ARGH!

Otherwise entitled, Could somebody ELSE please be in charge of this now?!

Along with working on the have-do-be list, I’ve also been going over our budget. I’ve been trimming things up and making some of the easier choices.

And then I hit the Planet Organics wall.

ARGH. Could somebody else please make this call for me?!

Their produce has been wonderful for us. When I signed up last year (good grief, has it really been a whole year?!), we were a family that seldom ate fresh produce – I’d gradually stopped buying it, as the taste and textures and freshness just weren’t worth buying.

Not only has the quality been excellent, but the fact that the box just sort of turns up each week has forced me to get back in the habit of putting vegetables back on the table.

And their people are awesome. Everybody I’ve talked to has been on the ‘super neat’ side of the scale. They’re a small company working hard to make a positive difference in the lives of both their farmers and their customers, and I respect and honor that.

But as I’m going over our budget and looking for places to nip and tuck, well.

This is a tough one to gloss over. We’re paying a high price for a small volume, and we’re a big family. A big family with a fairly constant stream of dinner guests, no less.

That $75 ‘family’ box is almost big enough for us – but we still have to supplement from the supermarket, especially in the fruit category. And we’re out of their normal delivery area (story of our lives!), so there’s an additional $5 delivery fee tacked on. That’s $80 a week, for about a third of what we actually eat.

The supermarket produce remains pretty sub par; our local farmer’s market won’t open again until May. There is one twenty miles away, but…well, it’s twenty miles away. It’s very small, but kind of determined. I did go a couple weeks ago, and have to admit the prices were awesome. I got slightly more produce than the $75 box generally has AND five dozen eggs, for $40. Even tacking on $6 for gas, we saved money. The produce was top quality, too.

But. It’s twenty miles away.

On a Sunday.

I can guarantee you right now, in writing, that I will not get out there every week. Or every other week. I will mean to, and I will have every intention of doing it, but one thing will lead to another and somehow I just won’t get around to it and then suddenly my children will be regressing back to not recognizing broccoli…sigh.

It’s a big thing with me.

There was a time when I gladly sacrificed nutrition to save money. And there was a time when I just didn’t really think about it much. But these days, I’m thinking about it. Not only ‘is this a healthy choice’, but where did it come from, who grew it, how was it grown, what else am I eating when I ingest this thing?

Having produce delivered every week, regardless of what kind of crazy I had going on, forced me to put a high level of importance on having fresh, local, organic produce on offer every single night.

I don’t want to lose that. It’s a good thing.

At the same time, we need to be extremely cost-conscious right now. If I can get produce I feel confident about eating for half the price…well.

I should do it.

You see? ARGH.

It is both very difficult, and a no-brainer, at the same time.

It is making my brain hurt.

And I don’t want to make the call.

Why couldn’t they be jerks over at the Planet? Huh? Why couldn’t they just be rude, uncaring jerks who didn’t care a fig whether or not you were happy and healthy and eating right? This would be so much easier if they were…