First off I would like to tell you what we have left of week one.  We have 2 tomatoes, 2 pears, 1 broccoli crown, 2lbs of butter ball potatoes, and a little bit of lettuce.  You might be wondering what happened to the coconut.  With much effort we opened it and drank the water and ate the flesh.  Nothing spectacular and not really worth the effort that it took.

Yesterday I picked up the second basket.  I was amazed at how different it turned out to be.  I was afraid I would end up with more broccoli, more asparagus, and another coconut.  Here is the inventory of what we received this week.

1 lb spinach               1 pineapple                   1.15lbs green beans

7 cucumbers              8 apples                        7 bananas

10 oranges                3 turnips                        3 yellow mangoes

1 acorn squash         2 yellow squash             4 tomatoes

This week if I had bought all of this at the grocery store it would have cost me $41.79.  This is a significant savings especially when I only spent $16.50.  I’m really excited to see the pineapple in the basket.  My family loves to eat fresh pineapple (I could eat it all by myself).  We have already consumed the mangoes.  I was really disappointed when I started peeling and chopping the mangoes because one was too ripe and had to be thrown away.  I think that I’m going to have a difficult time using all of the cucumbers.  I have never cooked a turnip so that will be the challenge this week.

So far this experiment has really helped put me in a different mindset.  I used to plan our meals base around what kind of protein we had in our freezer.  Now instead of protein I’m planning it around what fruits and veggies are in the fridge and need to be used up.  This past week I have consumed more fruits and veggies than I have had all winter long.  I’ll keep you posted on what happens this week.

I ordered my first basket last Monday.  Saturday finally arrived.  We packed the kids up and drove the short distance to the designated pick up spot.  It was really simple.  We brought our own basket to put the food in and stood in line for a short time.  They were well organized and kept the line moving quickly.  I was surprised with how many people were showing up.  We took the basket home and lined everything up to take inventory.  7 Bananas                    2 Mangoes                    2 Bundles of Asparagus

5 Roma Tomatoes       1 Coconut                      1 Carton of Strawberries

1 Cantaloupe               6 Forelle Pears              1 Head Romain Lettuce

3 lb bag of Butter Gold Potatoes                        2 Bundles of Broccoli

After weighing everything and putting it away we made a trip to the grocery store.  You’re probably thinking, why the grocery store?  Didn’t you just get a bunch of food?  Well I wanted to go to the grocery store to calculate how much all this food would cost me if I had bought it there.  The basket cost $15.  I also had a one time basket fee of $3. There is also a handling fee of $1.50.  So all together it cost me $19.50.  On my trip to the grocery store the only item I had trouble with were the pears.  I couldn’t find that exact pear so I had to estimate according what was there.  All together if I had bought all this at the grocery store it would have cost me about $26 + tax.  So far the value is great.  I’m a little concerned about eating everything before it goes bad.  We don’t get coconut very often and I’m not sure what to do with that.  My next dilemma, do I buy another basket for this Saturday or wait a week.  I have so much in my refrigerator it’s really hard to tell what I’ll need next week.

I wanted to do something different for a change.  As some of you already know I graduated from BYU almost 10 years ago.  I got a bachelors of science degree in community health.  While in school I had an internship with the Utah County Health Department.  I put in over 300 hours of time and energy devoted to the cardiovascular health department.  I spent time at farmers markets, classrooms, and health fairs promoting eating healthy foods and more specifically eating more fruits and vegetables.  So, what have I done since then?  To be honest not much.  Don’t get me wrong I eat pretty healthy and have taught my kids to make healthy choices.  I exercise at least 3 times a week.  I just don’t share my knowledge with those around me.  In an effort to refresh my memory and maybe share a little, I’ve started a new experiment.

My inspiration for this experiment came while exercising with a couple of friends.  These friends know that Corey and I don’t like to eat processed  and boxed foods.  We both like to cook and try new foods.  They asked me if I had ever ordered a Bountiful Basket before.  I had heard of it but never really knew what it was.  They told me to look it up and try it.  Here is a quick run down of what it is.  Basically it is a food co-op that started in Arizona.  You order from the website, starting Monday 12:00pm and ending Tuesday 10:00 pm, and pick up at a location near you on Saturday.

These were the common complaints from my friends.  The window time to order is very short and specific and if you want to pick up at a popular spot than you need to order early.  They also complained that they would get so much food that a lot of it would go to waste.  Sometimes you would get foods that you have never seen or heard of and you don’t know what to do with it.  So for this experiment these are the questions I want to answer:

• Is it worth my money?
• Do we eat more fruits and veggies?
• Does it make us try new things?  and do my kids like it?
• How much goes to waste?

Along with answering these questions I am also going to take an inventory on what is in my basket.  I’ll tell you how we have used the fruits and veggies that we got.  It’s also good to know why it’s important to eat fruits and vegetables, so I will tell you what nutrients you get from them.

From this experiment  I hope to show you, and remind myself and family, how easy, delicious, and healthy fresh fruits and veggies can be.  I strongly believe in eating fresh fruits and veggies rather than canned or processed.  I hope that this experiment will help my family and I to become less dependent on those kinds of foods.  This will also help me to find things to blog about and maybe I can become a little more consistent.

Stay tuned.  I ordered last Monday and picked up my first basket yesterday.  I already have a couple of post in the works.