Organic vegetable delivery in the Bay Area
January 11, 2006 4:20 PM Subscribe
Any recommendations of good services for organic vegetable delivery in the Bay Area?
My cooking skills are fairly limited (some Indian, Thai, and Chinese) and I am concerned about how the whole random seasonal vegetable thing will work out. We eat a lot of salads (love a good tomato). Bonus if we can also get small orders of fruits. I am located in Mountain View.
Its just two of us, and we eat out some as well, so we would like to be able to order a small box.
My cooking skills are fairly limited (some Indian, Thai, and Chinese) and I am concerned about how the whole random seasonal vegetable thing will work out. We eat a lot of salads (love a good tomato). Bonus if we can also get small orders of fruits. I am located in Mountain View.
Its just two of us, and we eat out some as well, so we would like to be able to order a small box.
I got deliveries from Planet Organics and thought the produce was wonderful. They really allow you to fine-tune your preferences, so you can get only veg, only fruit, half-and-half, 1/3-2/3, etc. They even have a "salad lovers" box.
I loved the produce and the convenience, but at the time it was just me living alone and it was just a little bit too much for one person to handle.
I liked that they also have a recipe source so that if you get something you've never cooked before, you can expand your repertoire.
posted by ambrosia at 5:02 PM on January 11, 2006
I loved the produce and the convenience, but at the time it was just me living alone and it was just a little bit too much for one person to handle.
I liked that they also have a recipe source so that if you get something you've never cooked before, you can expand your repertoire.
posted by ambrosia at 5:02 PM on January 11, 2006
My friends used Terra Firma and did this review of it. I'm not sure if they have a drop-off location near you, my Bay Area geography is pretty rusty.
posted by jessamyn at 5:16 PM on January 11, 2006
posted by jessamyn at 5:16 PM on January 11, 2006
Response by poster: this is very helpful. Keep it coming. All three services look promising, and I am looking closer at them to decide which one to try.
posted by rsinha at 7:27 PM on January 11, 2006
posted by rsinha at 7:27 PM on January 11, 2006
Try Local Harvest. They maintain listings of community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs (which will have your delivery) and other farming-related programs. Not all will be organic of course, but a lot will.
posted by artifarce at 11:17 PM on January 11, 2006
posted by artifarce at 11:17 PM on January 11, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
A caveat: The basic package is totally seasonal. If you customize it to include out-of-season produce, you increase your price, and you also turn the service from a convenience to a slight pain in the ass.
So, you're only going to get truly "good tomatoes" when they're in season, the rest of the year you'll be paying for overpriced hothouse or imported toms. Same for everything else.
I think that these delivery services work best when you're willing to be flexible and learn to cook within season--which can be really fun, and you can make a great salad year-round that sticks within the parameters of what's in season in your area.
I also think that even limited cooking skills are enhanced by excellent quality, very fresh ingredients. So I wouldn't worry about that part.
posted by padraigin at 4:33 PM on January 11, 2006