Bountiful Baskets

When it comes to food, I get excited very easily...so the new Bountiful Baskets co-op that has come to Gallup was a big highlight of last weekend for me!  I picked up my first basket of produce at the co-op on Friday and it kind of felt like Christmas morning all over again!  Let me explain...

 Bountiful Baskets is a produce (and more!) co-op where you can pay on a bi-weekly basis to pick up a big basket of half fruits/half veggies for a mere $15 ($25 for organic produce).  You can also purchase add-ons like granola, different kinds of bread, etc.  If you live in the Gallup are, here are four reasons why I recommend this co-op to everyone:

Reason #1: It saves you money!  We payed $15 for our basket, and here is what we got for our money (this week's Safeway prices are in parentheses, to compare the value):

• 5 apples ($2.25)
• 2 bunches of bananas ($2.50)
• 7 small oranges ($4.50)
• 4 kiwis ($1.30)
• 4 avocados ($4.00)
• 1 bunch celery ($1.30)
• 3 artichokes ($2.00?)
• 1 small bag potatoes ($2.00)
• 2 heads romaine lettuce ($2.50)
• 1 box cherry tomatoes ($3.00)
• 1 bag brussels sprouts ($1.50)
• 2 acorn squash ($3.00) 

So, for $15, we got about $30 worth of produce--a 1/2 price deal!  And everything we've eaten so far seems to be of a very good quality, too!

Some of the produce, like the squash, potatoes, and oranges, will last for a while so I think we will be able to use everything even though it's just the two of us at home.  This was one of my hesitations about the co-op but it's going well so far!

Reason #2:  It saves you time! It took us 5 min. maximum to pick up our produce at the pick-up site (Uplift Charter School on Boardman Ave.).  You are asked to volunteer occasionally on a pick-up day, but most weeks we will save a lot of time when I am usually wandering around the produce section of the grocery store comparing prices, etc.  Jonathan loves this time-saving aspect of the co-op experience :)

Reason #3:  It's healthy!  One of my New Year's Resolutions is to eat more vegetables.  My big basket of produce is inspiring me to fulfill this resolution!

 And speaking of inspiration...Reason #4:  It makes cooking an adventure!  I have never cooked a fresh artichoke before, so this presented a fun new challenge.  It turns out that artichokes are tricky little things, but in the end, we had some delicious spinach/artichoke dip to eat with our salad for lunch!  Next challenge: acorn squash!

If you would like to participate in the Bountiful Basket co-op, you can visit www.bountifulbaskets.org to get started!