So sometime in 2011 I was at a local expo and signed up to win a months worth of organic food. Well we didn't win but they called us anyway to see if we were interested in the service they offered.
We said ok come over and lets see what its about.
A gentleman came to our house and told us about the program. Basically they would deliver 6 months of food to you. All the food was either 'natural' or 'certified organic' in some way. I never doubted the certifications that they used. After about an hour we were convinced to try it out. We had to purchase a freezer which they would guarantee. The products were also under 'warranty' so had we lost power they would replace all the food that was in the freezer. Which was neat, however, when we went to the local stores we found out that the prices of freezers of the same size and capacity were about half the price they charged us. So we figured it was part of the 'warranty'. The meat were packaged individually for easy cooking or so we thought.
Our first delivery came in May 2011 - we received chicken, pork, beef, burgers, etc. The freezer was very full and we were excited. Our first delivery was financed monthly - our payments were almost $350 a month. For 6 months thats - $2100 or about $82 a week. At first we didn't think about it, we were already spending about $100 a week on groceries. We shopped weekly and it was a trip we liked only cause we got to spend sometime together fooling around. We figured our trips to the store would diminish with this program but it didn't. We still had to make trips to purchase staples such as milk, bread, eggs, basically everything other than meat. Our trips to the grocery store had dropped from weekly to every 2 or sometimes 3 weeks.
Our biggest disappointment was in month 4 when we were out of meat which meant we had to go shopping again for meat. So here we go back to the weekly trips to the market and we are still paying that monthly bill. We are not happy really. In November our rep came to visit once again to place our semi annual order. We were going to drop the program then as we tell him about running out of food so quickly and what does he do, he increases the quantity of the products and says try it again and we will see. This time the payments were $380 a month. For 6 months thats $2280 or about $89 a week.
We got a variety of things including groceries this time. Still we are going shopping every other week for the 'other' things. As the months go by we again ran out of meat by month 5. We ended up spending a whole lot more to get meat in the house. We could go meatless but thats not really an option for my house. Any who... We were due in May to order again. We decided then that we were not going participate in the program any more. So when the rep called and got us on the phone he was not happy with what we told him but convinced us to place an order and he was going to give us a larger discount for our order.
The next day he calls us, we altered the order to just meats. He crunches his numbers and tells us the 6 months amount is $1800! Ok we dropped the amount but not by much - we were never given a monthly amount because we had to pay it in full. Like we had $1800 to drop like that! Some people are just crazy! Did I mention we never knew how much we were paying per pound or anything like that. No Clue.
The other wammy is that its CASH ONLY! Well I told him to call me the next day so I can see if its worth it to me and how much money I had. In checking our computer I ran reports. The reports told me that before we started this program we were spending about $400 a month on groceries. After we signed up for this program we were still spending that $400 plus an additional $350 a month for a total of $750 a month on groceries. We thought we were saving money and we really were not. I know I can get us back to $400 a month and yea prices may have go up but not by that much.
Our rep calls back that night and I tell him that we decided to NOT go forward with this program. He asks why of course and I tell him we are spending more now then ever. He goes into a tangent about organic food this and blah blah blah... I stood firm and said if I want organic I can get it at the local farmers market or at any of the local farms and he says - oh your gonna pay $20 a pound! I said 'so' and he says ok bye.
My experience with this company is not a bad one. The meat was OK, honestly we couldnt tell the difference between conventional meat and organic. Visually you can see the organic pieces are significantly smaller. The fact that the pieces were individually wrapped was great and awful at the same time. It was great when I just wanted a single piece but when I was cooking for the family it was a pain. One has to cut out every piece and there is a lot of plastic left over to throw away. How is that eco friendly?
Would I try it again? Doubtful.
