2015 - The Veggie Fairy Team

Thanksgiving Gameplan

November 19, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

Happy Thanksgiving from Seasonal Roots! Hosting this year? If not, how about a delicious side dish to bring to your host? We’ve got you covered.

Marinated Mesclun Greens Salad

For the Salad:

8-10 ounce container of mesclun salad mix from Harvest Hill Farm, washed and dried and possibly chop any larger pieces

½ pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

About ½ of a yellow onion, sliced very thin

For the Marinade:

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 T tamari or soy sauce

2 T olive oil

1 tsp fresh ginger

1 tsp honey

Directions: Using a blender or stick blender, blend all of these ingredients together until emulsified. Toss all of the salad ingredients together in a bowl to make sure they are combined well then pour over the marinade and gently massage into the salad mixture. Cover and let sit for 15-20 minutes. Serve cold

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Creamy Kale Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch of black kale, washed and chopped

¼ cup of tahini

¼ cup of lemon juice

¼ cup of olive oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp cayenne

A small handful of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Half of red onion, sliced

Directions: In a small bowl whisk together tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper and cayenne until all are combined well. Now, either using gloves or with very clean hands gently massage the dressing into the kale making sure to cover all of the kale. The heat from your hands will help to breakdown the kale. Toss in the tomatoes and onions and serve.

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Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

2 small or 1 large head of romaine lettuce — washed and dried

1 large garlic clove — minced

5 small anchovy fillet — approx 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoons lemon juice — fresh squeezed

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese — shredded

1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon pepper — freshly ground

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil

salt to taste

1 cup croutons

Directions: Chop cleaned and dried lettuce into bite-size pieces. Set aside. Mix garlic in lemon juice, set aside. Place anchovies, egg, egg yolk, Parmesan, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper in a food processor and blend until anchovy is chopped fine. Add lemon juice and garlic; blend until incorporated. With the processor running, pour in the oil in a slow, steady stream until emulsified and incorporated. Add salt or more lemon juice, to taste. Chill for at least 15 minutes before dressing salad. Toss with romaine lettuce and croutons just before serving. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan and fresh-cracked pepper, as desired.

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5 Spice Roasted Root Veggies

Ingredients:

1-2 loose carrots, cut into 1 ½ inch long pieces

1-2 turnips, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

1-2 white potatoes, washed and cut into ½ inch cubes

1 each gold beet and red beet, washed and cut into ½ inch pieces

2 T olive oil

Salt

3 T plus 2 tsp. Chinese 5 spice powder

Directions: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl toss together all of the root veggies with the salt and 5 spice powder and just ¼ tsp of olive oil. Place the roots on a sprayed baking sheet and place in the oven uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Rotate your sheet pan at about the 15 minute mark. In a small bowl whisk together the rest of the olive oil and about 2 t of the 5 spice powder and a little more salt. Check the roots by piercing them with a knife and if the knife does not meet resistance then they are ready to come out of the oven. They may need to bake for a little longer in some cases. Once you remove them from the oven drizzle the oil and spice mixture over the hot resting roots. Serve warm.

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Roasted Green Beans with Herbed Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

2lb. green beans trimmed

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 cups of mushrooms (optional) cleaned and sliced

¼ cup red wine vinegar

2 T burgundy or red wine

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 cup olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1T chopped fresh Thyme

1 T chopped fresh Marjoram

1 T chopped fresh Rosemary

3 shallots minced

Directions: Bring a large pot of boiling water to a boil on the stove while you trim the ends from your green beans. Once the water is boiling blanch the green beans for about 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water and let drain for at least 20 minutes. In a bowl combine vinegar and wine. Whisk in salt, sugar, and pepper until the sugar has dissolved. Slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl while whisking rapidly to blend together. Next, whisk in garlic, thyme, marjoram, rosemary. Next, (using a spoon in a scraping motion from the bottom of the bowl up the side of the bowl) fold in the minced shallots. Store in the refrigerator covered for at least 45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Combine green beans, sliced mushrooms and 1 cup of vinaigrette in a bowl and mix to cover all of the green beans. Place the green bean mixture on a roasting pan and cook uncovered for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven place into your serving dish and pour over 1 cup of the vinaigrette and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve warm.

