Satisfied Customer

I join the Community Food Co-op of Utah and picked up my first load of groceries on Saturday. I have to say I am a satisfied customer. My sister-in-law has been doing it for years and loves it. She recommended it to me. It was so convenient to pick up my groceries. My local pick-up location is so close to my house that it took me 10 minutes from the time I left my house, got my groceries, and was back home. 10 MINUTES! I could NEVER do it that fast at a grocery store. I got a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats (pork chops, Italian sausages, and ground beef), rice and bread. All of which seemed fresher than if I bought them from the supermarket. The catch is, you don't know what fruits or vegetables you are going to get. Which, can be a good thing that forces you to expand your recipe repertoire. You pre-order your food earlier in the month and pick your groceries once a month toward the end of the month. You can order whenever you would like, you don't have to do it each month. You save about 50% off the foods' retail cost. Here is what I got on Saturday, all for just $14.00. This is what it is and how it works (I got this info from its website) The Community Food Co-op offers select grocery at up to 50% below retail. They are able to do this through collective buying, low over-head, and volunteer power.

Each month, members pre-order their groceries. You can order as much as you like, and how often you place an order is up to you. Next, the Co-op buys the food from local and national producers and wholesalers, which is then delivered to our Salt Lake City warehouse. Then, on "Distribution Day" (usually the third or fourth Saturday of every month) a network of volunteers helps distribute the food to locations along the Wasatch Front where you can pick up your order. These locations, known as "host sites," may be your local church, school or community center.

Whether you decide to take an active role in your team is up to you, but all members are encouraged to volunteer 2 hours during each month you place an order. This can be anything you do for someone outside of your family for free! (Everyone of you reading this have hours of service you do weekly that would count). You can log your volunteer hours when you pick up your food, and will have the option to "bank" hours for future months. Volunteer hours are logged when you pick up your order.

You can find all the information you need here

Also, there is a weekly produce-only co-op in our area. My good friend participates with it. Allison Dastrup hosts it. Her email is pheasantpointfruit@gmail.com