Could a Co-Op Save You Money?

I think so! Not only that, it would probably improve your health!

I got the idea to join a co-op just last week. I had been reading a blog post somewhere and the author was talking about having joined one. I wondered if we had one in our area, and as I had never heard of one nearby, I "Googled" "co op near (nearby city, my state)."

I was so excited to discover Bountiful Baskets. I pretty much read their entire web site as soon as I found it, looking for the drawback. I couldn't find one. Even my husband was excited about it. I have brought other ideas to his attention before, looking for ways to get healthier food into our home. CSA? Nope. Too expensive right now. (The ones in our area require you to pay for an entire 10 week agreement up front). Farmer's market? Did you see those prices? I tried every rebuttal I could think of, to no avail. (But we'd be supporting our local economy. Don't you want to keep our dollars in our state? We'd be eating fresh produce in season...it's healthier...) I do feel those are valid reasons, and if we had room in our budget, I would love to support our local farmers directly.

Here is what we received for $15

So anyway, in case you don't know, here's how it works: You "opt in" at any particular time. Ours is a week by week agreement. (We make a contribution on Monday, and pick up our basket on Saturday). It costs us $15 for about $50 worth of conventional produce- the same stuff you would buy in the grocery store. The people who run the co-op (all volunteers- so you're eliminating more cost there) scout out the best deals for the members, and basically the cost is so low because there is no retail mark-up. The middle-man (in this case, the supermarket) is eliminated so we get produce straight from wherever the grocery store gets it, and also local farms. In our case, our produce comes from our state first, and then other items come from regional suppliers...other states and some come from Mexico (which is pretty close to us). I think in the case of Mexico, pretty much the only thing that comes from there is bananas, and that is opposed to getting them from South America. The co-op is able to get them at a better price, and in doing so, supporting smaller farms in Mexico rather than a huge conglomerate in South America somewhere.

They also have organic produce available for $10 more per basket. They offer other special deals on pantry staples such as rice, beans, granola, and different oils. These vary from week to week. Produce by the case is available as well. For instance, for the past two weeks, we've ordered 8 lbs of strawberries for our smoothies! It's cheaper than the frozen strawberries we've been getting from the supermarket. We also ordered some really awesome bread. We chose 9 grain bread which contains nothing artificial and nothing I'm unable to pronounce or buy from the store myself! And it was cheap! I'm talking $2 per loaf! And really good, by the way!

a Jerusalem artichoke

Another awesome feature is the opportunity to try foods that we wouldn't normally eat (or even see in the market, for that matter!). It's kind of an adventure! In our first basket, we got Jerusalem artichokes (or sunchokes), which looks like ginger's more full-figured cousin, but is actually more closely related to a potato. We also got a bunch of Forelle pears, which I had never seen or heard of. They're like cute little mini-pears.

a Forelle pear

You really can't beat the prices, and joining a co-op means fewer trips to the grocery store! My husband is happy, I'm happy, our children are happy, our planet is happier. In my opinion, you really can't go wrong with this option.

The only reason I could see that it might not work for someone is the fact that you have very limited time to pick up your basket. We have a twenty minute window in which to pick up. And you have to pick up from a specified location. Bountiful Baskets has several pick up locations near us, and I noticed they are active in several states. Is one of them yours? Do you have a co-op in your area? I think it would be totally worth it to look into it- if you haven't already!

I can hardly believe that it's taken me so long to discover this awesome program. I've lived in my area for over 15 years! I don't even know of anyone nearby who is a member of a co-op. Now that I know about it, there's no way I will go back to paying full price at the grocery store for produce! (Unless there's just something I need).

Could this opportunity be a benefit to your family and your budget? Have you ever been a part of a co-op? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Linking up here:

 

A Love Story

Several months ago, I shared the story of how my husband and I began our pursuit of marriage. Here is the rest of our story, in honor of the month of romance.

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After that phone conversation, we agreed that we would talk to our pastor as a way to receive accountability and counsel for our relationship. It would've been something I would talk to my own parents about, but for one, I was already living on my own, and two, my mother passed away when I was a teenager, and I was basically estranged from my father and my step-dad was mostly out of the picture at that time as well. Plus, we were both on staff and wanted to make sure we had the blessing of our pastor/employer. We did not want our good to "be spoken of as evil" (Romans 14:16).

We met with our pastor, and by the end of the meeting, he said "I don't see any reason why you two shouldn't go ahead and start making plans to get married". Of course, I left his office totally giddy. We had already known that he usually advises a couple to have at least a year-long courtship. We were not any different.