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Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

4 cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

½ cup of sugar

2 eggs, beaten

½ tsp salt

4 T butter, softened

¼ cup milk

¼ pineapple juice

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

3 T butter, softened

¾ cup chopped pecans

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium heat until tender, drain and mash with ¼ cup pineapple juice. Add this mixture to a large bowl and add sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix together until smooth and transfer into a 9×13 sprayed baking dish.
In a medium bowl mix together brown sugar and flour, cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the chopped pecans and sprinkle over the top of the sweet potato mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is lightly browned.

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Grandma’s Yams

(A second option for your sweet potatoes)

Ingredients:

5-6 Sweet Potatoes

3 T Brown Sugar

1 T Maple Syrup or Honey

1 T salt

3 T butter

½ T ground Nutmeg

Directions: There has been some debate in our family of whether or not you slice your sweet potatoes for this dish or just simply cut them in half long ways to roast (cut side down). Either way the result will be the same. A warm yummy and delicious way to eat more sweet potatoes! Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. This cooks best in a glass baking dish. Simply place the sweet potatoes in a sprayed baking dish and sprinkle over the brown sugar and nutmeg over each piece. Place a small bit of butter on each one as well and start to roast them covered for about 45 minutes. Remove them from the oven and drizzle over the maple syrup or honey, recover and roast about another 10-15 minutes. Bring them out of the oven, uncover and spoon over the liquid that is on the bottom of the dish. Raise the oven temp to 400 and finish roasting for 10 minutes uncovered then serve right away!!

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Dreamy Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

5-7 white potatoes, cleaned (leave the skin on) and cut into 2” pieces

3 T butter

1 T sea salt

1 T black pepper

¼ cup buttermilk (or sour cream)

¾ cup milk or alternative

Directions: Start by boiling the cut potatoes in salted water for 20-25 minutes. Drain potatoes from the water and return back to the hot pan. Over low heat let the potatoes steam out for about 1-2 minutes. At this point if you are using a mixer, transfer the cooked potatoes into the mixer. If you are not just remove the pot from the heat. Add all of the other ingredients and mix on low for 4-5 minutes to incorporate everything. Turn the mixer up to a higher speed for 2-3 minutes or until the potatoes become creamy and if you need a little more liquid add a ¼ cup milk or alternative at a time. Enjoy right away!!

Taste the Rainbow

November 3, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

In our fast paced, hectic world we’re often focused on quick and easy. We grab take-out because it’s simple without pausing to remember that we should eat to fuel our body and maintain our health. When we do stop to think, we often believe that taking our “one-a-day” has us covered in terms of vitamins and minerals. Oh, and since you had a banana with lunch, you’re covered – right?

Not quite. While we’ve learned that reading nutrient labels is important for understanding what’s in our packaged food, what about when food isn’t labeled that way? When you pick up an apple, or a potato, you aren’t given a key to its nutrient breakdown. Walking up and down the produce section, how are we to determine what’s what, and what we’re putting in our bodies?

First, different colored produce typically has different nutrients. For example, beta-carotene gives food an orange pigment and is thus found in carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Beta-carotene, when eaten in food, is converted by the body into Vitamin A which helps to promote healthy skin, eyes and immune systems. Potassium on the other hand is crucial for muscles to function properly, and as a result promotes healthy heart and digestive functions. Usually folks think of bananas as the star-player when it comes to natural potassium sources, but it’s also found in dark greens, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, raisins and prunes. So, an easy rule of thumb to make sure that you’re getting a good balance of food-based nutrients is to shoot for lots of color in your diet. No, we don’t mean skittles. If you eat red berries for breakfast, shoot for some greens at lunch, and some carrots with dinner. If you focus on natural color and variety at each meal, you’re well on your way to naturally fulfilling your vitamin requirements without supplements!

Secondly, it’s important to keep in mind that not all produce is created equally. An apple in the grocery store and an apple from your local orchard may not look very different, but what they offer you nutritionally can vary significantly. Nutrients develop in food as it ripens, which means that produce is healthiest when picked at peak ripeness and consumed immediately after. You know those beautiful apples that you see on grocery store shelves? They were probably bred for extended shelf-life which means they can be stored for weeks, or even months between the time that they’re harvested and when you purchase them. By the time you consume what you think is a healthful snack, stored produce has lost up to 40% of its nutrient value! Local food, with less distance from farm to table, has a smaller carbon footprint, more nutrients, and better taste than your typical grocery store produce.

