First Co-op Purchase

So I ventured into this beautiful little church in the heart of Montrose to pick up our first co-op order from Central City Co-op. I felt like I was stepping into a little hippie food cult as the check-in lady "welcomed me aboard" their little operation. She walked me through reading the signs tagged to coolers and boxes which laid out how many of each item you could bag in your small, medium, or large order. I had ordered a "small" because I had no idea what to expect and Drew and I typically don't go through too much produce in a week... After making my way through the line and loading up my veggies and (1) fruit in my reusable bag I had thought to bring from home, I made my way to the check out with the sweet rocker looking chick with blue hair...

So here is what we got!

1 Granny Smith apple, 1 lb of green beans, 5 crimini mushrooms, one head of red romaine lettuce, one bunch of green onions, 1 cucumber, 1 box of cherry tomatoes, 1 avocado, and 1 red potato

I was a little terrified of the mushrooms but seeing as how the "reciprocal item" that I could have "swapped" it out for was a huge portabello mushroom, I decided to stick it out with the little guys and figured worst case scenario I could send them up to my mushroom loving sister with my mom this weekend... Besides, the lady described them as "absolutely gorgeous" when I told her I might like to swap them out...

This co-op also has an "open market" area so you can add on any extra organic fruits/veggies that you'd like. They have all of the stuff that they sell in their "shares" plus some extras that are only available for individual purchase. Next time I think I will definitely plan to bring some cash so I can load up on a few extra fruits because 1 (beautiful, shiny, crisp) green apple just isn't going to cut it for this fruit lovin' gal.

Also, on a side note, I bought some free range, hormone free, organic, air-chilled, walking, talking, marathon running, chicken breasts from my favorite Buffalo Market HEB earlier this week and also made a pit stop at Georgia's Farm to Market store for some grass-fed, hormone free beef so I'll let you know how I've incorporated those and tried to stretch them to make them go a lot further than typical chicken/beef b/c of how much more expensive they are!

Stay tuned for what I've made so far with our first co-op share goodies (and our beef/chicken).