Not quite the bounty I was expecting

I have let quite a few days pass between my last post and this one. I have really struggled with what to write. Reviewing something is quite the responsibility. I know this because I have done one whole review and it led to quite the increase in sales for that particular book. (Granted it was my Mimi buying one for every single female in my family...but still it was all from my amazing review.) Since I have a good review under my belt I guess it is time to attempt a not so good review. And I just want you to know this sucks because a lot of my friends and readers have recommended this particular service to me and I hate that I didn't love it as much as they do.

 

If you have been reading the blog regularly you are aware that I am still trying to figure out this paleo/busy schedule/budget thing. I am the kind of girl that likes to plan and my menu plans every week are very detailed and thought out. I am trying to relax a little bit in this area and I've done that by making this week's menu consist of no recipes...just a planned meat so I know what to have thawed and a veggie or two. This made the perfect opportunity to try out the highly recommended Bountiful Baskets.

 

I was really nervous when I went to the website to order my organic basket. I read every FAQ and printed out a bunch of stuff that was just a big waste of paper. I ordered the organic basket for $25 and added the Mexican themed basket for an extra $8.50. The first time basket fee was $3 and handling fee was $1.50 for a grand total of $38.00. I spend about $130/week on produce so I knew this was not going to cover all my produce needs but I was still hopeful about getting some good local produce.

 

And that is where I think I am confused. It isn't local produce. I don't think. I couldn't find on the website where it said that it was but for some reason I had that impression. I liked the idea of supporting local growers but most of the produce had grocery store stickers and the new potatoes even came in a bag from Earthbound Farms. Without the produce being local I question what the appeal is?????

 

So anyways....I had put off buying any produce because I knew we had almost $40 of produce to pick up on Saturday and I didn't want to buy a ton of kale if my box was going to be full of it. This was inconvenient because I grocery shop on Thursdays or Fridays and now I had to do it on Saturday or Sunday which is the absolute worst! But whatever, I was still excited about my box of organic produce.

 

Saturday morning came around and Levi had to pick it up because I was in the middle of throwing a shower for my dear friend and my her sweet baby Grace. I told him to pay attention to every detail and give me a full rundown of everything he experienced. He came back with the comment, "It was okay." After a bit more prodding he did say that it was a bit crazy but he found the lady with the clipboard and she helped him figure it out from there.

 

Below are the pictures of what our box entailed. Now intially when I was unpacking everything to get a good look I was really excited because it seemed like a lot! 

 

 

In the Mexican Theme basket (which I'm pretty sure wasn't organic) was...

6 green onions (2 of which were slimy and broken and immeditely chunked)

2 garlic bulbs

2 avocados

bunch of cilantro

1 very small onion

1 grey squash

4 small but juicy limes

5 poblano (I think)  peppers

2 jalapeno peppers

and this thing...

I haven't figured out what it is yet...maybe a papaya? I don't even know if it is ripe or not. But I was pretty impressed because I could add some fajita meat to this collection of veggies and have a whole meal for pretty cheap. But everything was ripening at different times. So my peppers were getting soft but my avocados are still green. Plus I still needed a few extra items to finish off the meal such as tomatoes and a few more onions. But for $8.50 I was satisfied.

In the organic basket was...

• 1 teeny tiny head of broccoli that was already soft and bendy
• a bunch of radishes which I was excited about because I love them dipped in caulihummus
• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 bag of Earthbound Farms new potatoes
• the biggest thing of fennel I've ever seen...unfortunately we are not fennel fans
• big bunch of celery...the best item in the whole box because it is near impossible to find organic celery in Greenville right now
• 1 small bag of Brussels Sprouts (not enough for one person)
• 5 oranges
• 5 Fuji apples that were bruised and soft but still edible
• a miniature bunch of bananas
• small container of blueberries that had opened in our box and spilled everywhere leading to a bunch of them being smooshed and ruined.

It seems like a lot right? Except that the amount of variety misleads you. There were 11 different items but not enough of any one item to make a complete side dish from any of them. And out of that organic box the only things I feel are necessary to eat organic due to their ranking on the dirty dozen list are the lettuce, celery, apples, and blueberries. Everything else I buy cheap because I don't need them to be organic.

Even still all things considered maybe this isn't a total bummer but after about two days the produce started to go bad and fast. I'm sure there are those of you who are thinking, "what you should do silly girl, is blanch all of your produce and freeze it to use in stews and casseroles." And thank you so much for that helpful thought except I don't want to do that. I want my produce to last 7 days in the fridge and if I buy it fresh I want to eat it fresh.

So I'm probably never going to order a Bountiful Basket again. I have heard lots of people say that the regular basket has a lot better produce options and amounts which sounds lovely except I am really particular about certain "dirty foods." And lets be honest, our local grocery stores carry quite the section of non-organic produce and all I have to do is jump in the car during my regularly scheduled grocery shopping time and buy the foods that look fresh and not bruised, soft, smooshed, or bendy.

I am so sorry to Bountiful Baskets for my less than fortunate review. I think what you are doing is cool but it just isn't a good fit for my family and our needs. To the rest of you I encourage you to check it out if you are interested but if you aren't thrilled with your basket don't say I didn't warn you. I'm sure the boxes vary in excellence according to the season but I'm just not willing to gamble my money or my time on this particular area.