When you eat local, you’re eating what’s in season where you live. This means that you’re getting produce immediately after harvest when it’s still packed with good-for-you vitamins and minerals. Plus, each season offers different crops than the last to make sure that you have access to lots of variety. A colorful plate of local food is the easiest and tastiest way to make sure you have a healthy and balanced diet.

Squash Mac and Cheese

October 27, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

Ingredients:

2 cups of dry macaroni or any other smaller noodle

3 yellow squash, shredded

1 zucchini, shredded

2 Tbl butter

1 Tbl flour

2 cups milk of your choice

2 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese

Salt to taste

Directions:

Place shredded squash in a strainer over the sink and let sit for 15 min so that any excess water can drain. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt and cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Add butter, shredded squash and a pinch of salt to the pan and saute over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until squash has softened and released some of it’s water. Add the flour and saute another minute. Reduce heat to medium-low, pour in milk and stir regularly until milk is steaming and has thickened a little. Remove the pot from heat, add a small pinch of salt and stir in the cheese. Continue stirring until cheese has melted, then add the noodles back to the pot and stir gently until ingredients are well-incorporated. Serve hot.

We’re Keen on Keenbell Farm

September 28, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

Keenbell Farm has been around for decades, ebbing and flowing with the agricultural climate. The farm is located in Hanover, Virginia (just 15 minutes from Short Pump!) In 2006, CJ Isbell decided to revamp the farm that his grandparents had founded in the 50s. CJ, along with his father, and other family members, knew that they didn’t want to practice conventional farming, but they saw flaws with traditional organic farming too. After conferring with a group of organic farmers up north, who don’t over-till their land, CJ felt confident that he could adapt their growing practices to Virginia’s climate. Keenbell Farm doesn’t use synthetic fertilizers and spraying is a very last resort (but if they do spray, they market the product as conventionally grown and not organic). CJ has found that by boosting a soil’s natural biology through the use of cover crops, he can virtually eliminate the need for herbicides. CJ’s research didn’t stop there, he also heavily researched the benefits of grass-fed meats, something that no-one in his region was practicing at the time. Keenbell Farm re-started operations with no-till organic practices, grass-fed pasture raised meats, and an eye on science to continually evolve their practices.

Today, Keenbell is home to around 90 cattle, 60 pigs, 1500 broiler chickens, 850 laying hens, and for this first time this season – turkeys! Keenbell respects and values the members of their community, and listen to what they want. For Keenbell, quality and integrity are first and foremost. CJ said that when you think of “free range” that’s exactly what you’re getting from him. Plus, Keenbell’s animals are born and raised right on the farm. This way, he can honestly tell you how a cow has been treated and fed its whole life. CJ lets his cows graze on new pasture every day. To facilitate this, he has planted several types of grass varieties to have it available year round. As a result, Keenbell only has to rely on hay to supplement the herd’s diet less than 30 days each year. Most farmers in his area are feeding hay around 120 days each year. Not only is fresh grass better for the cows, but its better for the environment. Less hay means that the farm is using less petroleum since it takes fuel to use the tractor to harvest hay. Instead, at Keenbell, CJ says that they are “grass farmers who use the animals to manage the land.”

Not only does Keenbell take pride in their animals, but they’re also growing non-GMO grains. CJ said that 5 years ago, he couldn’t find non-gmo grains anywhere, so they started growing it themselves to feed their herds. The family didn’t stop there though, they started growing food grade grain too, because for Keenbell Farm, they take the responsibility of feeding people seriously. CJ knows that how and what they grow directly impacts how someone feeds their family. CJ is growing two heirloom wheats and popcorn! He’s even been working with Sub Rosa Bakery for testing purposes. Eventually Keenbell would love to be able to sell wheat directly to people so that they can mill their own flour at home.

Keenbell has started Farm Store Fridays. Every Friday, from 11am-7pm, locals can stop by the farm to pick up meat and eggs – they don’t even have to make an appointment. Plus Keenbell has been known to hold field days. On these days, the farm store is open, there are wagon rides, tours of the farm and more! Plus, if you come hungry, Keenbell sells local meals of pulled chicken and pork barbecue, homemade potato chips and corn slaw. You can come see for yourself what all the fuss is about, and until then, we’ve had Keenbell chicken and eggs on the menu for convenient doorstep delivery!

