This past Saturday was our Bountiful Baskets pick up date. I have to say for the price, I am always impressed by the quantity, quality, and variety that we get. Saturday was no exception. As the volunteers start unloading the truck there is excitement in the air. We had bananas, pineapple, apples, mangoes, oroblanco, cauliflower, green bell peppers, broccoli, romaine lettuce, Anaheim peppers, an rainbow carrots. Most had never before seen carrots that weren't just orange. The excitement of trying a purple carrot that the likes of which they had never seen before. Then there were the add ons that could be gotten in addition to the regular conventional basket. There were fresh flour tortillas, cases of Satsuma tangerines, cranberry walnut granola, tropical fruit pack, guacamole packs, ginger cookies, and more. Once the truck was unloaded and we looked to make sure we had everything we were supposed to, we went about distributing the produce evenly into the baskets. Once we had evenly split everything we could, we started with what we call the case ends. After the initial distribution there is always a few of each thing left and not enough to give to everyone. At this point we take those wonderful case ends and go one by one into each basket until there is nothing left to add. This causes the baskets to be mostly the same but slightly different. All of the produce goes into the baskets. After all, we all contributed the same amount toward buying the bounty before us. Once this is done the volunteers and anyone who is waiting can show their confirmation and sign the checkout sheet. The beautiful baskets are numbered and once you sign, you are told what number you get this week. There is also a take one, leave one basket started if you would like to trade. You can also ask around and see if any other participants would like to swap items with you. Once participants sign for their baskets, they come over to the add on table to pick up the additional items they contributed for, take a peak at what things are, and even grab a sample if one is out. This week I shared the granola with those that came by. Overall I was thrilled with all I received. I was able to trade my apples for carrots. My romaine was traded for more Anaheim peppers and a few friends decided to just give me the peppers this time around.
This is a picture of my friends basket, since mine was so altered. A typical basket this week had 1 head of romaine, 1 bunch of organic broccoli, 1 pineapple, 1 cauliflower, 4 rainbow carrots, 8 apples, 8 bananas, 3 oroblanco, 2 green bell peppers, 2 mangoes, 4 on the vine tomatoes, and 9 Anaheim peppers. All of this for a contribution of $15.
This is a picture of the guacamole pack add on. A huge yellow onion, cilantro, green onions, 6 avocados, 3 lemons, 5 jalapenos, and garlic all for an additional contribution of $8.50
This was the tropical pack. 1 pineapple, 1 coconut, 3 mangoes, mint, 6 kiwi, 2 vanilla beans, 8 key limes, and some ginger for under $10.
Of course personally I got the conventional basket ($15), a guacamole pack ($8.50), tortilla pack (7 dozen total $12), and the cranberry walnut granola ($10). That comes to $45.50 before the surcharge of $6.50 which makes my grand total $52. There is no way I could get all of this from the store for near that price.
~Jennifer
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