Doorstep Bounty

Tuesday is veggie delivery day.  Empties go out in the morning, and later today I’ll be coming home to gloriously gorgeous groceries from spud!.  Weekly organic produce delivery is happily becoming a commonplace thing.  It’s a wonderful phenomenon, but it wasn’t so common nearly a decade ago when we first started.

I could wax poetic about altruistic intentions, but to be honest I was just cheap and lazy.  In Spring 2000, Webvan became my gateway drug.  They sold kitty litter – and they delivered at no extra charge.  That was all I needed to know.  They carted it into the labyrinth that was our apartment complex and up my three flights of stairs.  A business model destined to failure, we did our part to milk it dry.  Our apartment was buried so deep in Silicon Valley’s Cisco-zoned badlands, it was a 20-minute drive to civilization.  The deliveries let me get away with monthly trips to Trader Joe’s and Ranch 99 to round out the pantry. We moved, and Webvan finally went out of business, but my crack-like addiction to grocery delivery was firmly established.

The Child has never known a time without veggie delivery day.  It’s a mini harvest each week.  Unpacking and planning how to use things together feels like a chapter from The Little House in the Big Woods (minus the slaughtering and making my own lead shot, of course).  She asks questions and nibbles.  She watches us problem solve when confronted with unknown vegetation.  And consequently, variety is the norm at our table.

There are plenty of sources for fresh, locally grown, organic produce.  Farmer’s markets are now prevalent throughout the country.  Whole Foods and its ilk have spawned a market for organic and sustainable goods.  Basic grocery stores are continuing to stock a better selection, although they are still severely lacking and seem to be far more expensive than makes sense.

So why stick with a home delivery service with so many other sources available?

I don’t buy produce otherwise. I hate navigating grocery stores, and produce is the first part of my list to get axed on the fly if it’s crowded.  At a Farmer’s Market I wander pinball-style between stalls overwhelmed with choices.  When I finally buy something, my purchasing habits consist of picking something familiar, making one meal from scratch, and living the rest of the week off leftovers, eggs, and microwave quesadillas.

Cost savings. Some may hesitate to sign up for this sort of service because organic food costs more. Saving gas alone is one thing.  Opportunity cost is another. But I think customization of such a service is the key to affordability.  At the grocery store I go at off hours to avoid the rush which results in browsing, impulse buying, and purchasing items just because I’m not sure what’s in the pantry at home.  Now I sit in comfort at home, look up recipes on the laptop, and check the cabinet for anything else I may need.  If there are a few things they don’t offer, a targeted strike mission to a grocery store is more cost-effective.  Plus, with an online service I get a subtotal and can easily decide which things not to buy, despite shopping hungry.  When was the last time you took things out of your cart and put them back on the shelf just to save a few bucks?

Flakiness on my part builds variety. Of course there are days when I miss the customization deadline completely.  Early in the process, these were the weeks I had to learn how to cook things I otherwise would not buy:  beets, sweet potatoes, kale, collard greens, and squash varieties I’d never seen before.  I rediscovered that I like snacking on radishes or tiny zucchini rounds.  It’s not in my nature to let anything go to waste.  And my missing the ordering deadlines resulted in a broader variety of ingredients, flavors, and cooking techniques than I would have initiated while attempting to feed my kid from the most well-stocked store.

That being said, specifically why do I use spud!?

Being organic isn’t enough these days…  or is it? It’s up to you with spud!.  They offer information on every item so the consumer can modify choices to suit their own personal food morality mix.  It’s not just organic.  There are profiles on producers with sustainability information.  Fair trade products are available.  (Huzzah for reduced-guilt bananas!)  Plus, every item you purchase has an associated mileage.  One person’s local is another person’s long-haul carbon footprint.

Customer service. Originally we were customers of Organic Express (aka The Box) until they merged with spud!, and we’re so glad they did.  The website is fabulously easy to use.  The occasional refund for damaged or missing items is super easy.  Deliveries arrive in well-sealed, tough Rubbermaid tubs.  And their reusable icepack packaging is so effective our standing order of yogurt, sour cream, and milk every week has never spoiled.

And it’s a good thing too, because I’ve ordered some Straus Family Creamery Egg Nog for today’s delivery.  Happy Tuesday!  Cheers!!

** 12/22/09 update :: The folks at spud! have pointed out that by entering referral code #CRSFO-ONDJEN new customers can get $25 off over 4 orders.  That’s $5 off the first three and $10 off the fourth.  Thanks spud!  **

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