The Produce Box

What better way to spread the cheer this holiday season than with some yummy artisan products from The Produce Box? Supporting our artisans is great for the local economy and makes it possible for small business owners to make what they love while they provide for their families. There are lots of gifts you could buy this year for friends and coworkers, but why not give them something you love and something you know they’ll enjoy? We’ve checked our list and checked it twice, and here’s a variety of offerings you can’t miss for the people on your nice list before we close for the season!      Feed your holiday guests a TPB breakfast! Give your favorite meathead a taste of minimally processed all-natural pork from Heritage Cheshire Farm. Bacon, sausage, pepperoni - all come from Wayne County taste great and have no fillers, preservatives, added hormones, steroids, or artificial ingredients. We also have wonderful Ladyfingers Ham Rolls on the menu this week -- eas...

Our members are constantly surprising us with their commitment to healthy habits and helping the people around them eat well! We recently caught up with Tami McGraw, a member of The Produce Box for several years, who is also picking up and coordinating donations for the Brown Bag Ministry . Tami pictured with her grandson Tami became a member of The Produce Box after being diagnosed with Alpha Galactose, a rare tick disease that makes her deathly allergic to all red meat and by-products. North Carolina has the second highest rate of people with this disease in the country, and they number in the thousands. People with Alpha Galactose can’t eat any pork, beef, lamb, butter, or milk, but they can eat fish and poultry. It makes her diet limited, but with The Produce Box, she’s able to add tasty variety to her diet while trying new fruits and vegetables. Her diagnosis makes eating a challenge at times, but because of it, she’s eating healthier and helping the needy eat healthy...

TGIF... Menu Planning!  Just when your week is winding down and you’re gearing up for the weekend, our team is gearing up too… for next week’s delivery! Late in the week Joe, Boomer (how's that for a great nickname!) and Jake are calling farmers to find out what they’ll have in at the beginning of the upcoming week so we can make our weekly menu and publish it each Friday. Our chefs design a menu for each Box based on what’s soon to be available, making sure to provide variety and great recipes each week. Have you ever had an idea for a specialty Box made from local, in-season items we offer? E-mail us at info@theproducebox.com. We've had a lot of fun this year with our Italian Dinner Box, Stir Fry Box, Soup & Salad Box, Veggie Soup Box, Tailgate Box and more! Monday morning - on the phone! Early Monday morning, after our members have chosen a Box, more calls are made. (Did you know that 99% of our farmers do NOT work by e-mail or computer - we call them and th...

We received this from the NC Works department and are so thankful that they shared this story with us so we can pass it onto you and all of our Produce Box members who make our Hero Boxes happen all year long... "Our veteran Owen Melvin was a recipient of a Produce Box back in August 2015. Owen came into the office as a homeless veteran seeking housing, services and employment assistance. We were able to help him become stable thru the support of his family and valuable community resources. We also assisted Owen with an appointment with Ellis Pinder, the New Hanover County VSO in our local office to help him get benefits through the VA, gave him bus passes through the Wave Foundation/VFW collaboration so he could make the appointments to get the care at the VA that he so badly needed. He once told me that he walked 2 hours back and forth to make his VA appointments because he had no money nor a ride…. we made sure that never happened again. Then, his health started to decline ...

Every year around Thanksgiving, we love to say THANK YOU to our members who have donated Community Boxes throughout the year. This month, we were stunned to discover that one family donated A TON of Boxes. Kim and Thomas Monahan donated 106 COMMUNITY BOXES in 2015! We are blown away by their commitment to supporting our community with Produce Box donations, and decided we needed to honor their family’s generous spirit with a $1,000 donation to a charity of their choice -- Doctors Without Borders . “Growing up I remember my parents always donated to it, so it means a lot to me to continue that tradition,” said Kim. Doctors Without Borders was founded in the early 1970s, and is one of the world’s most well known independent humanitarian relief organizations. They provide medical assistance in areas around the world affected by natural and man-made disasters. Kim and her husband joined The Produce Box more than a year ago because of their two young children. It was important...

Are you planning a “LOCAL” Thanksgiving? We’ve got you covered with some recipes the whole family will love. This Thanksgiving, give your family a taste of farm fresh North Carolina with a few sweet potato recipes. If you’re looking for a starter, look no further than this sweet potato and butternut squash soup from The Produce Box’s Chef Joe.  The sweet potato soufflé will be a great treat and something your family might not have tasted before, and our sweet potato pie made from scratch will have you swearing off the store-bought versions.

Certified Organic. Chemical-Free. Pesticide-Free. What do all of these labels mean? We get this question a lot, and at The Produce Box, we’ve done our homework so you don’t have to. Organic produce means that farmers follow specific regulations from the US Department of Agriculture about how they grow the food and the chemicals used in the production. These regulations prohibit the use of genetically modified products, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, require detailed records, and have on-site inspections. Like many laws and regulations, though, they don’t necessarily encompass all of the things we want in our food, and produce in the grocery store can be labeled organic even if it’s imported from outside of the US. For a North Carolina farmer, getting the organic certification is a long, costly procedure. It can often entail letting fields go fallow for up to 5 years -- something few small farmers can afford to do. That's why offer quite a few options to b...