Organically Grown Fruits and Vege's

[Plenum]

being inspired by another thread, I've decided to give Organic Fruits and Vege's a go.  I've never tried them.

I'm going to order a mixed box of each, and it will be delivered on Thursday, so I can try this experiment.

I've used organic grains before, because you get much more bang for the buck.  You can buy a 5kg bag, and that will last for MONTHS.

Fruits and vege's however, are perishable, and much more costly on a weekly basis.  That's why I've stuck with groceries.

In truth, looking at what's offered in one of these 'mixed boxes', I would say that it costs 3x what I would pay for buying from a normal store.  It's the difference between 10 bucks, and 30 bucks.  That's a massive gap.  (especially if it's a weekly basis)

But I'm happy to experiment.

[Nicholas]

It is indeed a bit of a challenge Plenum. Just earlier I was chatting with Furry about the issue of waste regarding our weekly organic fruit and veg box delivery. Organic produce tends to decompose quicker and you have to be more flexible with regards to what's in season. Our particular supplier (a Somerset farmer) also delivers weekly recipes that are relevant to what is in the "vege box".

For example, I am now tasked with creating a carrot, broccoli and spinach soup tomorrow (we had our delivery today) that doesn't screw our faces up! I dont think a youtube search will help me out with that combo lol

PS: If you can get hold of "blood oranges" at any time, they are off planet delicious! 

[Jade]

Sautee the veggies (carrot, broccoli, spinach) w/onion and garlic, then puree them with water/broth and maybe a bit of milk if you want it creamy, it might not need it though. Ginger would make it awesome. If you have any rice, serve it over that, and you can keep it thicker and make it more of a sauce.

For those who don't know, a trick to keep veggies/fruits longer is to soak them in your sink (or a bowl) with a vinegar water solution. This helps kill any developing mold and gives them another day or two.

It is a delicate balance, not letting the fresh fruits and veggies go to waste. It does happen, sometimes. If you catch something before it turns but it's on the verge and you don't want to consume it just yet, you can freeze it. People have perfected parboiling/freezing various fruits and veggies for the best value return.

[Nicholas]

Sautee the veggies (carrot, broccoli, spinach) w/onion and garlic, then puree them with water/broth and maybe a bit of milk if you want it creamy, it might not need it though. Ginger would make it awesome. If you have any rice, serve it over that, and you can keep it thicker and make it more of a sauce.

Onions were also in our box and we always have garlic. Ginger root can be bought from our local grocers but it isn't organic, so I will scrub the knobbly chap to minimise contaminants.

Thanks Jade 

[Jade]

Inventively cooking a minimal amount of veggies is something I am well versed in. I'm like a vegan version of that website where you can give me the meager contents of your fridge and cupboard, and I can give you something tasty.

If you want to give the dish a little more texture, you can save some of the spinach out and sautee it separately, serving it over the rice/sauce.

[Nicholas]

Inventively cooking a minimal amount of veggies is something I am well versed in. I'm like a vegan version of that website where you can give me the meager contents of your fridge and cupboard, and I can give you something tasty.

If you want to give the dish a little more texture, you can save some of the spinach out and sautee it separately, serving it over the rice/sauce.

Good idea! They delivered 700gms of the stuff!

Hugs Jade 

[The_Tired_Philosopher]

Jade, you should advertise this expertise...OR service of yours on the corkboard, it'd be very helpful to me some days o:

[Jade]

I'm totally down. I'll make another thread so as to not take over plen-os.

[Plenum]

so I ended up getting my vege box (organic):



and juicing box (organic) today:



it came out to be about $50 USD for both boxes, so pretty pricey.

That's kale in the vege box (back left) and brocolli in the foreground.  In the 3 brown bags were potatoes, onions, and green beans.  2 of the beetroots were part of the juicing box, but they put it in this box for convenience I guess.

In the juicing box, there were 3kg of carrots, which I haven't juiced in a very long time.  I've been juicing fruit almost exclusively for a while now.  There's also ginger in the foreground, which I've never tried to juice, as well as a few lemons.  

/ /

I cooked about a third of the veggies in a pressure cooker, for 5 minutes.  It might seem a waste to cook veggies so thoroughly, when they are so fresh, but I prefer my veggies non-raw.  They still came out quite firm.

The juice was nice as well.  Definitely a different flavor profile than I've been used to.  But I really think I've been having too much sugar via juicing fruit.  It'll be nice to cut back  I could really taste the lemon!  (I used half of one).

/ /

could I taste the different with organic?  Definitely, just the look and feel of the veggies was more 'alive' and 'fresh'.  Way more than the store-bought produce.  The fruits/juicing-items were not as 'perfect' as store grown, but also didn't look as monstrous and oversized.

I'm happy to see how the week goes; and it looks like I'll order another couple of boxes for next week.

[Jade]

I'm glad you notice a difference! I don't like carrots often, but I do love their juice. It's a good veggie to add to fruit juices because there is so much sugar in them, that it doesn't take the sweetness out at all. I'm more a green smoothie girl and the carrot is definitely one of the sweeter additions (I usually do banana and one other fruit, too, but then lots of veg). I also enjoy adding ginger to my smoothies - ginger is so good for you!

I've heard only poor things about the co-op/veg box situation here in my town. Maybe next spring I'll be able to sign up for something decent - the few I've heard about here do it "buy in" style where you sign up at the beginning of the season, and pay several hundred up front.

BTW, what did the average price per pound average out to? Gosh, I want to be all over those delicious looking cauliflower and broccoli heads...

[Plenum]

BTW, what did the average price per pound average out to?

it was about 10kg for both boxes, which equates to about 22 pounds.  Given a price of 50 USD, that would be about $2.3/pound.

