Budget friendly produce

This summer I've experimented with food co-ops. I've tried two different ones in my area. The first one is called the Community Food Co-Op based out of Salt Lake City. Here is a link to their September order form https://foodco-op.net/downloads/order-web.pdf. My experience with this food co-op has been pretty positive, although their meat quality is kind of hit and miss. Because of this when I order from this co-op, I tend to go with the harvest share with the nutty guys sampler add on (my very favorite part).

The second co-op I have found is called Bountiful Baskets, their website is www.bountifulbaskets.org. I believe they are based out of AZ, but they have many locations in UT and are now in WA as well. I prefer Bountiful Baskets to the Community Co-Op for a few reasons. First, they tend to have more variety with the produce and I like to try new things. Second, they have pick ups in my area every two weeks instead of every month. But mostly, they work much better with my schedule on Saturdays. Well enough in fact that I actually have time to volunteer at the Clearfield pick up location. My daughter actually quite enjoys getting up a little earlier and helping out too.

Both co-ops are good options if you are looking for a way to cut your grocery budget. The only real quality issue I've had so far is that sometimes the fruit is not quite ripe, an easy problem to solve. If you have it available to you however, my favorite place to get fruit and veggies is at my local U-Pick farm, ours is Day Farms in Layton. The quality is always much better that way. In fact I've become quite spoiled, I won't even buy grocery store corn on the cob anymore, after getting it fresh from the farm, the store stocked corn just seems to have no flavor. Also if you happen to be into canning, there's nothing better than canning food so fresh it was actually still growing that morning.