Ashley Calabro, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition:

I don’t know about you, but I have found it hard to ensure I am getting the full range of vitamins, minerals and my minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables in my diet every day. In an attempt to remedy this, about three years ago, my family decided to try organic produce delivery to see what all the hype was about; we’ve been hooked ever since. My husband and I both remember fresh picked, home-grown vegetables and the burst of flavors that those tomatoes, beans, strawberries and other produce had right off the vine. We missed the array of flavors that came with those home-grown veggies and decided to give the organic produce a try. My husband was astounded - the carrots tasted like carrots! Never again would we buy those crunchy orange sticks from the grocery store. From that day on we were hooked. In addition to the more flavorful produce, we feel better about what we’re eating because there are no toxic chemical fertilizers and insecticides sprayed on the produce or going into the soil and groundwater. We also like being able to support local farmers in a sustainable practice, with fewer emissions from fuel used to transport the produce just a few miles rather than from another continent.

We have tried a few different delivery services including local Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) which provide local, organic, in season produce only with no ability to modify the contents of your box, to full organic grocery delivery where you can customize every delivery.  We loved the variety of the CSAs and the more unusual types of veggies and fruits that we had never purchased in a store before, but found that getting a lot of one type of produce that you did not care for seemed wasteful. We settled on This Week's Box, a service that offers a combination of those delivery methods. We get a standard bin, delivered on the same day each week, with ability to modify it and substitute items if you don’t want a lot of kale, for example. I have tried cooking all kinds of new veggies and my fruit intake has increased significantly.  I find myself eagerly anticipating the email with “This Week’s Box” and looking for new recipes to make with my vegetables.  While the expense of $25 per week may seem pricey, high quality, delicious produce delivered to my doorstep, makes it worth every penny.  I am also motivated to eat the vast majority of the food helping me exceed the recommended five servings per day and feel good about what I am putting in my body and what is not going into the environment as a result.

This week, my produce box contains local spinach, cucumber, Roma tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, radishes, asparagus, zucchini, tangelos, green peppers, heirloom baby lettuces, strawberries and apples. I think a stir fry is in order...or maybe a fruit salad. Yum!  If you had a fridge full of organic produce, what would you cook up this weekend?