These co-ops are non-profit organizations who are able to "Use collective purchasing to get high quality food at prices usually reserved for grocery stores and restaurants."
There are many co-op organizations out there but the one that I use and LOVE is Bountiful Baskets. The cost for a "basket" is $15 and you get a variety of fruits and veges. You never know what you will get and so it's always a nice surprise to see what you get that week. I then plan my meals around what I received. I also always keep a vege tray in my fridge for Eric, my vege eater so that when he is hungry for the 50th time that hour he can go and get out his vege tray and feed himself.
Some details you might need if you want to try this out:
The cost for a basket is $15 but you can order multiple baskets. The site will let you order up to three baskets per order. They do charge you a $1.50 handling fee per order so I always order with two other friends so that we can split that fee.
They often have add-ons like bread, granola, or additional fruits and veges (ie. a case of mangos, a a case of strawberries, etc.) that you can add on to your order.
The pick ups are on Saturdays. I pick up at the West Jordan location which is at the West Jordan police station on Redwood and 80th South but there are pick-up locations all over the valley.
Some locations, such as the one that I pick up from only have pick-ups every other week, some you can pick up at every week. I do the WJ pick-up the two times a month and then if I feel we need a little more I will buy a basket from one of the SJ pick-ups on the off weeks.
Pick up is really easy. You can access the Site List HERE which shows you the locations you can pick-up at and the time of the pickup. Then you just go there, give them your name and pick-up your produce.
Ordering is done online on Monday's (the Monday before the Saturday pick-up) for my location. This organization covers 5 states so the times that you can log-on and order depend on your location.
Because of high demand some sites fill up really fast. In my case, my area can log on on Monday's at 4pm MDT and I make sure that I do it right at 4pm so that I can be sure to get my basket. The site is slow because so many people log on but it's certainly worth it!
I have really loved doing this. I find that we have fresh fruits with almost every meal and I am often going onto recipezaar and finding recipes for ingrediants that I wouldn't have thought to have bought otherwise. And the nice thing is that you can do this year round so even in the winter you can eat fresh fruits and veges.
Let me know if you have any questions. I also included some pictures of the things we got on other weeks. Thanks to my sister-in-law Alisa who does it with me and is much better at taking pictures ... I stole some of the pics from her. :)
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