How To Empty Your Box – August 26/27

August 24, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

Each week, we send you a new box, with items that you may or may not be familiar with. The Chef Box can take some recipe research to figure out how to use every ingredient. Our Garden Box however is our most accessible option. Most of the ingredients you don’t even have to cook. Here are some ideas on how to use the Garden Box delivered August 26-27.

Gala Apples:

The crisp beauties we’ve been sending just need a quick rinse before you gobble them down. Or, you can slice, dunk in nut-butter and eat. If you’re craving something different, try our take on baked apple chips.

Corn:

Summer corn doesn’t need much prep to be delicious. Once you clean off the husk and silk, simply boil in a pot of water while the rest of your dinner cooks. Or, you can make a corn salsa, like this one here.

Hanover Tomatoes:

Slice ‘em and put them on a sandwich. No bread? Top with basil, mozzerella, olive oil and balsamic for an easy and crowd pleasing caprese salad.

White Potatoes:

Wrapping in aluminum foil and baking until soft is as easy as it gets! If you have a grater handy though, why not try home made hash browns?

Green Beans:

Sautéed with garlic and olive oil until tender, or if you’re feeling more ambitious, how about Crispy Baked String Bean Fries? They’ll have you forgetting all about french fries!

Yellow Peaches:

Wash and eat! Or, if you’re able to resist long enough, how about a homemade peach sorbet?

Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce:

Lettuce doesn’t usually pose much of a challenge, just chop up for use in a salad or use the leaves on a sandwich. Extra time? You can sauté vegetables and a protein of your choice and use leaves as lettuce wraps, an example can be found here.

How to Empty your Box

August 18, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

Garden Box delivered August 19-20, 2015:

containing

Loose Carrots

Gala Apples

Green Beans

Yellow Squash

Mixed Color Bell Peppers

Yellow Peaches

Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce

Easy and moderate ways to use all the ingredients in your box this week.

Loose Carrots

Easy: Wash, peel, and chop. You can eat these chopped up on salads, or cut into carrot sticks and dipped into hummus or some other dip.
Moderate: Wash, and then turn into garlic roasted beauties using this recipe here.

Gala Apples:

Easy: Wash and eat! Or, wash, slice, dunk in nut-butter and eat.
Moderate: Baked apple chips. A simple example recipe can be found here.

Green Beans:

Easy: Sautéed, recipe here.
Moderate: Crispy Baked String Bean Fries, recipe here.

Yellow Squash:

Easy: Sliced and Roasted
Moderate: Brownie Bites, both recipes here.

Mixed Color Bell Peppers:

Easy: Wash, slice and dunk in dressing or hummus.
Moderate: Stuffed peppers, recipe here.

Yellow Peaches:

Easy: Wash and eat!
Moderate: Peach sorbet, recipe here.

Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce:

Easy: Chop up in a salad or use the leaves on a sandwich.
Moderate: Sauté vegetables and a protein of your choice and use leaves as lettuce wraps, an example can be found here.

“I Am Too Busy to Cook”

August 11, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

There are 24 hours in a day. For a typical person, 8 of those hours should be spent sleeping. At least another 8 usually go to some form of work, be it in an office, at the house, chasing kids, or some other commitment. That’s two-thirds of your day that are accounted for. Plus, there are appointments, traffic, errands and day-to-day obligations that keep us busy. Oh and Americans? We fill our days more full than most other industrialized countries. Don’t even get us started on how busy days are for parents. Kids bring along their own set of time commitments; playdates, soccer matches, swim practice, homework, meals, etc. So, that means when dinner rolls around, many of us are already exhausted. That’s why we regularly hear from folks that they’re forgoing fresh food from us because they “are too busy to cook.” Prepared meals or fast food is often easier. Yes, we won’t argue. We also know that you care about feeding your family healthful, fresh and tasty food, but sometimes doing so seems like such a hurtle. Take a deep breath and keep reading, we’re here to help.

First, try a basic basket. Pick items that you’re relatively familiar with to get your feet wet. Slice cucumbers for dipping, tomatoes for sandwiches, and our fruit just needs a rinse!

Second, try these time saving tips to have the best of both worlds. This is especially true because our food is local and in-season. It automatically has more flavor which means it takes less effort on your end.

