The Produce Box

School is back in session, and with your weekly Produce Box, healthy school lunches are easy! Check out our lunchbox-friendly ideas: 1. Pack leftovers. Made a vegetable side dish for dinner? Put individual servings in the fridge for the night. Microwave them the night morning and put in a thermos. They’ll still be warm when it’s lunchtime! 2. Pack lunch smoothies. Smoothies are often thought of as just breakfast. Why not lunch? Blend up some of the fruit you flash froze from summer (maybe sneak a veggie in there) in the morning and put in a thermos! Don’t forget to pack a straw. 3. Invest in reusable pouches. Those applesauce pouches that your kids love? They’re awesome, but they can also get expensive. Check out WalMart and Amazon for the reusable pouches. You can make your own applesauce (try adding some peaches) in a crockpot. Reusable pouches are simple and easy to refill! Share your back-to-school lunch tips with us i...

The Produce Box was originally founded to support North Carolina growers. It has grown into a great service for all of our members, and we are so thankful that y’all are on this journey with us to support our farmers. With our farm partners, you are helping to make their farms into successful businesses. Because of your weekly Box purchase, we are able to help the growers grow only what they need AND try to sell all of their produce. (Remember our goal for 2015 was to help our farmers sell 100% - every last bit - of their harvests.) Our members also help our artisan partners too by adding on their items into your Produce Box every week. The Produce Box provides an outlet for these small businesses to sell their items. They can sell to our members knowing that we will pay a fair price and get them great exposure for their local products! And with programs like Backpack Buddies and Camp High Hopes, we as a business are able to provide healthy produce to the families and chil...

Kissie Stroup, a High Point entrepreneur, has fond childhood memories of picking lettuce in her grandmother’s garden. Kissie knew that homegrown lettuce was not complete without a bowl full of vegetables and her grandmother’s tangy vinaigrette. She started Little Black Dressing Co. to share what her family enjoyed: a healthy and fresh alternative to salad dressing. Little Black Dressing makes four salad dressing varieties (a dressing for every occasion!) that are sold all over North Carolina. The salad dressings have no preservatives, additives or gluten, so they truly are a healthy alternative for salad dressing. Last year, Little Black Dressing supplied 3,000 bottles of their signature dressings at the U.S. Open, for both the men and women tournaments. Shortly after, Little Black Dressing was a finalist in Martha Stewart’s “American Made” competition. This small business is quickly gaining a national customer base! Kissie told us her sales tripled after the dressing’s ...

Back to school preparation is in full swing! For parents, that means earlier mornings to get the kiddos up and ready for school, activity-filled afternoons, and finding time to put a nutritious meal on the family table before homework and that earlier, school-night bedtime. But don’t fret, here are 5 quick, easy and produce-packed dinners that are sure to put a smile on your children’s faces. Pita Pizzas! Pita pizza is super easy, delicious, and everyone can make their own - just how they like it! 1.      Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 2.      Start with 1 pita per person. Lightly brush the pita with olive oil and place it on a baking pan. 3.      Cover your pita with pizza sauce, pesto, or extra olive oil as the base. 4.      Sprinkle your favorite shredded cheese on top. 5.      Finally, finish up with your favorite pizza toppings! Items from your Produ...

We recently spoke to one of our Charlotte members, Adam Smith, about his experience with The Produce Box. Mr. Smith is a professor of economics at Johnson and Wales University who has become a dedicated member of The Produce box – doing nearly all of his grocery shopping through our service! Mr. Smith says that our food, as fresh and local as it is, always tastes way better than what you would find in any typical grocery store – and our delivery service makes his weekly shopping super easy and stress-free! Giving us a taste of his expertise, Mr. Smith had a few words regarding the economic side of The Produce Box. When it comes to the difference between your neighborhood grocery store and a weekly box delivered to your door, it very well may be due to something known as the endowment effect . This is the idea that when we enter a grocery store, we are trapped in an environment of enticement. When we see something in the store that we want, we imagine it as ours an...

