Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Organic Fruits & Veggies

Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, I have had the job to figure out how to to save our family money since we were going to be living on one income.  Through the first few months when our first son was born, I surfed the internet on how to make ends meet.  Food was a huge issue especially since we were adding a new little one to the family.  I was lucky enough to find a local food buying club where I could buy food at a discount each month.  The best part was you order online and then just pick-up what you ordered the following month, which was usually at a local church.  No need to step into a store, especially with little ones.  Also, many of these clubs are free, but a few require you to volunteer your time each month.  Our club is called SHARE Wisconsin and just has us pay a few dollars a month to cover gas and handling. 

As we were transitioning into this vegan life, we are fortunate enough to have our local buying club offer organic produce each month at an amazing rate.  We get 10+ pounds of organic produce for only $15.  Since going vegan, we now get 3 boxes a month and may even get 4 once summer months come.  This has provided my family fantastic organic produce which has saved us lots of money and time.

There are many food buying clubs out there that you might be able to take advantage of in your area.  I know not all have organic produce to offer, but groceries in general are cheaper when bought in huge quantities and divided among those that are ordering.  Here is a list of other food buying clubs that may help you out if you live in any of these states:

Angel Food Ministries
Serving many states within the United States
http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

SHARE Food Program of Pennsylvania
Serving Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Metro New York, Maryland East Shore
800-595-3663

SHARE Food Network
Serving Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia
800-21-SHARE

SHARE Hampton Roads 
Fare For All 
Serving Minnesota 
800-582-4291
  
SHARE Iowa 
Serving Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota 
800-344-1107

SHARE Wisconsin 
Serving Wisconsin, northern Illinois and the UP of Michigan 
800-548-2124

The Community Food Co-op of Utah  
Serving Utah 
866-959-2667 

Golden SHARE Foods 
Serving Southern California 
619-590-1692

There are probably many more out there, just do a search  for food buying club in your state and see what comes up.  Hopefully this will help some of you save money for yourself and others. 

Here are some pictures of 2 boxes of produce we got a few months back to give you an idea of what comes in our boxes.  The only thing that stinks about the boxes is you never know what you will get, so it is a surprise each time.  But we have never been disappointed over the past 5 years of buying.


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5 comments:

  1. Just UsMarch 22, 2011 at 2:19 PM

    We have Angel Food Ministries where I live. I was looking into it for my mom about a week or so ago, and noticed that they offered fruits and veggies as a selection. I meant to go back and look into it more, but never did. Thanks for the reminder. :o)

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  2. blessedmamaMarch 26, 2011 at 3:44 PM

    Just found your blog. I'm another stay-at-home vegan mom. We belonged to a CSA for about a year but had to quit due to finances. We're just pouring more energy into our garden now. Good luck with everything!

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  3. Just A MomMarch 26, 2011 at 6:31 PM

    Glad I could help you out Michelle!

    Blessedmama, so glad you found my blog and I love yours as well! We too had a CSA a few years back and due to finances we too had to quit and so glad we found SHARE as it has helped us. Can't wait to see how your garden progress!

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  4. AnonymousMarch 27, 2011 at 2:27 AM

    It sounds like a great program. And of course you could grow some of your food (not sure if you have a garden... but many things grow well in window boxes.

    ciao

    A.

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  5. Just A MomMarch 31, 2011 at 1:59 PM

    Alessandra-veganblog: We don't have very good space here for a garden, but have been using a friends farm to grow some things last year that worked out well. Hoping to do that again soon.

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