If you have not yet heard about the all-around sweet deal that is The Hollygrove Box, prepare to divide your life into two eras: Before Box (B.B.) and After Box (A.B.). Before Box, you scoured the fruit and veggie stands at Whole Foods for sales, price cuts, anything to avoid emotional trauma upon viewing your receipt. You may have come away with quality produce, but you left behind the entire contents of your wallet.

Now, fast forward to the glimmering food renaissance known as After Box, during which your weekly produce needs AND those of your roommate/significant other/fellow lifeform are met for $25, period, the end – not to mention, all those tasty comestibles are seasonal and locally grown. You’re frugal. You’re hip. You’re nourished. You’re living in the age of The Box from Hollygrove Market and Farm, an ever-changing selection of local foods ample enough to feed two adults and cheap enough to bring a tear to any cheapskate’s eye.

Perhaps you’re skeptical about the contents of this cardboard vessel of miracles. Too good to be true, you say? Well, check out this week’s lineup of locally-sourced edibles:

 

  • Sweet Potatoes (Minority Growers Co-op-Point Coupee, LA)
  • Bell Peppers (Fekete Farm-Hungarian Settlement)
  • Turnips (Minority Growers Co-op-Point Coupee)
  • Collard Greens(Minority Growers Co-op-Point Coupee)
  • Kale (The Vintatge Garden Farm-NOLA, Gathering Tree-NOLA, Mizell’s Farm-Folsom)
  • Organic Satsumas or Tangerines (Isabelle’s Organic Orange Orchard-Algeirs, L’Hoste Citrus-Braithwaite)
  • Beets (Fekete Farm-Hungarian Settlement)
  • Radish (Fekete Farm-Hungarian Settlement)
  • Grape Tomatoes or field Tomatoes (Barilleaux Farm-La Rose, Vicknair Family Farm-Ponchatoula/ Covey Rise Farm- Husser)
  • Broccoli or Natural Arugula (Vicknair Family Farm-Ponchatoula, Fekete Farm-Hungarian Settlement/ The Vintage Garden Farm-NOLA)
  • Natural Sunflower Microgreens (Good Food Farm-NOLA)
  • Grits (Louisiana Pride Grist Mill-Pride LA)

 

Not too shabby, right? I threw together a fantastic soup using the collards, sweet potatoes, and grits, plus black-eyed peas and andouille from Whole Foods – a heady, bracing brew ultimately dubbed Southern Comfort. I have to say, knowing exactly where my food comes from, on top of being my own chef, is a pretty great feeling.

 

Now, if you’re worried about convenience, keep in mind that these boxes are not sold exclusively at the Market (which is open Tuesdays from 12pm-6pm and Saturdays from 10am-2pm at 8301 Olive Street); they can be ordered online and picked up at any of the following satellite locations:

 

The French Market

The Maritime Building (800 Common St.)

St. Charles Ave. JCC

Algiers Point

 

Best of all, Hollygrove offers several recipes that incorporate its weekly featured produce on its blog, “The Box Meal Plan.” Since I tend to shop blindly for foods I think might be good together, then end up with heaps of overcooked, flavor-crossed catastrophe, this blog – and The Box – are a lifesaver. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and live in the era of A.B.