As many of us know buying fresh produce for our families can be pricey. Thanks to my neighbor, I recently discovered Green Bee Produce. Basically you get a box of produce for $18.50 and $2.00 of that goes to the school where you pick it up. It is very nice produce, but it is not organic or local. I did email them to ask where they bought the produce from and they did reply that they stay as local as possible. The produce we received today came from California, Mexico, Idaho, and probably Ecuador (for the bananas). Our local grocery store doesn’t have local produce (very often) and not much organic anyway so this isn’t much different then what I would buy. I try to stay as local as possible, so most of the time I stick with the west coast, we get a fairly good variety that way thanks to our close proximity to California.
Now let’s talk value. Here is a run down of the produce we received and my estimates of what it would cost to purchase it at the store I usually shop. I am going off of memory and guestimates for the grocery store prices, but I will try to low ball it.
2 packages of Blackberries – the best deal I have seen 2 for $5
Pint of strawberries – $2.99
3.25 pounds of bananas – usually $.59/lb $1.92
1.25 pounds of Asparagus – $2.99/lb $3.74
1.25 pounds of romaine lettuce – (okay I have no idea on this one) $1.00/pound $1.25
1.75 pounds of apples – $1.50/pound $2.19
1 pound of tomatoes – $1.00/pound $1.00
5 pounds of potatoes – $2.99
3 pounds of pears – $1.50/pound $4.50
2.25 pounds of onions – $1.00/pound $2.25
2 green bell peppers – $2.00
1 red bell pepper – $1.50
3 lemons – $.39 each $1.17
Total store guestimate – $32.50. So I saved $14 and supported a local school.