Gosh, I want to be all over those delicious looking cauliflower and broccoli heads...

yeah, they looked great!  The flash on my camera overexposed the shot, so it looks a bit blown out, but I think you get the idea  I've never used kale before, but it came out quite well being steamed.

/ /

I've actually become a big fan of beets.  I was starting to use them occassionally before, but they add such an insane color to juices!  And you don't need much, so a little goes a long way.

re ginger, it's definitely something I can appreciate.  I stopped using it in my cooking a little while ago, but I'm glad to add it back into my diet

/ /

I've heard only poor things about the co-op/veg box situation here in my town. Maybe next spring I'll be able to sign up for something decent - the few I've heard about here do it "buy in" style where you sign up at the beginning of the season, and pay several hundred up front.

that's a shame you don't have more choices.  

I did some investigating around 'organic fruit/vege boxes' about 3-4 years ago, and there were one or two suppliers (locally).  When I did some research this time around, business was booming, and you could take your pick.  So definitely demand leads to new businesses.

[Jade]

I think, in general, farming here on the front range is pretty hard and unpredictable. Most crops didn't even get in the ground this year until well after June, and those that were planted before got destroyed by a series of hailstorms. I'll definitely start looking again in a few months here to see if anything good's available - I would have gotten in on the action when I lived in Farmland, USA (Iowa) but going to the farmer's market each week and picking the veggies/fruits from a huge variety was just so much fun. The farmer's markets here on average have a very low amount of organic and/or locally grown produce, but again I think that may be a symptom of the poor spring weather this year.

And as far as the price point goes, I try to remind myself that the more life energy in the food, the more nourishment it gives you, so ideally if you're eating organic foods you need less overall because, as you mentioned, the quality is greater, and therefore the nutrient density is greater. Also, with the organic local crop, it's much more easy to imagine that that money is going to help pay someone a living wage, and not sustain farming practices that encourage slavery - though I'm sure that's much less of a problem over there than here. Did you know that, in the US, there are no child labor laws for children who grow up on farms? And the immigrants... don't even get me started on how some farmers treat those who come looking for jobs from south of the border. 

[Plenum]

yeah, I thought your location might have had something to do with it  

and regards an ethical/responsible business, and how the Organic Approach might be a bit more personal, and less corporate, the person who delivered my Boxes was one of the co-owners.  I was a bit surprised when I saw him (I recognised him from the website, the other co-owner is a woman).  But we chatted briefly about how I found his business etc.  But it was nice to know that he was invested in his work, and was 'on the ground', and not distant

Yes, the price point does have a bit of 'sticker shock'.  But I think, also, that we have gotten used to unrealistically low prices of food production.  I mean, the supermarkets here commonly have sales of apples for $2/kg, and I can't even imagine how that is sustainable with planting, fertilizer, picking, transport, etc.  Someone is not getting properly paid in that chain of events  

/ /

(actually, my suspicion is that those cheap apples are being imported from other countries, and have been in storage for upwards of 2 months.  But there's no way to get info on sourcing from these corporate entities).

[Jade]

Most supermarket fruits and veggies that are genetically altered are done so for their shelf-life, or their retention of texture/flavors after having been frozen. As a specific example, there is a specific breed of carrots that grow that are EXTREMELY large, dense, and hard, that are used for canned soups, so they don't disintegrate after brining for many years.

Another thing about supermarket produce is the waste when, how you mentioned, the produce that doesn't look "perfect". People are very conditioned to a certain symmetrical shape to be aesthetically appetizing. Very few fruits and vegetables are consumed in their unprocessed form at home, so by the time you're drinking your smoothie you will never know your apple was oblong, but people have a problem with choosing to purchase those items with their money.

[Monica]

Unfortunately, even organic fruits and veggies can have pesticide residue, though less, presumably. I'm so glad I have a machine that makes an emulsifying water that removes the surface pesticides (which are oil-based), and makes the produce last much longer in the frig. (For example, 1 week for strawberries, instead of 2 days.)

I still buy organic whenever possible, though. I think it's important to support organic farmers. Yes it costs more, but I see it as an investment in my family's health.

If you have a yard, plant some fruit trees! Then you get free food. If you have a small balcony or patio, get a vertical container garden, and plant some greens. Greens are very easy to grow, but expensive to buy. Strawberries are also easy to grow. And peppers. Easy. Purslane is a wild weed that's higher in nutrients than spinach, tastes like spinach, and is the only land plant with naturally-occurring EPA and DHA (Omega-3 essential fatty acids). It's easy to grow.

This is what I have. It doesn't take much space, there's no weeding, and it can grow 50+ plants! I love it!

http://easypatiogarden.com/

There was a recent study about the high levels of pesticides found in children, and how they dropped drastically after just 2 weeks of eating organic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/14...44000.html

Whatever can kill a bug, can kill a human! It just takes longer.

...

[Plenum]

Just an update -

This switch to organically grown fruits and vege's is working out quite well for me.  I like having the regularity of a delivery each week; and not having to concern myself about going to the shops and keeping things stocked.  I get the one delivery of perishables each week, and then it's just working with that to cover my meals for the next 7 days.

The food looks good and tastes good.  As I mentioned, it is pricey; but it's also very convenient.

Goes well with the organically grown rice, lentils, and beans that I use as the staples to ground my diet.

I also know that the timing for these things is not something that we can 'force'.  I just seemed ready for another shift, and after Billy posted in another thread about this topic, I thought I'd give it a go myself.   So opportunity seen, and opportunity taken!

truth is - I had been considering the idea of these delivered boxes after having it come up in conversation with 2 different members, spaced months apart.  Both vervex and Nicholas had mentioned it.  Just had to wait for the right readiness and timing

Plenum