Bountiful Baskets

(This may sound like a sponsored post, but it's not. I'm just pretty stoked!)

A couple months ago, my work sent out an email about Bountiful Baskets. It's a food co-op thing, so you pay a certain amount of money and a week later you get cheap food in return. The way everything is so cheap is because it is all bought by the case, and then divided among other people who pay. Everything is volunteer run, so you don't have to pay for 'overhead' costs like at stores. 

I was excited when I first saw it, but I hadn't participated in it yet because I always had to work Fridays, which is the pickup day for our work. I could have done another one which is open to the whole community, but that would entail me to wake up on 6:30am on my day off and drive an extra 20 minutes to the other side of town, one way. So no. I didn't want to do it. But now I have Fridays off!

Today was the first day Vince and I picked up the 'basket' and I'm so over the top excited. There was SO much food and get this, I only paid $15! Here are all the goodies I got:

1 case of strawberries

1 case of baby heirloom tomatoes

tons of green beans

6 yams/sweet potato?

7 bananas

7 disc peaches

7 plums

3 huge mangos

2 yellow onions

1 stalk of celery

1 head of lettuce

1 cantaloupe

FOR FIFTEEN DOLLARS!

It's awesome because some of these things I have never bought because they are so expensive. Heirloom tomatoes are usually $5 for the little case, disc peaches are usually $2-4 a pound, and I don't remember how much green beans are, but I know if they aren't on sale they are pretty pricey. 

Another thing that I love is that I know I can get this much food every week for only $15. That's $60 a month, but it's actually super cheap for me because almost all of our grocery money goes towards fresh food. 

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always buy tons of fruit and veggies, and some always go to waste. Why? Because I want to save them for later! When I shop for fresh stuff I always buy what's on sale, and I know the sales might be different the next week so I want to 'save' my food for later when I really want to eat it. But then it goes bad because I waited to long.

I'm super crazy like that, is anyone else? As a kid I NEVER used stickers because I always wanted to save them, I would save half my candy bars for later, but they'd get all gross in my backpack, etc. But now I don't have to! I can eat whatever I want, and then get something new next week! Granted, the food items may change next week, but I know I'll still get something delicious.

I already ate 1/4 of the tomatoes and I've been snacking on green beans all afternoon, they are so delicious plain. I've also eaten a plum, and I can't wait until those mangoes and peaches are ripe! Maybe I'll share a delicious mango puree recipe next week that I love to eat on ice cream. (And just plain!)

Or maybe I'll share a recipe of what I made with this little guy, when I figure out what it is...does anyone know? I'm thinking either yams or sweet potatoes.

I can't wait to see what I get next week, and I'll be sure to share it with you! If you have a Bountiful Baskets or a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program near your (basically the same thing), I recommend taking advantage of it! You can also get things like tortillas and bread for super cheap.