Greenling.com – local, organic food delivery service

A little while ago, I saw for the first time, zipping down Mopac, Greenling’s delivery van with its tagline for organic food home delivery, and it made me curious to look into it though I never did use the service right away.   We would go to the farmers’ markets to pick up what we needed on the weekends, but with the 100+ temperature of late, it has made getting to the farmers’ market increasingly difficult with two children in tow.  I finally decided this last week to give Greenling a try.

I created an account on Greenling’s website and started to peruse through its offerings.  Those who read my previous ode to “Grandma’s Humus” knows that our family must have this hummus, and so I clicked to add this item into my basket.  That was done with an actual vocalized yelp of excitement that someone would hand deliver this hummus to my door.  I had heard about the merits of the “local box” which contains organic seasonal produce from local farms.  This past week, my local box ($34.99) contained 1 bag of okra, 6 cucumbers (pickle size), 2 peaches, 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, 2 large heirloom tomatoes, 1 pint of blueberries, 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, 1 bunch of spring onions, 1 watermelon (bigger than a personal but smaller than the seedless at HEB), 1 bag of fresh sweet basil, 3 red onions.  If comparing organic apples to organic apples, $34.99 is actually a decent deal and even better that I did not have to spend my own gas money to procure these items from the markets or Whole Foods.  I can attest that the organic items looked even fresher than the organics of the grocery stores nearest to us.

I priced against HEB this week to see how much the difference would be if I bought the same items (nonorganic), rounded to the nearest half dollar.  The okra ($4), six cucumbers ($2), 2 peaches ($1), 1 pint of cherry tomatoes ($4), 2 large heirloom tomatoes ($2), 1 pint of blueberries ($3), 1 zucchini (50¢), 1 yellow squash (50¢), 1 bunch of spring onions (50¢),  1 watermelon ($5), 1 bag of fresh sweet basil ($3), 3 red onions ($1.50) came to an estimated total of $27 so I was paying about $8 more for Greenling’s offerings.  Was the $8 worth it for the locally grown organics?  Absolutely.

My kids are an easy sell for vegetables and fruits, and for that I am truly grateful that I do not have picky eaters.  Hubby on the other hand grimaces at vegetables and fruits, and though he can always be persuaded to eat something in the name of good health, he does so in a completely forced manner.  When the box first arrived at our doorstep, I unpacked all items and decided to slice up one peach for the kids to share.  I offered a piece to hubby, and to my surprise he was fighting the kids for the peach.  This was either a dream where I was in Bizarro World, or the peach was something special.  I snagged a piece for myself, and hubby kept saying that this was the best peach that he had EVER eaten.  We grew up with a peach tree in our backyard, and I know what fresh peaches taste like straight from the tree at the height of the season.  Greenling packed us two seriously awesome peaches.  We had not even had our box opened for ten minutes, and both peaches were gone.   

The next day, when I was doing the comparison shopping at the grocery store, I snagged 3 of the very best peaches that I could find from the top of the peach pallets to present to hubby.  He ate them, and in his word, “These aren’t farmers’ markets peaches, are they?”  There clearly was a difference, not that the HEB peaches were bad.  They were quite sweet in  fact, but the Greenling ones were better.  Much better.  So much that I would be willing to pay a little more if it means getting fruits into hubby without a fight.

The blueberries and other produce were the same story.

Some of the items on the website gave me a wee bit of sticker shock though I was salivating from the item description like the fresh peach kolaches for $7.99 (4 pack).  With this being our first Greenling box, I was not sure that I could justify plunking down $8 for four kolaches when I had no idea the quality of food that would show up at our doorstep.  Seeing now that this is like going to a virtual farmers’ market or Whole Foods, I am more inclined to indulge on some of these items if it fits into our weekly food budget.  We did order a Sweetish Hill ciabatta bread loaf as that’s part of our weekly farmers’ market ritual, and the price here is no different than if I were to pick it up at the farm stand (or at the store).  The cilantro tortillas caught my eye when shopping, and two forks way up for these!  Wow.  Our family loved these.

Everything about the service is done with good conscience of sustainable living.  There is a $10 deposit for the initial box to be refunded when the box is returned.  All items that require refrigeration are packed in a thermal-bag with a frozen Gatorade bottle of water to keep items cool.  Shredded newspaper is used to cushion the vegetables, and everything was packed with care.  In subsequent deliveries, I would just need to put the previous box (with the thermal bag and Gatorade bottle) outside for pickup in exchange for my new box of food.  Depending upon one’s zip code, Greenling delivers on different days of the week with orders needing to be placed by a certain day.  There is no charge for delivery, and gratuity for the driver is welcomed but not expected.

Though Greenling offers such a variety of foods (including baby and kid foods), if we were to shop exclusively from here, it would push us to the upper limits of our weekly food budget.  Ideally I would love to use Greenling or shop exclusively at places like Whole Foods for all of our grocery needs, but I am willing to settle for getting some of our weekly food from here.  Realistically we will be using Greenling for its fresh produce and bakery items from stores too inconvenient to stop separately, but other things like cereal, milk, cheese, yogurts, items which our children seem to devour in larger quantity when they reach growth spurts, I will have to buy at local grocery stores with coupons. 

I have already placed my order for this week’s delivery.  

If you are curious, I have a 50% off first Greenling box (referral coupon) if someone would like to email me to give Greenling a try.  –update– The coupon has been claimed though if I come across anymore, I will be happy to pass them on.

Greenling.com
(512) 440-8449

Related posts:

1. Family budgeting (food and grocery bill)
2. Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market
3. The Mediterranean Chef and “Grandma’s Humus”
4. Cedar Park Farms to Market
5. Terra Burger, all natural organic hamburgers and a playscape too!