For those of you raw foodists out there who eat mostly fresh organic produce, one way to stretch your food dollar is to start a food buying cooperative or club.

Normally such a club would require 7 to 10 households. But with produce-only eating rawfoodists, it only requires 2 households, perhaps even just one if there is a raw family involved.

I am currently in a group that buys from Veritable Vegetable in San Francisco. In the San Francisco Bay Area, here are the organic produce distributors. Our group buys every two weeks, and Veritable Vegetable delivers the produce to my apartment, which is 200 miles away from the warehouse, or a 4 hours drive. This requires buying a minimum of $250 of produce for delivery to my home (its a $150 minimum to a delivery to an existing customer site), but typically we buy more like $700 of produce. We are lucky that there is an health food store nearby that uses our distributor, so this distributor was already driving through the neighborhood.

There are websites that talk about how to start your own buying club. Here are some examples:
A Cooperative Food-Buying Club Primer
HOW TO START A COOPERATIVE FOOD BUYING CLUB

Here is an small sample of the prices:

Avocado FUERTE 40 Eco-Farm GOCA                       2LYR BOX     46.25
Avocado FUERTE 60 Eco-Farm GOCA                       2LYR BOX     42.25
Avocado FUERTE 84 Eco-Farm GOCA                   25# VF   BOX     23.25
Avocado HASS 40 Natural Valley/Rainbow BCS            2LYR BOX     52.00
Avocado HASS 48 Las Palmalitas Ranch STELLAR          2LYR BOX     59.25
Avocado HASS 50 Natural Valley/Rainbow BCS            2LYR BOX     56.00

Avocado HASS 60 Eco-Farm GOCA                         2LYR BOX     56.25
Avocado HASS 70 Eco-Farm GOCA                         2LYR BOX     41.00
**On Special**
Avocado HASS 70 Petorca Valley BCS                25# VF   BOX     42.00

Banana TURNING Jonathan's Organic SKAL FAIR TRADE 40#      BOX     32.00
#4's!
Banana TURNING Organics Unlimited QAI             40#      BOX     30.00

#3-4
Banana BABY Bonita GOCA                           15#      BOX     17.50

I run a co-op here and this is what I got today for $126. It's all organic

2 bunches beets with tops
1 celery
4 pounds of cucumbers
2 bunches green kale
2 green leaf lettuce
1 10 oz pkg white mushroom
4 pts sweet mini peppers
1 pound sugar snap peas
2 pounds zucchini squash
3# fugi apples
1 pt grape tomato
1 pt strawberries

12 pounds valencia oranges
5 kiwi
5 pounds bananas
2 golden pineapple
3 pounds medjool dates

Was this good?

Wow! Dr Mom, haven't bought food in the US for quite a few years, but this seems like a real deal to me. I wonder if this would be a cheap purchase even if it were all conventional. Zowie!



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

Can I do this cooperative in Vermont?

I'm not sure if they are in your area or not, but the company is called Global Organic and they are online. I don't know their website off of the top of my head. This co-op does make a small profit. It makes enough to pay for the coordinators produce plus a little extra. We get wholesale prices and then just add very little to it, so if a person were not interested in making any money at all, it would be even cheaper.

Alright, I'll look into it some more. Thanks.

marika,

Go the the health foods stores or supermarkets that sell organics in your area and ask them who the organic produce distributors are. Get their phone numbers or their websites and see if you can set up a customer account.