Fresh Produce–Frozen

I love vegetables.  I really do..except of course for okra.  That’s not a veggie in my book.  Boiled is as disgusting as…well, it’s disgusting.  And fried?  Uh-uh.  There’s not enough ketchup in the world.  But other than okra, I love veggies.  I live in a great part of Florida.  Close enough to the city, but closer still to the farming communities too.  Yep, the best of both worlds.  I like to drive through the farmer’s market in Plant City and pick up some seasonal deliciousness.  Fresh is always best.

But there’s another option and this is so cool (literally).  I’m fortunate enough to live near Southwestern Produce.  I’m on their mailing list so I get a card like this each month when they’re open to the public.

The really neat thing is they’ve done the work for me, flash frozen it, and bagged it up for me.  I just call and tell ‘em what I want, and pick it up. 

(I Like their slogan:  “Fresh from the farm to your freezer”)

The veggies are basically in bulk, but since they’re flash frozen, it’s easy to divide it up when I get home into other bags for smaller portions.  I love doing it this way, especially in the summer.  Who wants to heat up their kitchen, shelling and then blanching the veggies to freeze?  I remember, one year, butter peas weren’t on the list so I called to see why.  I was told that the crop was not up to par that year.  Wow.  They could’ve gone ahead and made money by selling whatever it was, but because it didn’t meet their standards opted not to do so.  That won me over! 

Anyway, this probably sounds like an advertisement for them.  It’s really not.  It’s just (if you’ll notice the date on the card) I was looking at it tonight to see if there was anything I needed.  I had an order last month so probably don’t need anything but just looking anyway. 

What about where you live?  Do you get your veggies any place other than the grocery store?   Do you belong to a Co-Op?  (I’ve never been in one of those and wondered how they work).  Or do you have a garden of your own?    I’d love to hear from you!