Food for Thought: The Organic Box
Recently I attended a baby shower and was welcomed with the usual, "What's going on with you lately?" Since I know what these ladies were going to ask me next as they eye up my left hand, I have to beat them to the punch "No, i'm not engaged. No, i'm not pregnant." Really I don't have a good answer to this question aside from "keeping busy!". Between starting this blog, my usual 9-5, a recent BBS addiction, and planning Christmas for both of our families (Yikes!... are backup turkeys a thing?) it really isn't that far from the truth. Turns out there is one thing new with me that i'm excited to share.
Enter: The Organic Box. During the summer months, there are few things I enjoy more than taking a nice walk over to my local farmers market and purchasing delicious, in season food for our little family of two. Now that we are under 40+ cm of snow, and my schedule is jam packed, the organic box has been a saviour. We are currently receiving "The Organic Singles Box" which is the perfect amount of produce for the two of us. We have been adding on milk, eggs, and a few other goodies that our delivered right to our door. They have yogurt, cheese, bread, the amazing sunworks farms sausages, chocolate! If they could just add wine and we would be set. Below is a snapshot of some but not all, of what came in my basket this week.
When the box arrived it was veggie Christmas! Yes, this is what I get excited about now. Rich green baby kale (Can't wait to try the Tuscan Kale Salad recipe from Life is Better Red), celery, apples, and not those weird shiny candy red ones from the grocery store - what are those? Also, the spinach, wow! It was so crunchy and FRESH. Tyler even enjoyed the spinach. I could go on forever about how good the box was, but I know you are busy so i'll get down to the nitty gritty.
When you first sign up there is a $20 deposit on the box. Fair enough, you get it back if you choose to stop receiving the services. Our box, including our additions, is about $60. When combined with the meat that we purchase mostly elsewhere (Real Deal Meats is our favourite local butcher), it costs just a bit more than what we would pay at Safeway. For that bit extra you get convenient, quality food. I know what a lot of you are thinking, because I hear it a lot:
1. Organic food is expensive. To me, value in buying produce and meat isn't just about cost. I value knowing that the ingredients that I'm about to prepare into a meal come from a local source, are free of weird chemicals and pesticides, and are often fresher.
2. Is organic even any different? From my experience it is. I will never forget the first time I visited a feed lot, after that, anyone will appreciate how your food is treated. Of course some products have taken advantage of the green movement, so as consumers we have to do our homework.
Growing up on a farm I know how hard these farmers work everyday to have tip-top crops and quality product. The Organic Box is such an easy way to support our local farmers, eat healthy, and be a little pampered as it is delivered right to your door. I have truly enjoyed my organic box experience thus far, and if this sounds like something you're into, check them out here. If you're curious about organic eating, find more info here. I will leave you with this quote straight from The Organic Box's website.
"Your Organic Box contains produce grown without pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or fumigation, resulting in greater health for soil, plants, animals and people. Support local organic farming families and enjoy better nutrition and flavour! Eat Food, not Chemicals"
xo, K