So we’re 10 days away from completing another month of spending only $200 on groceries. Not bad eh? I can tell you it’s a pretty great feeling when you’re only spending $50 from your paycheck every two weeks which goes against food. It kind of makes me wonder how many people out there have NO idea how much they’re spending on groceries monthly – I wonder how much useless stuff is in their cupboards just gathering dust?
Actually the amount of items in my cupboards has gone down – making some chili and another batch of soup certainly helped that (and of course created lunches for at least next week!) – but I have to tell you that we’re down to our last $25 or so for the month… as usual I think we can do it, and as usual Liz is skeptical!
I received something in the mail the other day which may throw our plans for a loop a bit – but I sort of have an idea how I can curb it.. ok let me tell you what the deal is.
Have you guys ever heard of a CSA program with regards to local farms before? Me neither.. but the basic premise is that you basically ‘pre-buy’ vegetables from a local farmer and they fill up a big basket for you every week. I first heard of this idea with regards to eggs – but I never looked into it much since eggs are pretty darn inexpensive as it is. I would buy the hens and they would supply me with eggs from such and such a time, till such and such a time. I love this idea.. fresh, local, and you know exactly where your food came from.
The only problem that I foresee is price of course… being the frugal shopper that I am of course.
So the brochure that I received in the mail was from a place called The Chuckwagon Farm Market. I sent an email asking for more information and this is what I received:
Hi Len
Thanks for the inquiry. This is how CSA works, the program is for 15 weeks starting the second week of July and ending the end of October. The cost of the program is $382.50 for the 15 weeks. That works out to $25.50 per week.
One share should feed a family of two with leftovers.
This is what you will receive; 2 wooden baskets these will be used for the fresh veggies. You will also receive a newsletter with info from down on the farm. There will also be chef endorsed recipes and lots of surpises. I would like to introduce some of the old – new veggies, like swiss chard, kale or new ones like ground cherries. These will be some of extras that you will receive, with these new, old veggies we will put how to prepare them and the nutrition benefits of them. More surprises and extras, I can’t give it all away.
We will also have available by September is fresh farm eggs, we just received our baby girls two weeks ago, and they are growing so fast already.
This is a sample basket:
potatoes
corn
beets
carrots
lettuce
broccoli
peas
string beans
cucumbers
zucchini
cauliflowerWe have lots of variety, we grow about 25 acres of garden and have eggplants, English cucumbers, peppers and cherry tomatoes in our greenhouses. We also have good neighbors that are growing fruit such as strawberries, blueberries and apples, and will have fruit available for purchase when in season.
Hope this further explains what you should receive. As for distribution days and pick up places we are waiting to see how many sign up for the program and where everyone is coming from so it will be central for everyone.
As for the cost of the eggs $3.00 per dozen
Thanks and have a Farmtastic Day
The information is not unique to me and you can find it all at their website at http://thechuckwagonfarmmarket.com/index.html . Not only do I like the idea of buying local and having fresh vegetables all the time – I also like the idea of having vegetables that I perhaps would not use regularly and maybe challenging ourselves to find a good recipe to utilize them. At $100 a month however, that takes up over 1/2 our budget (I know what you’re thinking.. I was thinking the same thing!) .. BUT!! Since I use Air Miles and have enough or will have enough for 4 or 5 $20 coupons, I’m thinking I just put that against the $382.50 and then the cost gets reduced by $20 a month, which may certainly be worth it.
I have a funny feeling that there would be lots of vegetables and I really like this idea – I figure I have a week or so before I would have to decide so if anyone else out there has any experience with this type of thing or thoughts. Please let me know… would love to know what your thoughts are on this.