–Plan. When our menu comes out on Friday, sit down and make a list for the week. It doesn’t take long. Jot down the meals that most of the family will be at home for. Start, by plugging in the vegetables that will arriving on delivery day. Then, finish off the meals with the protein of your choice (you can skip the store entirely by doing so from our list of extras.) This may seem silly, but planning on the weekend when you have more time will save you loads of time during the week. Driving home from work or a long day is not the time to think about dinner for the first time. If you already have it written down, you can go through the pre-planned motions once you get home rather than having to start from scratch.

–Prep – Have two recipes that call for diced onions? Dice all of your onion at once and store the extra for the second recipe. Why pull out the cutting board twice?

-Look up easy recipes. We love Pinterest, and our Pinterest page has recipes organized by basket item. Everyone is busy, and thankfully there are some wonderful folks who have shared their easy (and often kid-friendly) ways to cook fruits and vegetables. Don’t forget that you can substitute ingredients if the recipe calls for something you don’t have on hand.

-Love thy crockpot. If you can wake up just a few minutes earlier, you can have dinner finished before you even leave the house. Soups, dips and stews – oh my! Plus, you can cook in bulk and freeze any left overs for the really busy days.

–Recruit Your Kids (or spouse, or roommate) – Cooking in the kitchen can be a great way to bond. Young kids can wash the produce, and older ones can peel and chop. Oh and spouse/roommates? Delegate! Two chefs are better than one, and that way cooking doesn’t feel like ignoring quality time, it just becomes part of it.

One final note: using our service actually saves you time in the long run. We narrow down your options by offering only what’s in season, which means you don’t have to do the typical brainstorming which often consists of “So, how about green beans again?” Plus, you’ll be in and out of the store quicker, only buying what you need to supplement your basket items. Want more ideas on how to save time in the kitchen? Check out this article from life hacker.

Seasonally Small Carbon Footprint

July 29, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

A study conducted at the University of Oregon found that “large-scale organic farming operations, based on a review of almost a decade of data from 49 states, are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

The organic farming movement began around 80 years ago, in the 1940s. It was born with the intention of being a more ecologically sound practice than conventional farming. Recommended organic farming practices include crop rotation, minimal organic sprays, and the use of fertilizers derived from local compost and manure. However, as organic farms have become a part of a much larger industry, increased pressures have led to more machinery, a higher use of organic pesticides, and a need to import fertilizers from other locations. All of these farming measures have increased the carbon footprint that comes along with eating the organic produce that is grown across the country.

Currently, commercialized organic operations make up a mere 3% of total Agriculture lands, but “appear to contribute to increased and more intense levels of greenhouse gases coming from each acre of farmland.” According to the study, the production of certified organic food has been profit motivated, and has not been focused on implementing sustainable farming practices. Unless federal action is taken to increase adherence to sustainable and eco-friendly farming practices, it appears that the commercialized organic farms will continue to emit high levels of greenhouse gases.

The idea of organic food, or the idea that we should consume food that is healthier because it has been sprayed less and it has been grown with sustainable farming practices, is one that we support. But, like many of the country’s big industries, the organic food industry has lost its way. That’s why we put our trust in our local food from family farms. We’ve decreased pressure on our farmers by partnering with them. They’re able to diversify crops and spray less, knowing that our Members support them. Plus, the fact that our food is local reduces our carbon foot print. Our produce is always just a short drive away – 150 miles, tops! No planes, trains or long journeys necessary. The only way we could be more eco-friendly is if we had our farmers deliver produce on foot, but that would certainly slow down our 48 hours dirt-to-doorstep initiative, now wouldn’t it? We focus on sustainable farming that is good for the soil, good for the crops, good for those eating the produce, and good for the environment as a whole.

Check out this article for other ways to reduce your carbon footprint; http://www.earthguardians.org/50simplethings/

To read the study’s findings for yourself, you can access the article here: http://around.uoregon.edu/content/study-suggests-organic-farming-needs-direction-be-sustainable

Eat Seasonally

July 27, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

It’s only been a relatively recent development that people have had access to any piece of produce at any time of year. Grocery stores have spoiled us into thinking that blueberries and peaches are available in the winter, when in fact in our area they’re naturally in season in the summer. In fact, most of the fruit in stores in the winter has traveled thousands of miles from warmer regions to be available here, losing nutrients every mile of the way.

