We ordered a 40lb box of vegetables through a citywide program and were surprised with the contents. Being my first time ordering a random box of things, I was a little worried. Would it be 40 lbs (18 kilograms) of beets and turnips? Would there be weird stuff or poor quality. Who knows it was a mystery.
A few days before picking up the box, I made sure not to overload on fruits and vegetables, 40lbs is a lot for one fridge and everything could have been perfectly ripe. Lucky for us the contents were similar to what we purchase every week at the store. Potatoes, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes and Melons can keep for a while. Lettuce, Peppers and tomatoes barely last as we go through so much eating a large salad on a daily basis.
Most of the food is imported. Alberta is within a 24 hour drive of California and the US is closer than most of Canada, not exactly exotic. I looked through the contents and only the garlic and tomatoes were unmarked. The garlic was probably local, the tomatoes could have been from a greenhouse or stored for a month or two. In the late fall, potatoes are plenty in Canada, so are carrots, onions and apples.
The melon and oranges are obviously not Canadian. While you could grow melons with ideal conditions in parts of BC and Ontario, it's just not practical. Pears, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and sometimes peppers would be grown here. I am not sure about the celery or broccoli, it's certainly not from Alberta, we are in zone 3 or 4.
We occasionally read the community paper and I found this advertisement. Normally I ignore community stuff, they are looking for volunteers for committees, you get the usual advertisements and most things just aren't up our alley. 40 lbs of fruit and vegetables for $40 Canadian dollars (30 USD) is a decent deal unless it's all potatoes. Most things are 2 to 3 dollars per pound here. So it was worth the risk.
They offer these boxes at various locations across town and in other cities too. Canada has a series of oligopolies - notably banks, telecom companies, and worst of all food retailers. Three major grocery chains dominate the market here and they often fix prices or collude, our politicians give these billionaires breaks and grants. The consumer gets screwed, even when it comes to food. So anytime we can stick it to the middleman and go straight to the source it's great. Best of all, it's brought to us by Nutrien (A Potash and fertilizer monopoly.)
Thanks for reading
