Tuesday, June 29, 2010

How To: Farm Fresh Delivery

I recently had a mom friend ask me about my experience using the local produce delivery service, Farm Fresh Delivery.

I’ve shared information about our deliveries here on the blog a couple of times. I’ve been very happy with the quality of the produce we’ve received thus far. I’ve had 1 issue- my grapes weren’t in my bin- and they immediately credited my account for the error.

I get the medium fruit and veggie bin for $42. All produce is organic and it is from midwest farms as much as possible. Farm Fresh also seeks relationships with local area farmers to provide to their customers.

On Thursday afternoon, I receive an e-mail from Farm Fresh with their newsletter. The newsletter highlights any specials being offered, local producers, reminders, and recipes.

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It’s also my notification that it’s time to go customize my bin if I’d like- I have until Monday to do so. My delivery day is Tuesday.

I go to the website and login. This is where I can customize my bin or I can scroll down and add various grocery items to my order. I’ve not gotten anything extra from FFD before (meat, granola, eggs, pasta, etc).

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I click on “Customize” next to my standard bin order. It shows me everything that is currently scheduled for my bin for the coming week’s delivery. The list shows me how much of each fruit or veggie and where the produce is from. If I’m happy with what’s included, I don’t have to do a thing.

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I can go through and make adjustments to anything I don’t want or want more or less of. Anything I don’t want, I change the quantity to zero. For this bin, I don’t want lettuce or garlic or collards or corn, I want 1 lb of grapes instead of 2, I want 1 cucumber instead of 2.

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Then I hit Update and now the ordering system will let me select new items based on how much room I have left in the bin based on my changes.

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The drop down menu changes based on how much I can add to my bin.

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Oh! They have beets this week! I’ve been wanting to try fresh beets and this is my chance!

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I click update and it will tell me if I still have room and will customize that drop down menu based on how much room I have left.

I add a cantaloupe and still have room. I add pluots (plum/apricot hybrid) and still have room. I add mini sweet peppers and still have room. I add 1 vidalia onion and still have room. I add 2 avocados and still have room. After the avocados, you can see that the choices that will still fit in my bin have changed and it’s more limited now.

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I change my quantity on the pluots from 1 to 2 each and now my bin is full.

My new bin:

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Delivery comes on Tuesday for me. On cooler days, it’s just a large green plastic bin with a snap close interlocking lid. Now that the heat has really kicked in, the bin is lined with insulated material and includes an ice pack. Thankfully, my delivery seems to come around the end of the day so it doesn’t sit out for very long at all.

You can see my other mention of and post about Farm Fresh Delivery. Tomorrow, check the Eternal Lizdom Facebook page in the evening to see a picture of the bin’s contents!

P.S. Farm Fresh has recently expanded to include delivery service to schools!

10 comments:

mimbles said...

That online ordering is pretty cool *covets*

I get my fruit and veg delivered by The Jolly Greengrocer :-) They phone me on Monday afternoon, I can either tell them what I want item by item or pick a box value and let them choose. They go to the big markets in the city on Tuesday morning and delivery is Tuesday afternoon. The only problem is that I'm not always quite ready to order off the top of my head when they call me.

Jeff said...

Beets?!? I hope that was just an example.

Garret said...

LOL @ Jeff.

Eternal Lizdom said...

Uh, honey... you hardly eat what comes in the bin anyway... so... beets shouldn't matter to you!! :)

Alison said...

lol...does Jeff have a separate junk food delivery? Hmm...ooo, Cheetos are coming in, I'll get 2!

BTW, how could you turn down CORN...especially in favor of beets?? I'm a little disappointed in you. :)

Lizzie said...

Wish we had that around here! Love the name of your blog.
Stopped by from SITS to say hi.

Eternal Lizdom said...

Jeff would LOVE a junk food delivery!!

And I skipped corn this week simply because I've gotten corn for the last 3 weeks and the family is a bit bored- Jeff and I end up eating it ourselves at the last minute. So a week off sounded like a good idea. :)

Missy said...

Liz, you have one of the best blogs around. You cover everything....kids, health, work, family, bedroom life, faith.... everything the typical woman experiences. You share in a way that lets me peek in your soul, but not offend anyone. (Well if you have, I don't know what about.) Thank you, thank you for sharing. I wish I lived on the north side of Indy so we could be IRL gal pals, but I'm happy to have met ya via your blog.

Eternal Lizdom said...

Aw, thanks, Missy!!! Anytime you do head up to the north side... I'm usually around!!

beanblossom said...

Hey! hey! Love your blog and thanks for pointing out to me this Farm Fresh Delivery post. My bin still has yet to arrive, but i'm waiting with my camera to take pics! :)
(this is @indianarocks)