Lending a Hand for Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Since participating in Bountiful Baskets, I've tried volunteering as regularly as I can. I'm also very limited in what I can and can't do since I'm now 7 months pregnant and they don't let me lift hardly anything. So, I counted the produce boxes, broke said boxes down after they were distributed, and manned the check-out table (I'm starting to get pretty good at that!)

This last time, we were so far ahead of schedule that I was just standing around for a bit before the site opened their doors for pick-up. So I decided to take a few pics of what goes into the volunteer work.

The glorious baskets of half fruit, half veggies were all lined up neatly for easy distribution and organization. Don't they look glorious?!

Then, the extras, if a person wanted to get more than just the conventional basket as seen in the previous picture. Behold, the Mexican packs, which I didn't get this time, but I've gotten both the Asian and Italian packs before, and talk about awesome!

And then there's the nine-grain bread or tortilla pack. I still have a few loaves left of the bread in my freezer, but it's some of the best bread I've had, and I grew up on home-made goodness.

Dad ground the wheat using an electric mill and mom would make the loaves every week. She now buys this bread too from Bountiful Baskets! Did I mention how incredibly healthy the ingredients are for it as well?

As for the tortilla pack, I got them this week (7 dz tortillas in varying sizes) and we've already put them to good use with some breakfast burritos this morning. Talk about yummmm...

Some of the volunteers in action.

A slightly closer look at the great stuff:

Top basket (fruit) + Bottom basket (vegetables) = one conventional basket and a great deal!

I just love bringing it home to then menu plan for the week.

Some of the produce still needs to ripen while others are ready to be put to good use. I love giving the kiddies apples during snacktime and can't wait to use the swiss chard as a side dish.

Of course there's always the ever popular garden salad (I tell you what, I am the Cookie Monster equivalent of salad, especially while being pregnant!) which even the rest of the family will consume with Chiz's ranch dressing. Seriously, once you've tried this ranch, it's hard to eat any other kind. I'm just sayin'....

Well, all this talk about delicious fresh food has made me hungry, and since I'm eating for two, I better act on it!