Farm Fresh Family – It is Produce Prep Day!

Our weekly boxes from Farm Fresh to You arrived this morning.  Today I ordered the Fast Fruit & Veg LA Regular Box and the Veggies Only LA Regular Box.  My hope is to have very little supplementing I need to do from the store.

Time to unpack the boxes and see what we have here!

Box #1 (Veggies Only – Regular size) contained:

1.5 lbs Garnet Sweet Potato
2 Garlic Bulbs
1 lb Onion (1 large onion)
1 lb Mixed Sweet Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 lb Green Beans
1 lb Assorted Squash, Summer
1 Red Kohlrabi
1 Bunch Carrots
1 Bunch Collard Greens
1 Head of Green Leaf Lettuce.

Box #2 (Fast Fruit and Veggie LA – Regular) Contained:

1 Red Seeded Watermelon
3 Gala Apples
2 Valencia Oranges
1.5 lb Autumn Royal Grapes (Black Grapes)
2 lb Black Plums
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Pint Strawberries
1 Bunch Carrots
1 Head of Green Leaf Lettuce

The key to getting our family to eat this bounty of produce is produce prep day. That happens each Tuesday when the box arrives and it takes about 45 or so minutes to get everything into usable form. I store the cut up items in mason jars in our refrigerator and they last for at least 1 1/2 weeks if not used. This week I washed and cut up the carrots, the green beans, the squash, the lettuce, the onions, the apples, the grapes, and the strawberries. I also washed and seeded the peppers so they can be stuffed. The collard greens are drying and will be chopped and jarred. I trimmed the Kohlrabi and placed it in a mason jar, and stored the garlic and the sweet potatoes whole and unprocessed.

I am excited to have received the green beans! We enjoy those and they aren’t often in the box. So, I trimmed a half a pound of the beans and put them in a mason jar to be used this week and then trimmed the other half and blanched and shocked them and put them in the freezer for future use.

You will know how truly silly I am when you read that looking at all that prepared produce made me very happy! I am all smiles as I look at the beautiful colors and think of all of the nutritious food my family will be eating this week. I am also smiling as I think about all of the time I will save at dinner time with the produce already prepped and waiting for me! See…I told you I am pretty silly :). Oh, the things that bring a smile to my face.

Here is something else that makes me smile…look at this line up!

Not only does storing our prepped produce in glass jars make it last longer, it also makes us want to eat it! When it is stashed away in the drawers, it is SO easy to forget all about it and choose a less worthy option. How could we resist all of these beautiful colors? Ok, I am getting carried away now. 🙂

Last, but not least, some of our produce ends up in our fruit bowl on the counter. Minus the bananas, the rest of the produce came from the boxes.

Now you know what Tuesday morning is like in our home. Well, at least many Tuesday mornings. This is always what I hope Tuesday morning will look like, but admittedly, there are times when it isn’t close. 🙂  Now, sometime today I will begin to plan the meals for the week. Tonight…we are having chili that I made yesterday in anticipation of this morning. Half is being delivered to another family and half will stay right here. 🙂

Believe it or not…I am still smiling!  Have a wonderful day!