I'll take a minute to bore you (just kidding) with some details about what I believe about courtship and premarital relations. While I know that God can use any situation to bring about His will, I don't believe in casual dating. You know, the kind of relationship that people say, "let's just see where this goes." I believe in being more intentional than that. And I believe that is what God desires (at least from me). I feel that people should not really "date" unless they are already intending to marry. Not to say that you must marry any person that you get involved with, but if you have no intention of ultimately entering into a marital union (or if you aren't ready for that) you should hold off on getting involved, period. I feel like that's setting yourself up to be in a relationship that does not honor God. That's what I mean by casual dating. If you have come to the point in life where you feel you are ready to consider marriage (and I know this point is different for everyone) you should take the time to get to know someone. Both should be mature enough to be upfront about their desire. Too many women don't want to talk about marriage because they're afraid of scaring the guy off. Let him go! Seriously! I think as ladies we waste too much time playing games with guys that have no intention to get married.

But I digress. Two people should be mature enough to let their intentions be known. And mature enough to walk away if those intentions are not compatible. Besides, we as believers should follow Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you".

Anyway, I had already taken a lot of time to think and pray about my relationship with William long before anybody said the M word (marriage). So it wasn't like it was a crazy, spontaneous decision to pursue marriage with him. I know that our relationship happened in the best way (for us) in that we were receiving counsel from our pastor, and also living it out in front of everyone. I think that a lot of times when two people get involved, they isolate themselves, and that makes it way more tempting to go down a path that will dishonor God. Not only physically, but it might take people away from their family, friends or their church, and ultimately their relationship with God. Sadly, I've seen this happen too many times. If the special people in your life don't approve of your relationship with someone, it really might be time to re-evaluate your involvement with them (I'm talking to single folks, so you married people don't get any crazy ideas, okay?)

Shortly after the meeting with our pastor, we set a date. August 5^th. One year from the date of "the talk". We were so excited to plan our wedding (okay, I was excited to plan our wedding), and there was so much to do.

Ultimately, during our courtship, we spent a lot of time together getting to know each other even more. We discussed all sorts of things from sex, to money, to children, to what our future aspirations were. During the first part of our courtship, I had my sister living with me. Then after she moved out, I had another friend move in temporarily. She needed a place to stay, and I needed help paying the bills, so it worked out great!

William and I already knew that we would not live together before marriage. It was just a conviction we both had. Personally, I don't believe that living together before marriage is a great idea for anybody. We had committed to sexual purity until we were husband and wife, so living together was out of the question. In fact (and some people will probably think this is crazy) we usually didn't even travel together alone. We would meet at restaurants or wherever we would go for a date. We usually were out in public when we would spend time together. Admittedly, we were not perfect in following our own rules, but I think having those guidelines really helped to keep us from giving into temptation.

Well, we continued to meet with our pastor on nearly a weekly basis for our premarital counseling. We covered lots of ground, and we discovered that our pastor was definitely not shy about discussing the S word! (As it should be! That's such an important part of marriage that many people are not equipped or ill-equipped to handle.)

As more and more people began to become aware of our impending marriage, we were often met with comments like, "I knew you guys had marriage in your future". To which I often replied "I wish you would've told me!"

Ultimately, that year was spent working quite a bit. We spent a lot of time planning church events, and we even had a small group that we led together. (We met at my place, but my groom-to-be would have to wait outside until the first people showed up! Ha ha!) We also went out to dinner on a pretty regular basis. Our favorite places to eat were Italian restaurants. A mutual love of Italian food aside, we discovered we had vastly different tastes. He's a big meat eater, and I'm a big veggie lover, for example. We never could share a pizza!

The cake from my bridal shower

We really are quite different individuals. He is a majorly talented musician, and I...not so much! In fact, I've been involved in almost every single area of ministry except for music! He's very outgoing, and I am more reserved. We are similar in the most important areas, though. We both love the Word of God, so it's always easy (okay, easier) to settle a disagreement between us. God's Word is final authority. We both love serving others, and have strong convictions about commitment to our local church.

In the summer of 2006, we were wed. We got married at our church, and had our reception at a local hotel/conference center. We had a traditional wedding, officiated by our pastor. We each chose three members of our bridal party...and each of the people we chose either represented someone from our past (like a close friend/family member), someone we looked up to, and someone we had a mentor relationship to. (That was not really deliberate, but it was the connection I made later on.)

 

In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have opted to spend so much time or money on our wedding. It was really beautiful, don't get me wrong. But it really flew by! I'll admit, it was fairly stressful to plan everything too! Ultimately though, we both enjoyed the day. We loved seeing so many people that have been positive influences in our lives in some way or another. And, we really wanted to be a blessing to those people for helping us to become the people we are.

We ended the afternoon's festivities tired, but ready to get on with married life! We drove home together, gifts in tow. I think we opened all of our gifts and cards that afternoon! That evening, we drove up to Sedona for our honeymoon...alone. In the same car!

I feel that God really blessed our desire to honor Him in our relationship. Sure, we have our challenges, just like anyone else, but I know He's always with us. And He is faithful!

So, how did your marriage story unfold? Share in the comments!