Who out there likes Christmas? What if I said you could experience Christmas-like joy every Wednesday?
We found out you can, right here in Wilmington, by signing up for a new local produce delivery service called The Produce Box.
We signed up after skyrocketing bills at Tidal Creek had us reevaluating our grocery budget. Our friends in Raleigh have been doing this for a while and I guess it is a service catching on across the country....glad to see something as cool as this in Wilmington.
What is it, you ask? $22 a week and you get a good size box of locally grown, farm fresh produce to your DOOR. Yes, right to your front step. Essentially, its the same stuff at the local farmers market, but delivered. We are simply amazed and excited each week when our box comes...to top it off, they throw in samples of maple butter, bbq, honey, etc and you get a friendly note from farmers and produce box coordinators with recipes and what is going on in their world. Financially, we did the math and you'd have to atleast spend $40-50 a week depending on the produce for the same price. Buying direct from farmers really does make sense....
Nothing we've done so far in Wilmington has made us feel so connected to the community as a whole. No subscription, cancel anytime and if you are on vacation you just login and "skip a week" Real easy. After doing this for about 6 weeks, we've seen our grocery budget get back to normal (probably less) and you really feel like you are part of something special going on....
Here are the boxes for this week (they change each week depending on what is in season and what is fresh) - and, they offer "stock up" options like if you want some cucumbers for pickling. Just check out the site, you'll see....
Box A
6 ears of corn
Blueberries(one pint)
3-4 red tomatoes
Sweet Potatoes or New Potatoes
Cucumbers
Squash/zucchini
Box B
6 ears of corn
Blueberries
2-3 red tomatoes
1-2 Green tomatoes
Squash Variety: includes papaya squash, regular and golden zucchini
Cucumbers
Box C (FARMERS CHOICE BOX)
6 ears of corn
Blueberries
Beans (either green beans, was or pole beans)
The rest is FARM choice.... read more