[Anika.]

I thought I would post this here for people who are struggling with grocery costs. I am a single mom of three and on disability, so I know how hard it is to put food on the table with a limited income. I have been using a food co-op for a few years and it has really cut my grocery costs down, and allows me to always have fresh, usually organic veggies and fruit in the house. A lot of food co-ops also include meat.

Food- co-ops are not only for low income families either. they are put together by volunteers in the community. As a way to provide quality whole foods to the community, support local farmers, and sustainable farming. It is also good for the environment as the food is not being shipped around the world.

Some co-ops are set up like a grocery store where you just shop, some use a delivery and box method, you pay for x number of boxes, mine is delivered to my home since I do not drive. There are many different ways that food co-ops operate.

You can find them in your city or town by doing a simple google search for food co-ops in your community. Some sites will have listings for all the ones in you area, state or province.

I use one called The Good Food Box, I know they have many across Canada.

An example of what I get depending on season :

5lbs Potatoes
1lb Onions
2lbs Carrots
1 Romaine Lettuce
1 Bunch of Broccoli
1 BC Long English Cucumber
2lbs Yams
1lb Roma Tomatoes
3lbs Mac Apples
1lb Red Grapes
12 Oranges
for $15 (canadian)

Also a lot of communities also have programs like a community kitchen. Some offer free cooking lessons, preparing healthy food at low cost, and you get to take home what you make, I think here it costs a dollar for each meal. Other ones are set up where you cook as a group, large recipes are made and divided between the participants to take home. There are also community kitchens set up for prenatal. Plus a good way to socialize and meet new people. I met some really nice people this way.

This is a community kitchen in my province, just so you get an idea of what they offer :
http://www.cowichancommunitykitchens.org/

I hope this can help someone out. This has helped me a lot, so just wanted to put it out there. I realize a lot of people do not know these exist.

Sounds like a great idea. Anyone familiar with co-ops here in the US?

[ladytiger]

we got one here in AZ. i am and seen them you can pay a small fee every week for so many fruits/veggies for that season you are buying it in bulk. localharvest.org that is here in AZ. i have not used it yet because that is a lot of money to spend per week. look for them in your site google co-ops or food co-ops