If you shop for your produce in the grocery store, you’ll probably notice that root vegetables, squash, chard and kale are readily available in the fall and winter; they might even be on special! That’s because there is a surplus of those vegetables because they’re actually in season that time of year. Similarly, berries and stone fruits are more often seen in the summer, and you can even find great deals on them. But, if you try and buy the same fruits in the winter, they’re going to cost an arm and a leg.

Rather than importing produce from other states and countries , we ought to be eating what’s locally available in each season, that’s what our ancestors did after all! Eating seasonally is budget friendly (because of the surplus when food is in season), healthier (less travel=more nutrients) AND it encourages culinary variety and creativity. By the time you’ve reinvented butternut squash in as many ways as you can think of (roasted, sauced, pureed, fried), a new season will have sprung bringing a whole new slate of produce to explore!

Because we partner with only local farmers, your boxes will contain what is in season, which means you are supporting sustainable farming practices, the local economy, and your budget! To help you think of creative and delicious ways to use seasonal produce, we’re publishing a cookbook to coincide with each season. The first cookbook will feature 85 pages of spring recipes, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available!

Until then, you can use this chart made available by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to see when crops are in season to keep track of when your favorites will be readily available!

VA Seasonal Produce Chart

For a more detailed listing, check out this site: http://localfoods.about.com/od/searchbystate/a/virginiaseasons.html

My Box Seems a Bit Expensive

July 9, 2015/in Blog Archive /by Admin

We hear you, feeding a family on a budget isn’t easy. Even harder? Feeding a family healthful and local food on a budget. We won’t pretend that we can beat the prices of places like Kroger or Martin’s, but that truly isn’t comparing apples and apples. Big grocery store chains bring in their food from all over the country (and really all over the world). It’s being mass produced on factory farms thousands of miles away, so they’re able to sell it for cheap. If cost is your only concern, then a big super market will definitely be cheaper. However, did you know, that as soon as food is harvested it begins to lose nutrients? This means that the sooner it gets to you, the more nutritious it is. Since grocery stores buy produce from thousands of miles away, the produce you get there isn’t as nutritious as what you get through Seasonal Roots.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Finding produce of our quality at the grocery store is tough, but the closest you’ll come is at places like Whole Foods and Fresh Market. The produce at these places is often organic, but not necessarily locally sourced, so it still might not be very fresh. We re-created a Breakfast Basket by shopping at these stores, to be able to show you a direct price comparison.

Seasonal Roots Breakfast Themed Basket:

Notable: All local, within 150 miles, and delivered to you 48 hours dirt to doorstep

1 Pint Blueberries

1/2 Pint Blackberries

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Sweet Candy Onions

Eastern Peaches

1 Dozen Pasture Raised Eggs

Kale

TOTAL: $32, plus tax with free delivery

Fresh Market Breakfast Bounty:

Notable: We lucked out by walking into a sale, but unfortunately that’s not always the case

1 Pint Blueberries – ON SALE – $4.99

1/2 Pint Blackberries – $4.99

Yukon Gold Potatoes – $3.11

Sweet Onions (didn’t have exact match) – $2.80

Eastern Peaches – ON SALE – $1.28

1 Dozen Pasure Raised Eggs – $5.99

Kale – $5.98

TOTAL – $29.87 w/tax

Whole Foods Breakfast Bounty:

Notable: Whole Foods didn’t have the same type of onions or potatoes, so we subbed something comparable. Plus, their peaches were from the west.

1 Pint Blueberries – 5.99

1/2 Pint Blackberries – 2.99

Russet Potatoes – 3.78

Vidalia Onions – 1.94

Western Peaches – 6.35

Organic Eggs – 5.29

Kale – 5.98

TOTAL – $33.13 w/tax

So, this comparison goes to show you that if you shop at high-end stores focused on the quality of their produce, our prices are a pretty good deal, especially since we deliver it! Plus, Fresh Market and Whole Foods sell non-local produce, from unknown farms, and there is no telling how recently it has been harvested. We found that these stores didn’t have the variety that we do, which is why we had to sub our more unique items for more standard grocery store items.

We are happy to answer your questions about where your food is coming from, we think it is really important to know who your farmer is. Our food is fresh, local, and sustainably grown – guaranteed.

Archive for year: 2015