Fruits and Veggies Delivered
After a morning chat with Twelveoaks where I confessed that I’d discovered that my last batch of oranges came from South Africa* we started talking about the halcyon days of Web Van and about veggie/fruit delivery services and local food co-ops. I’ve heard of a few here and there, but I don’t have any concise idea of the ones operating in the Atlanta area. Obviously, an emphasis on local producers would be preferable but I’m not a 100-mile fanatic. Organic is a nice perk, but frankly I’d prefer locally-produced over long-distance organic.
Obviously there is great merit and advantage in getting off one’s butt and commuting to the area farmer’s markets but that isn’t feasible or efficient for everyone on a regular basis. Google pointed to a company called Off the Vine here in our area, but I thought I’d ask around and see what services other people are using or have heard of.
* I swear I had no idea! I mean with Florida just “next door” I assumed rather than checking the labels more closely.
We use Farmer’s Fresh Food Network which doesn’t deliver but does have reasonably local pick-up spots. A google-search should find them for you.
Yeah, there they are: http://www.farmersfreshfood.com
How would you rate your experience with them (reliability, price, quality, selection)?
Theirs is a “you get what you get” selection model, but the variety has been good. We usually get at least one unique (didn’t come last week) in each week’s delivery. For summer, we’ve gotten squash, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, blueberries, watermelon, chinese cabbage, cabbage, pears, figs, and a smattering of other things. They tend to go overboard on the herbs — right now I have more basil than I know what to do with. I’m not bored by their selection of veggies.
We get the 4-5 person bag and split it with my mother. That gives us a reasonable number of veggies but I don’t think we could do JUST the bag and not supplement.
Based on rough calculations, it is at least price-neutral. We may not be saving money, but we aren’t spending any more on produce. I think we’re saving some.
They’re reliable; they haven’t missed a week yet, and they’re usually good about telling us what we’re getting a few days ahead of time. The quality is also good.
The produce that we get tastes better, I think, than the stuff you can get in a grocery store. However, there’s a trade-off in that it’s not always as pretty and polished as grocery store food, things need more washing, and some things are smaller than you might expect. Also, everything is local. This has been a sucky year for farmers, so sometimes the tomatoes were a little small, and the blueberry harvest was cut short. I never felt cheated in what we were getting, but if you’re expecting perfect Grocery Store looks, you won’t get it.
Thanks Lilisonna! That was an awesome overview. Exactly what I needed to know.
I’ve been digging the International Farmer’s Market at the corner of Clairmont and Peachtree Industrial, too. Lots of fresh stuff, but lots of imported russian, chinese, indian, and thai goodies as well.
Yup, I know the place. I get my panattoni fix there from time to time. 🙂
A co-worker also pointed out that there is a produce stand on Peachtree Street on my commute route. If I ever get to fulfill my dream of a bicycle commute, that’d be an awesome combination.