ideas, thoughts, concerns....Help

[ReadyFreddy]

Originally Posted by CheyDee

There's a really good food co-op here, called Bountiful Baskets. For just $15 you get a lot of very fresh produce. You don't get to choose your items, you are given whatever they happen to have - which is generally whatever is in season.

If you're into experimenting with food a bit, (and trying new things you may not have had before), it's a great option.

I'd like to try this but I'm having trouble on that site finding out the quantity. I see it's often 6 fruits/6 veg but how much of it? I don't want an overwhelming amount! Also, do you find it's a lot of oranges/grapefruits, typically? Thanks!

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by ReadyFreddy

I'd like to try this but I'm having trouble on that site finding out the quantity. I see it's often 6 fruits/6 veg but how much of it? I don't want an overwhelming amount! Also, do you find it's a lot of oranges/grapefruits, typically? Thanks!

They estimate the value to be approx. $50/basket and they do try to even it out equally between fruits and vegetables, but that doesn't always happen. It depends upon what the co-op is able to get that's fresh and priced right. As for an overwhelming amount of any one thing, we're only 2 people so often we have more than we can use in a short time, while everything is still fresh. Our freezer is our friend.

They say there is still a small quantity of Valencia oranges from Mexico, (the end of the season), but once that's gone there probably won't be more citrus until the next citrus season. There usually isn't an overload of oranges, grapefruits, or any one particular item in a regular basket. If you want oranges in quantity, for example, they would be sold as "additional baskets" when available. The current offerings are here.

[madmmac]

I know Avondales Farmers Market is up and running.

Here is a link to the markets.....Arizona Community Farmers Markets serving Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, Carefree, Buckeye, and Glendale

[schmaltzty3]

Thank you all for the great words of advice. I try to do the coupon thing, but I usually forget them at home. I am leaning towards the Costco thing. Oh, and the BIG chain in Pittsburgh is the Giant Eagle. They offer double coupons, but the item is higher than Target or Wal-Mart.

I believe we will be looking at North Goodyear or the Canyon Trails area.

[ReadyFreddy]

I'm a big price comparison shopper but I've never done the coupon thing for groceries. I find the coupons are on things I wouldn't normally buy anyway, almost invariably. I do use Costco coupons occasionally. But even those are rarely for food staples (eggs, meat, bread, produce) but for Fruit Snacks, Lysol, Glade, Neutrogena, Tuxedo Mousse Cake, etc. Higher margin, impulse buy items. Usually the check-out person at Costco will give you the coupon price if you happen to be buying the item, regardless, too. I mean you don't have to present the coupon.

I pay $100/year for a Costco executive membership but between my Costco rebates and my Costco AmEx rebates, I get way more than that $100 back each year. I'm guessing maybe $300-400 year in rebates? But I buy all I can at Costco and put all I can on that card (and pay it off each month).

CheyDee- Thanks for the co-op info. I might try it sometime. I don't know if I could get through $50 worth of random produce (for $15) but it might be fun to try. I want to avoid a ton of citrus. We have some trees so are already overloaded with it.