Co-op experience

So I made it down to the Roy Bountiful Baskets produce Co-op! I even saw some of you there!!! :) I wanted to see if it was as good of a deal as everyone was saying it was. I purchased 2 shares. One for me and one for my sister. I got there about 6:35 am and they were already in full swing getting the baskets put together.

Today's share included:
(I have a digital postal scale for weights)

2lbs red onions
3 lbs 1 oz cluster tomatoes (this weight includes some extras we got at the end)
2 lbs 9 oz bananas
1 4 lb bambino watermelon
1 lb 12 oz plums
1 3 lb cantalope
1 carton blackberries
1 lb carrots
1 head of red leaf lettace
1 bunch spinach
2.25 lbs green grapes
2 lbs pink lady apples
1 4lb head Broccoflower

Then for helping I got 1 more bunch of lettace. Each basket ended up with an extra something from the leftovers. My basket had an extra 4lb cantalope and my sister's had the extra tomatoes.

In all we ended up with 51.3 lbs of produce combined and 5 bunchs/heads of greens. I priced everything out based on prices today at the grocery store. Some of the things are on sale this week some are not. I calculated $74.07 worth of produce. When you subtract what I paid for 2 shares it's a savings of about 51%! So not exactly $50 worth if you factor in sales prices for some of the items but definately a great deal. Some these items I would not have normally bought because they are too expensive at the store right now. My kids were SOOOO excited to see the melons!

This cycle we could have also purchased:

blackberries for $10 a case
An Italian veggie pack for $7. It included 3 different onions, several garlics, 2 zuchinis, 1 carton mushrooms, from what I could tell several fresh herbs.
5 loaves bread for $10. This was a heavy, grainy, wheat bread like is sold at Great Harvest. I don't remember the exact bakery though.
3 loaves cinnamon rasin bread $10

Just a heads up that wasn't in the previous post, there is a $1.50 fee for each separate transaction. This fee applies to all transactions, even those made within the same co-op cycle.

So after your first time participating it will cost you $16.50 for one standard share.

If you wanted 2 shares and wheat bread you would pay $15 + $15 + $10 + $1.50. (You get the picture.)

Your first time will cost you $19.50. $15 + $3(one time fee) + $1.50.

I asked about who is behind it all. Was it a church? A group of churches? A community group? Nope. It was started by 2 women, Tanya & Sally. They both live in AZ. They started it several years ago when they realized that the first thing to go from peoples diets when $ gets tight is fresh produce. It's more economical to buy boxed or canned goods because they keep longer. They wanted to provided a way for everyone to get produce for wholesale prices. The co-op was born. There are currently over 50 pick-up sites and more in the works. The produce is from a major produce distributor the same company delivers in the morning to the grocery stores in the area. It is all first quality and as fresh as if you would have bought it at the store.

All in all it was a great experience and I'll do it again. :)