I tried a new local grocery delivery service this week called In Season and I was very impressed. According to their website, In Season’s goal is to bring you the best local food while creating a new market for small farmers and producers. The process is simple, and actually allows you to choose the items you want. I find this so much more useful and functional than receiving a weekly mystery box of fruits and vegetables that I quite possibly don’t have any interest in. After all, a girl can only eat so many apples and bean sprouts…
The products available for purchase include dairy, fresh pastas, fruits, vegetables, meats, bread, and more. Your delivery date is based on your location. For instance, I live in Cambridge, so my food arrived Tuesday morning bright and early (before 8:00 AM). I was beyond happy with the presentation of my order. The delivery person placed all of my perishable items in the cooler I set out in our lobby, and my other items were neatly packed in brown paper bags. All of the produce was clean and attractive (even the potatoes were tidy), and not a single egg was broken. I point this out because PeaPod always breaks my eggs and it drives me crazy. I’m hopeful that the eggs from Chip-In Farm will be a good substitute for my much loved and missed “grammy eggs.”
So far my favorite products have been:
- Salad Greens from Olivia’s Garden located in New Gloucester, Maine
- The fresh pasta from Lilly’s
- The goat cheese from Valley View Farm
- The gorgeous turnips from Butter Brook Farm in Acton (Look out Uncle Bob! There’s a new turnip sheriff in town)
In Season is a bit pricey, but no more so than Whole Foods. My only true quibble with the service was that the meat comes frozen. I guess I was expecting brown paper packages tied up with string and a hand delivery by Julie Andrews, but let’s be realistic, the majority of the fresh meat I buy ends up in the freezer anyway. Right now In Season is offering free delivery if you spend $100. I doubt I’ll be utilizing this service every week, but I want to stress again that the quality of these products is phenomenal and I definitely envision having a delivery from time to time. It should be very exciting to see how In Season will expand their services and offerings in the future.