Here at The Produce Box, our goal is 100% member satisfaction. We want our members to have a big smile when they open their door to fresh, local produce. Here’s what some of our members said recently about their experiences with The Produce Box: I love to share The Produce Box with my friends; either by sharing a dish at a dinner party, giving a neighbor or a family member a few fresh peaches or field ripened tomatoes, or posting beautiful pictures of my weekly bounty on Facebook. Throughout the years, I've had several friends sign up for delivery after seeing my pictures and it is fun to talk about what we've ordered each week and what we plan to do with it.  What's so great about a box full of deliciousness from The Produce Box is that you know you're eating healthy, even when you "cheat." This week I patiently waited for my box to arrive so I could make a homemade pizza for lunch, using all the delicious veggies and herbs from my box. I'v...

We’re honored to be the first partner distributing Joe Van Gogh’s popular Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate outside of their cafes. You’ll see the cold brew concentrate in a chilled, 32 oz glass bottle on the menu this coming weekend (for delivery next week). What is cold brew? Similar to tea, coffee grounds are steeped in cold water for up to 24 hours. It’s smooth and has 67 percent less acid.  A 32 oz concentrate will make EIGHT 16 oz. glasses of iced coffee. Coffee Profile Seasonal Selection: Don Isrido Microlot Single Origin: Jinotega, Nicaragua Process: Washed Variety: Caturra Altitude: 1500+ meters Cold Brew Notes: Chocolate, Cherry Orange Don Isidro’s region is blessed with some of the highest altitude and most fertile soil in Nicaragua. Beans from this region have won the Cup of Excellence many times. With a meticulous attention to detail, Don Isidro uses drying racks to sort out imperfections by hand. Don Isidro harvested less than 3,000 pounds of coffee this ye...

I don’t know why, but I am always amazed at how much has to be done by our farm partners before seeds or plants are ever put into the ground. This past week, I had the opportunity to chat with James Taylor and his wife Cara about what is happening at JACAR Produce at this point in the year. James had sent a photo to me of him prepping the fields for fall, and it got me wondering about what all is involved in order for him to bring us his amazing produce this fall. Prepping for the Fall actually began back in late June when most of the crops are started in the greenhouses as “sets”. This allows for the seeds to develop into young plants while the fields are still producing the prior season’s corps. They will take about 5 weeks in the greenhouse to reach the stage needed to transplant into the ground. Once a field has stopped producing its crop, and the weather and timing are right, a famer will begin to prepare the land to transplant the sets from the greenhouse into the field. The ...

During the past several weeks, you may have noticed Boxes with names on them, such as “Genevieve’s Box” or “Mallory’s Box.” These are Boxes custom created by some of our members to feature the produce they love. This week on the blog, we are sharing what Andria did with some of the produce from her Box. "I LOVE to see just how many meals I can get out of my Produce Box and creating my own box was super fun. I was inspired by the Sweet Pepper Mix, Arugula and Tomatoes to make a delicious pasta recipe for dinner." - Andria, Member of TPB Here it is – try it and let us know what you think in the comments below! Pasta with Argula, Sweet Peppers & Tomato Ingredients 2-3 peppers 8 ounces uncooked penne pasta 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided 8 ounces tomatoes, halved or quartered 3 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon red pepper fla...

There are so many great reasons to eat local. Eating local supports the local economy, keeps us in touch with the seasons and reduces our carbon footprint. And , if you’re still stretching for a reason to make local food a priority in your life, there's also the fact that nothing is more important than your health! Here are FOUR reasons your BODY will thank you for eating local: 1.      Local food has longer to ripen. Because it is handled far less than conventional produce, local fruits and veggies don’t have to stand up to the tests of cross-country shipping. This means that the produce you consume was allowed to ripen until the last possible moment – increasing its nutrient concentration ( and enhancing its taste). When’s the last time you had a tomato that was picked off the vine in the last 24 hours? Try one; it’s proof enough that local food is the way to go! 2.      Local food promotes food safety. The smaller the...

This week got me thinking how could I use the leftover items from my weekly deliveries. I had been using them the last few weeks for marketing and rewarding my existing members. This week I wanted to change things up a bit and I was still riding the good charity feeling from the Hero Boxes [that The Produce Box members had ordered and delivered to local fire and police stations]. A few weeks ago we moved home and we had a company called TROSA (Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers) help us move. When I met my team of seven guys and listened to their stories of what TROSA was really about, I couldn't help but be touched.    We have all seen their vans around the Triangle but did you know that TROSA is a comprehensive two-year residential substance abuse recovery program in Durham? They accept substance abusers with one condition -- they must have a strong desire to change their lives. You can't hel...