Farm vegetable delivery: What have I learnt from doing it?
A few years ago I worked in a small family-owned consulting company where most employees truly cared about the environment, recycling, community and organic eating. At some point I started noticing that most people were bringing very diverse cooked meals for their lunch, while mine looked more or less the same from day to day. So one day I asked the girls in the kitchen how they managed to cook all those different meals and where they got all the ideas. It appeared that most of them were signed up for a farm share. The way it works is that every week you get your share of organic vegetables that are currently in season from a nearby farm. This means that you may get a huge bag of radishes, summer squash or garlic scapes for a few weeks in a row because that's what's growing now on the farm. What do you do with it? You have to get creative and figure out how to make 5 different zucchini dishes or how to use all that thyme that you received this week.
And so we joined the 'vegetable club'
After some consideration I signed up for our first weekly organic vegetable delivery with Boston Organics. This company is different from a farm share as they deliver organic produce all year round and the service is very flexible in terms of skipping deliveries or customizing your vegetable box. I have to say that I did not sign up for that service because of the organic factor. It is great to know that the vegetables we are eating are organic but I really wanted to expand our regular menu and get more creative with cooking. That's why I signed up in the first place.
Now it's been over 5 years that we've been doing it. To be honest, in the first year we ended up throwing away some veggies as we couldn't use them all between 2 of us, even though we got the smallest box available. But over time I've started putting a bit more effort in finding recipes and got much more creative in using all the vegetables. Here are 5 key things I've learnt from my organic vegetable delivery experience:
1. Vegetable variety
We started eating vegetables that we have never bought or tried before, such as kohlrabi, celeriac, daikon radishes, dandelion greens, etc., which made our cooking much more diverse. Some of my staple dishes now include vegetable curries, stir fries, assorted roasted vegetables, stuffed vegetables, and, of course, variety of salads.
2. Improved cooking skills
Vegetable deliveries really forced me to cook more and master my cooking skills. More importantly, I really grew to enjoy cooking, especially when making a bigger special meal on the weekend or cooking for our guests.
3. Weekly meal planning
I started doing more meal planning. Especially in the beginning I spent more time searching for good ideas on how to use all the veggies. It got much easier once I developed my basic recipe library and got a few staple easy-to-modify recipes. I have started cooking more on the weekends, which now saves me quite some time and energy on workday dinners.
4. Bringing lunch to work
I really like bringing my lunch to work. Eating my own prepared food for lunch makes me feel healthier and lighter than eating out. And it also got easier to do once I started cooking more.
5. Use of herbs
Almost every delivery comes with a box of herbs. I'm still learning the ways to use different herbs, but I absolutely love how much flavor and uniqueness they add in cooking. In the past I almost never bought any herbs except for traditional ones, like parsley or cilantro. And even when I did buy something else, such as rosemary or thyme, I would end up throwing away most of it as I didn't know how to use it outside of that one recipe I needed it for.
Overall, vegetable delivery has been a great way for me personally to achieve my goals of becoming a better cook, diversify our menu and eat healthier. However, if you are looking to diversify your home cooking and pump up your cooking skills, you don't necessarily have to sign up for some delivery service. To start, you can challenge yourself by committing to buy at least one new vegetable and a box of herbs that you don't normally eat or never used before every week . That will force you to think about the meals you are going to prepare with it, search for new recipes and is guaranteed to expand your cooking horizons. Enjoy your journey!
Afterword
Since I have just recently moved from Boston to San Francisco, I had to say goodbye to Boston Organics. But as another proof of how much I enjoy vegetable deliveries, I already signed up for a local organic vegetable delivery company here in San Francisco. I am looking forward to exploring the west coast farm offerings!
