Look at all the produce l got for $16.40!!!!!

I am very excited about today's post.  As a family of 6 we eat a lot of produce and it makes up a great deal of meals and snacks.  I am sure most of you know how expensive produce can be, organic or conventional.  I have been using Bountiful Baskets for a year now and have loved the assortment and quality the site gives.  With each basket you get about 50/50 fruit and vegetable.  They offer additional items like bread, granola, veggie packs, fruit by the lb, and more.

Bountiful Basket sorting

This week I wanted to share more of my experience with the two produce sites.  I started my day picking up my Bountiful basket at 7:30 for a 8am pickup.  While waiting I took a few pictures of the sorting processes.  I have volunteered before and they are fast and efficient.  If ever they do run behind it is because the produce truck arrived late. 

Breads, Organic, Extras

 There is a little bit of a line averaging 80-100 baskets.  Even if you get there early or right at 8am, you get the same basket everyone else does.  They are evenly distributed in the white laundry baskets, one for fruits and one for vegetables.  The staff are always nice and happy to help.  The line also moves very quickly.  At one time Bountiful basket only offered conventional baskets weekly and organic bi-weekly.  January 2011 they started offering organic every week.  We were super excited.  You can get a organic basket for just $10.00 for than the standard convention basket at $15.00.  Another wonderful feature is that you can order up to 3 baskets a week.  There is no requirement for purchasing so many times a year.  When you want a basket you just have to order at the beginning of that week.  For Arizona residents you can order Monday and the latest Tuesday.  I try to order on Monday because I have gone to order and the baskets were all sold out.  The granola taste amazing, the veggie packs have themes like Italian, Mexican, and herbs.  You can see if a Bountiful location is near you by visiting their website.  If you are interested in starting a location near you visit them here.  The weekly extra do change week from week and you see what is offered on the Monday of that week. 
This weeks basket!

Bountiful basket         
2 lettuces                            11 bananas
1 bunch of kale                    9 oranges
1 bundle of asparagus            5 mango's
1 bag of carrots                    1 pineapple
1 bundle of green onions       9 apples

7 Mexican green peppers
3 house cucumbers
 loose red and yellow peppers

A wonderful basket at $16.40 with tax.

Long line this week

After picking up my basket I then headed in to Tucson for the St. Cyril Church location for Market on the Move this week.  It was only about 30 minutes away and found it very easy.  When I got there about 8:30am to see the line so long.  They had two donation lines running and a members line.  The members lines was a lot shorter and I was a little happy to jump into the shorter line.  We waited still about 30 minutes to make to the start of the produce pickup.  This line was a lot slower as people are picking and choosing through the boxes laid out.  With Market on the Move you get to pick what you want and how much up to 60 lbs for a $10.00 donation or up to 120 lbs with membership of $100.00.  We have used the program twice now and have received much more than $20.00 worth of food.

 Market on the Move

4 eggplants
12 zucchini
19 yellow squash
9 house cucumbers
20 yellow peppers
6+ lbs of green beans
14 grapefruits
3 large mixing bowls of red +yellow peppers
5 green bell peppers
35 green Mexican peppers

They also offered tomatoes, house and roman, but we were still great on last weeks box.  The amounts you see are the amounts that I picked myself.  I will not be able to eat and store all this so I made a box for our church to give to a wonderful family to enjoy. 

Another wonderful week for $10.00, but no charge since I paid membership last week. 

I wanted to give you a little comparison of the two companies.  Going to both locations might not be practical for every person.  I think both have great benefits and drawbacks.  While you can take more for a lot less at Market on the Move the lines today were crazy long, even for members.  The lines and efficiency at Bountiful Baskets much faster.  Another great benefit is getting a great assortment of fruits from bountiful Basket.  Market on the Move had no fruits last weekend and they gave me a max of the grapefruit this week. 

I love both programs and feel that to have all this produce for $26.40 is a steal!  I will probably rotate my schedule of the baskets and make sure I only take what I can use and share.  It disturbs me to see food wasted and end up in the garbage.  I was so excited to share this with you that I had to post right away.  I still have some washing and storing to do, plus make the menu for this week.  That is another great benefit about these programs is that you pick up your boxes and then plane the meals.  This saves you from making impulse buys of produce out of season and over priced because of the shipping and processing to get it to the stores. 

These are same conventional grocery store foods that contain pesticide, herbicides, and waxes.  I usually only purchase organic and have to make sure to wash all this produce well.  I used a simple cleaning solution of vinegar, water, and lemon.  This was super simple and I could feel a difference of removing the wax trapping in the chemicals underneath. 

Green Produce Cleaner
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp white vinagar
1 cup of water

Mix together in a large bowl for apples, peppers, cucumber, and other harder produce.  For lettuces, broccoli, grapes and softer produce spray mixture.  After wiping down or spraying rinse well to remove any vinegar taste.  Super simple and the vinegar and lemon do remover more chemicals than water alone. 


I have to get back to packing up the goodies but will be posting the menu for the week soon so you can get a look at this weeks upcoming recipes!

These programs are in your area.  It might be harder to find but they are there.  I was surprised to know this program has been here for a while and I never knew.  I am going to be posting tomorrow on ways to search for these in your area.  If you have similar events/ programs please share them here, even outside Az.