The Return of Bountiful Baskets

Have you ever tried out Bountiful Baskets?  It’s a produce co-op where you can order locally grown fruits and vegetables each week and pick them up on the Saturday delivery day.  You can order on Mondays or Tuesdays for pickup that same Saturday.  There’s no obligation whatsoever, so you can choose to order or not order each week, as seldom or as often as you’d like!

They have been expanding to various states, and a lot of site locations have been added.  I used to participate in it at a site that was conveniently just about 15 minutes away from me.  I quit for a while when I was following a specific nutrition plan and needed a particular list of items for my meal plans, and when I tried to order again months later, my pickup site had been eliminated!  There wasn’t a participating site close enough to me for quite a while.  Periodically, I checked the site location list to see what new sites were being added.  This week, low and behold, I noticed a new pickup site just 20 minutes away from me, so I decided to order again.

Each order starts with a “Conventional Box,” which consists of about 50% vegetables and 50% fruit.  Now what exactly comes in each box is a bit of a surprise.  It’s all seasonal items, so you generally get whatever is in season in the region where you live.  I usually check their Facebook page for recent photos posted by customers of what they actually received in order to get a good idea of what might be coming the next week.  Many states have their own state-specific Bountiful Baskets Facebook page, so search for that if you want local updates and posts.  (If you live in TX, here is our Facebook page so you can see photos and comments by local customers).

Then there are a number of special “add-on” boxes available that you have the option to add to your basic order.  The cost is always listed for each add-on box, and they also give a basic description of what types of things they hope to include in that box.  It’s usually pretty close to what you actually get, so you can get a good idea of what to expect by reading the description before you order.  You can’t order an add-on box without ordering a conventional box, though…the conventional box is the basic requirement before you add on any specialty boxes.

The very first time you order, you have to pay a $3 basket fee.  But once you’ve paid that, you never have to pay it again.  That’s because under normal circumstances, they sort the produce into baskets that the site manager has to maintain for the distribution day.  The fee ensures there are enough baskets for all the customers who use the site.  You would select the appropriate baskets and transfer the items to your own container, leaving the baskets behind for your next order.  But due to the pandemic, they are practicing contactless pickup.  Now, you drive up into a line of vehicles to wait your turn, and someone loads your order into your vehicle in produce boxes. 

This week, I got the conventional box plus the “Summer Snack Pack” add-on box, which is mostly fruits and a couple of snacking veggies for my kids to enjoy. There’s also a small processing fee of $1.50 on every order.  All told, my 2 boxes of goodies cost me $33.50. Here’s what I got!

Conventional Box $18

Summer Snack Pack $14

Everything was fresh and delicious.  I was really pleased!  With 3 heads of loose leaf lettuce, we decided we’d better have a salad bar for dinner tonight, so we did.  Yum!  Those carrots were huge, and my youngest son and I snacked on one of those right away.  They were very good.  I was happy to see so many fresh green beans (I love to roast them with garlic and olive oil) and 2 bags of sugar snap peas (my kids love to dip them in ranch dressing)!  There were 2 whole bags of apples plus a couple of loose ones, so maybe there’s an apple pie in our future…sounds good to me!

If you haven’t give Bountiful Baskets a try, go ahead and check their site and see if they have a pickup location near you.  If they are in your state already but aren’t quite close enough to you yet, keep checking back regularly, because new sites are added all the time.

Since it’s a co-op, everyone who works at the distribution site is a volunteer.  They request that customers sign up to take a turn now and then at manning the distribution site.  That’s what keeps it going!  And spread the word to your friends and neighbors.  Sufficient orders and cheerful volunteers are what keep each site on the list of participating locations.

Here’s to eating more healthy, fresh, local produce!