

[happi duck]

We love our CSA box!

 

I agree with others that it changes how I cook. If all else fails I make a starch and saute or roast whatever needs to be eaten.

 

It's become a fun challenge!

[ocelotmom]

Look at Bountiful Baskets too, if it is available in your area. It doesn't have the awesome supporting local farmers aspect of a CSA, but if you're primarily looking for a less expensive way to add produce to your diet, it does do that.

[skimomma]

Kohlrabi makes an awesome slaw.

 

I love our CSA.  We have been members of different CSAs for 15 years.  It was scary at first.  I have stories of the "week of celery" and the "15 pounds of kale."  It was hard to figure out.  But now it is awesome.  I shop for staples during CSA season and never meal plan (which I have to do religiously the rest of the year).  It is very freeing.  I start planning things out when I pick up our share by thinking of all the possible ways I can use everything.  I try to do my weekly staple-shopping that day or the next so I can be sure to have whatever other ingredients I might need.  By the end of the week I am usually left with the harder-to-use stuff.  If I am stumped, I simply plug the ingredients into google and see what I get.  I found an awesome beet pasta recipe and rutabaga-fennel gratin which are now family favorites using google searches.  We never ever waste any.  If we are traveling or have a bad week, I either give part to friends or freeze what I can for winter.  If you are even remotely adventurous and not afraid to cook new things, it really saves a lot of money and the food is so fresh.

 

We just signed up for our first winter share and I am pretty excited about it.

 

You can never make too much cream of celery soup.  It freezes well.  Our celery here is so...uh....flavorful....that we could never eat it raw.  After that fateful week of celery, we had four complete family meals worth of soup!  Plus extra celery frozen for future soup stock.  I felt pretty accomplished after conquering that bushel of celery.  I think it really was a bushel.

[blue daisy]

We love our CSA share also!  We've gotten the summer share for 3-4 years now and we've done their winter share a couple of times as well.  (I'm getting ready to purchase the share for this winter.)  Like others said, it requires a different mind set about meal planning.  I usually just plan a protein and throw in whatever veggies we have in a particular week, plus  a salad with a better variety of greens that I would buy at a store.  We've visited our CSA farm, and the kids really buy into it.  They are always more willing to eat veggies that come from "our" farm.  :)

[ocelotmom]

CSAs will often provide recipes and suggestions for how to use their produce, especially things that are unfamiliar or large quantity. They have an interest in keeping you happy so you'll keep buying!

[myfunnybunch]

Tip for kohlrabi: Try roasting it in cubes under a chicken, just like you would with potatoes. Mmm!

 

Maybe I'll try that. :) We've tried it raw, cut into slices, and as a slaw (recommended in the CSA newsletter). It's all right, we just can't eat much of it and no one wants seconds or leftovers. We've never tried it cooked.

 

Cat

 

[myfunnybunch]

I would do it for the price but here that priced box would last my family about 2, possibly 3, days.

 

That brings up a good question, Joanne: Do the CSA's offer an estimate for how many people a $30/$35 share will feed?

 

Ours is $400 for a 20 week season and $125 for the fall, 5 weeks. We get at least $25-45(ish) worth of veggies compared to what it would cost from the nearest grocery, and a weekly box is estimated to feed 3-4 people.

 

Actually it would cost more to buy a truly comparable box from the grocery because the farm is not certified organic but they farm organically without paying $$$ for certification. Organic veggies are expensive at the grocery!

 

Cat

[texasmama]

Look at Bountiful Baskets too, if it is available in your area. It doesn't have the awesome supporting local farmers aspect of a CSA, but if you're primarily looking for a less expensive way to add produce to your diet, it does do that.

I have been very pleased with BB.  I have ordered the organic boxes, but the conventional is a way to get a LOT of produce for a low price.  My family can eat two organic boxes of produce every two weeks.

[texasmama]

And I think it is fun to be surprised by what you get.  Sometimes I had to text pictures to my garden-y friends.  I'd be all like, "Is this a Chinese cabbage or what?"  lol

[Truscifi]

I did the same and discovered the homeless shelter in our county has a farm and CSA. The cost is upfront, $350 for fall/winter, $250 for spring/summer. It works out to be about $13.50 a week for a basket of unofficially organic produce. Dh and I are discussing whether we want to try it.