CSA Box Review! Farm Fresh to You vs. Abundant Harvest

Last year I discovered the wonderful world of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Boxes.  I tried out the boxes from Underwood Family Farms, a local farm which I love so much.  If you live nearby, or even anywhere in the greater LA area, you've got to visit sometime!  There is so much for families of little ones to do there.  Over the summer we went blueberry picking at their farm in Somis - such a wonderful memory maker for my kids.  I got into a great habit of basing our weekly dinner menu on the contents of the box.  My life got a little crazy this past year and  I had let the planning go to the wayside.  I knew I wanted to get back into CSA Boxes for a number of reasons: they force me to cook more veggies, we end up having some new and exciting dishes, my kids have a ton of fun opening the boxes & naming all of the produce (and eating more too since they are involved!), and we are supporting local farmers.  Underwood Family Farms has a great CSA program which you can sign up for here.  You also get a free season pass to Underwood for being a current CSA subscriber!  This time I wanted to try some different CSA Box services.  I chose Farm Fresh to You, and Abundant Harvest, both local services of organically grown produce. 

Farm Fresh to You
I first tried Farm Fresh to You.  Immediately intriguing is the fact that they deliver to your doorstep!  How convenient!  Every other Wednesday morning I opened my door to a fresh shipment of goodies.  One time I even discovered the box there late Tuesday night.  I like that you have the ability to substitute produce.  I do not like radishes.  So, I can put in a request to sub radishes if they are on the shipment list.  It was very easy to set that up through their website.  Their website is very user friendly.  You can set up vacation requests and change your shipment schedule very easily.  You can do weekly & every other week and can change your schedule- just be sure to do it in enough time to allow them to process your request.  I also like the variety of box choices they offer; large, small, mixed, snack pack, veggies only, fruit only and more!  They update their website with box contents by noon every Thursday, providing more than adequate time to do some meal planning and prep for the following week.  We participated in one of their farm events one weekend, which was a great experience.  We got a tour of the farm, strolled through orange orchards, enjoyed a family picnic, and they had activities for the kids.  They also have a wonderful referral program. For everyone you refer, you get a free box, and the new customer gets $5 off their first box.  If you try Farm Fresh, please use the code 6164 and my name, Karen Gauthier as the referral to save your $5.

Here is a picture of the "More Mixed LA" Box, $44 from 9/12/12:

Abundant Harvest
I first heard about Abundant Harvest from a farmer at a local farmer's market.  I was thrilled to discover they have a delivery site very close to me (and very convenient to pick up for my weekly schedule)!  They also do home delivery for an added $10 fee.  It is important to note that you need to check with them ahead of time to see if you are within the delivery radius of one of their delivery sites.  I e-mailed them to confirm that we are indeed within the radius.  They responded via e-mail very quickly. I was a little confused when I signed up - there ended up being a charge of $30 for the reusable plastic crate your produce comes in and that you turn in every week.  Somehow I missed that detail - but I also have a habit of reading through things a little too quick sometimes!  In the long run though, I don't think this is a huge deal & that crate comes in pretty handy!  The large box through Abundant Harvest ($46) ends up being around the same price as the large box through Farm Fresh to You ($44) when it's delivered.  I'm not going to fret over a $2 difference.  Abundant is a weekly service.  However, you can set up vacation preferences on their website for every other week if you would like.  You cannot make substitutes through Abundant.  Hence, the eggplant that I had to cook the other week.  I do not like eggplant, but I ended up making an extremely tasty Cheesy Baked Eggplant out of it! My husband requested it be added to our list of recipes!  I just subbed the cheese & used vegan Daiya mozzarella instead.  I even liked it!  Abundant also has a variety of add-ons you can customize to your order.  Add-ons include a wide variety of produce, herbs, nuts, gift boxes, raw milk, honey, meat, eggs, beans, grains, and bread.  This week they are even offering catnip as an add-on!  Box contents are posted well ahead of time to allow for menu planning.  *Please note that Abundant Harvest will be doing some website maintenance from 8pm to around Midnight tomorrow night, Friday September 14th.  If you are interested in signing up, wait until after that time period. 

Here's a picture of one of my Abundant Harvest boxes:

The Decision
This was a very tough decision for us!  The quality of the produce was high and I was very pleased with both services.  We are within the delivery areas for both, and they both offered choices with the boxes and add-ons that would meet our family's needs.  I highly recommend both.  For us it came down to cash savings.  Since the pick up site for Abundant Harvest is so close to us and at a very convenient time to fit into my schedule, saving $10 a week on quality organic produce is huge to us.  Sure delivery would be more convenient, and we could switch at any time, but for now we'd like to save the money.  Even with the $30 cost for the crate, the savings pays for the crate within 3 weeks.  If you haven't tried a CSA Farm Box service yet, you've got to give it a try!  Now when I go to the stores it seems like I'm buying old produce.  It's such a fun family tradition to build too - from having the kids open the box & seeing the excitement on their fae to prepping the produce & trying new veggies.  My son was disappointed this morning that the fresh pears sitting on the counter were not ripe yet - he really wanted one for breakfast!

Please comment if you've used one of these services before - I would love to hear others experiences too!