Early Morning Produce Parties
Have you ever participated in a food co-op before? I joined one back in July, and it was a brand new experience for me. Every two weeks I order a produce basket and a couple of loaves of bread for about $20. I had no idea what to expect. Since I have a couple of huge fruit eaters in the family, I thought it might be worth it, but I worried about the vegetables. No one in this family is much of a vegetable eater, except for a couple of basic staples (carrots, broccoli, and peas.)
The amount of produce that I brought home the first Saturday was shocking. You bring your own laundry basket and fill it up with your order at the pickup site. My laundry basket was completely filled up with a very random selection of produce, all of it better quality than I can ever get at Walmart. The kids thought it was Christmas morning. Cherries, peaches, and pears, oh my! We even managed to eat some of the Romaine lettuce and all of the carrots. The poor celery wilted before I ever got around to trying to imagine a use for it, but hey, we still got more than our money's worth out of the order.
Now I feel like an old pro, and I've learned the real secret to getting the best out of the co-op. I volunteer each Saturday at the pickup site, dividing up the boxes of fruits and vegetables among the individual orders. That way, I already know ahead of time which basket contains extra helpings of celery and green peppers, and I can choose the one that got extra mangoes instead. Plus, when everything is divvied up, then the volunteers get to choose extra produce. I've gotten extra avocadoes, pears, strawberries, grapes or carrots that way.
The only problem is that I really shouldn't be lugging big heavy baskets around. Especially not with the intermittent contraction issue. Terence has offered to take it over for me, but quite honestly, I don't really want to give it up! It's nice to get out and socialize with some other adults with no kids for an hour and do something out of the ordinary. Ah, well, I'll do what I have to, I guess. (Listen to me mope! You'd think I have to give up a girls' night out or something, not vegetable sorting.)
P.S. At the last pickup I got twenty-one bulbs of garlic, so if you want some garlic, let me know!!!
The amount of produce that I brought home the first Saturday was shocking. You bring your own laundry basket and fill it up with your order at the pickup site. My laundry basket was completely filled up with a very random selection of produce, all of it better quality than I can ever get at Walmart. The kids thought it was Christmas morning. Cherries, peaches, and pears, oh my! We even managed to eat some of the Romaine lettuce and all of the carrots. The poor celery wilted before I ever got around to trying to imagine a use for it, but hey, we still got more than our money's worth out of the order.
Now I feel like an old pro, and I've learned the real secret to getting the best out of the co-op. I volunteer each Saturday at the pickup site, dividing up the boxes of fruits and vegetables among the individual orders. That way, I already know ahead of time which basket contains extra helpings of celery and green peppers, and I can choose the one that got extra mangoes instead. Plus, when everything is divvied up, then the volunteers get to choose extra produce. I've gotten extra avocadoes, pears, strawberries, grapes or carrots that way.
The only problem is that I really shouldn't be lugging big heavy baskets around. Especially not with the intermittent contraction issue. Terence has offered to take it over for me, but quite honestly, I don't really want to give it up! It's nice to get out and socialize with some other adults with no kids for an hour and do something out of the ordinary. Ah, well, I'll do what I have to, I guess. (Listen to me mope! You'd think I have to give up a girls' night out or something, not vegetable sorting.)
P.S. At the last pickup I got twenty-one bulbs of garlic, so if you want some garlic, let me know!!!
Comments