I have been trying to eat more local, organic, and seasonal for years now. Green BEAN makes it easy, you just place your order online and it arrives at your door step on your scheduled delivery day! And delivery is FREE for orders totaling $35 or more. Everything is fully customizable from how much is in your bin, what is in your bin, and how often you get your bin. Green BEAN is the only company I have found that offers this much flexibility and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
You set up what you want your default bin to be; small, medium, large produce bins or pick a produce and grocery mixed bin (that's what my bin is), and you can change it when you are placing your order. You also set your default frequency to every week or every other week. I have mine set to every other week so I don't end up with more than I can eat during the summer when I have my garden and CSA veggies too. I can add or turn off bins easily, so right now I am getting a bin every week even though my default is every other week, and when we go on vacation or won't be home on delivery day it is easy to turn it off.
Every week starts with a standard assortment of produce and every week that assortment is different (changes with seasonality). You can keep the default, change everything, or do something in between. I always end up making some kind of adjustment. Each fruit or veggie that is available that week is listed in a drop down box with whether it is local, grown in the US, or grown in Mexico as well as whether it is organic, sustainably grown, or conventionally grown. Just about everything is organic and grown in the US, but there are some things like bananas or mangoes that are really difficult to be both.
After that, you can add grocery items no matter what type of bin you have. I use the 'local artisans' category almost exclusively to get local milk, yogurt, eggs, butter, meat, granola, coffee (roasted locally), and more. One time I got a little carried away and ended up with three bins in one week! (One of those bins was my Thanksgiving turkey.)
When I first signed up for Green BEAN, I had some concerns, but after a few weeks I was hooked! Some of my original concerns included keeping everything cold. It's one thing if produce gets a little warm, it grows outside and half of it shouldn't be stored in the fridge any way. It's another thing for dairy and meat to get warm. When my first bin arrived with in a shipping cooler with ice packs and everything was still very cold hours after delivery, I was no longer concerned. I also wondered about variety of produce, since I sometimes get 'stuck' with my CSA and end up having to order too much of one thing. After a week or two of figuring out how to fully customize my bin, I almost had too much variety! (The local produce selection does decrease during the winter, there are still a lot of options to choose from.)
My last concern was pricing, was it more expensive to order through Green BEAN than just going to the grocery store? I would have to drive to the other side of town to have some of the options that I can easily select from Green BEAN, so in convenience, time, and gas... it definitely saves me money. For the stuff I can get from the Kroger down the street from me... when comparing apples to apples (literally, hehe), Green BEAN is still less expensive in many cases.
If you're trying to eat more fresh fruits and veggies, make sure they are in your house when you're hungry! It's easy to grab the junk food if that is the only thing in your pantry. With Green BEAN, you will always have healthy options to snack on and plan your weekly meal plans around. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask!
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