by Claire
In an ongoing effort to both eat a more healthy diet AND save money, I am giving a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group a try. Does anyone do this already? I am so excited about picking up my first half-order on Friday. Almost as excited as I still am about this stupid Simple Human trash can! There’s a $50 set up fee and then it is $425 for 10 weeks. I’m splitting this first round with a friend so we can get an idea of what to expect. I love the idea of eating locally produced foods. I love the idea of experiencing new items and expanding our palates. I love the challenge of cooking new foods that I may have never cooked before. But, most importantly, I love the idea of the money I can save here. Our share of this first delivery will be $21 per week. If we get enough meat and produce this could be a great way to reduce the grocery budget. Keep in mind I only feed the kids two weeks out of the month. On the other two weeks it is just me I have to worry about! If I get meat and produce for $84 per month I might shave that $300 per month grocery budget down to $200. 🙂
Here’s the one I joined: http://www.kochranches.net/community-supported-ag.html
Please share about your experiences with local agriculture!
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
Claire…just wanted to let you know that I applaud you for not wanting to get into a “sticky” situation with your siblings. My sisters and I were all helped by our parents at one time or another. It never bothered me when others were helped and I never kept score..but somebody was and now my sisters are no longer speaking to me. Our Mom is 83 and she has moved near me to be near me, her grandchildren, and great grandchildren. My Mom hears from the 2 daughters about 2 times a year. They no longer speak to me at all…….good thing you are thinking about this, claire. I never thought it would happen to our family, but it did. Melissa
This is EXACTLY my fear Melissa! I am sorry you are going through that tough family stuff. I feel like my siblings and I just barely hold on to peace and tranquility. Something like this could tip us over the edge and I just don’t want to go there.
just realized i left this comment under the wrong message–should have left it under the car saga.
Hooray for local food you dang hippie! This is awesome.
Now for the downside.
That is a very expensive CSA. $42 per week should get you quite a bit of food, I hope it includes some meat, or eggs, or an extra large portion of veggies. If its just veggies you’re probably paying too much. I think going rate is $30-$35.
I am hugely passionate about this local food subject, we will have chickens and maybe goats soon. But I have to say that I’ve had some frustrations with the local Austin CSA we tried because a lot of the box seemed to be filled with starchy low nutrition veggies like beets, potatoes. Make sure it’s heavy on greens, sulfur veggies like onions and peppers and more greens. I’d also be surprised if you save money this way. You have to intentionally eat all the stuff without supplementing it too much. Get ready for some end of the week soups! Also a surprising number of veggies can be roasted in the oven with a little oil and salt.
So for a compromise my wife and I buy food each weekend at the farmers market. San Antonio has a local food delivery service called greenling where you can get the local stuff but I think pick and choose the items you want.
Don’t get me wrong, I think CSAs are wonderful, but just like if you were living off your own garden, you have to be ready to eat what you get. This will be a real adventure.
I’ve never been called a hippie before! LOL! Thanks! I think…
It includes meat and veggies. We got a near two pound package of great beef cutlets and a dozen eggs…and a WHOLE LOT of veggies. I’ve got to go google what to do with some of this but I feel like the portions were on target for what we paid. This will be easier to do on my kid free weeks. I’d have to get really good at turning all of these greens into something delicious for the kids to embrace. I will post this weekend about what I got and what I turned it into!
The Johnson’s backyard garden site posts a weekly picture of what’s in their box and what to do with it, it might give you some ideas.
We are part of a CSA, and love it. However, our CSA isn’t quite that expensive. We just paid our yearly fee and it was $250. I should mention though that our CSA does not offer meat, which is great for us because we’re vegetarians.
I am sure you’ll love it. Last year we found ourselves trying lots of new dishes, because we didn’t want all the veggies to go bad. We discovered that the kids love zucchini bread, and we love beets.
Christy-I tried roasting the 3 beets I got yesterday and then sautéing with lemon and butter. Uh…no! I did not care for them at all and I was glad the kiddos were not here to see me struggle to try them. I’ll try a different prep method when I get them again but as of right now…not a fan of beets! 🙂
Claire: This is a good deal as it does include some meats. I also think it’s worth the money because you know where your food is coming from. We joined a CSA here in NY as well. We love it as it allows us an opportunity to try new recipes. Ours is an organic farm so no genetically engineered vegetables. We buy our meat and chicken in bulk through organic farmers also. It’s a little cheaper that way.
I live in a suburb of Paris and we go to the local farmer’s markets. The CSA baskets are more popular inside the city.
When we set up our DS1 in central Paris a few years ago during his grad school, once we were done cleaning and getting him settled and and meeting his new roommates, we took a walk. There was an organic food store, DH wanted to look in. They were offering CSA baskets (no meat here in those CSA baskets). We bought him one as a “welcome” to the neighborhood, and paid for a second one.
He lived with two other guys and the girlfriend of one of those guys. She was apparently a fantastic cook!
Several years later, DS1 still marvels at all the awesome things they made from those baskets (because after our initial gifts, they kept it up!)
But, I think you definitely need time. Some of us are NOT used to cooking veggies from scratch. I can do it but I don’t love it.
From what I remember, you also get items that you may not have seen before. So you either need to figure out what to do with them, or “trade” them.
I think it’s great that you are doing this with a friend!
I use a food delivery service in San Francisco. It is called Farm Fresh To You. I do the small mixed every other week. They didn’t have a set up fee and I can suspend it as much as I like as long as I give them a one week notice. I don’t like cooking with squash, which I have received a few time, but I become a good neighbor by sharing it.
I got a LOT of veggies in this first batch and a dozen eggs and some beef cutlets. I’ll post soon about what I end up doing with all of these veggies. I can share already that kale chips are NOT for me! 🙂
Congrats! I have been a CSA member for about 5 years, and it’s a great way to eat healthier, force yourself to stay home and cook, and experience new veggies.
I don’t know how much money it directly saves (compared to buying from the grocery store or costco) but it is great to know where your food comes from.
I’ll be interested to read how it affects your finances.