Mrs. Kat's Produce Box - Local Florence, SC area review

How would you like to see this show up on your front doorstep  once a week?   This is the actual box delivered to my home.

The other day I received a flyer in my mailbox.  It was for "Mrs. Kat's Produce Box".  It had a picture on the front of the flyer of a beautiful box of vegetables.  It said "Fresh Produce Weekly - Delivered to your door".  As a mom who can't drive on her own, the idea of fresh produce being delivered to me sounded intriguing.  I kept reading.  

Mrs. Kat's Produce Box provides a box of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, locally grown, delivered to your door once a week.  I contacted Mrs. Kat for additional information on her produce boxes.

Look at those beautiful colors!

The boxes are delivered on Thurday and Friday each week.  They deliver fresh, quality produce.  Any produce that the customer feels is not fresh will be replaced or money refunded.  Their aim is to deliver fresh produce to customers.  In her words "If I wouldn't eat it, I wouldn't expect anyone else to either!"  Good motto!

Through the farmers that she works with, she will know what is fresh and available for the following week and provide that information in a newsletter that is placed in your delivered box.  Boxes can also be customized if Mrs. Kat is notified in advance.

There is no long term commitment to the produce boxes.  You simply let Mrs. Kat know (through e-mail or website) and have your payment made by Tuesday evening (through cash / check / or paypal) and your produce will be delivered on Thursday or Friday.  They are expecting the boxes to be available through the first week of December and then pick up again in the spring as produce becomes available.  

The flyer contained an "example" produce box list:
4 Large peaches
4 ears sweet corn
6 squash
4 tomatoes
2 Carolina sweet onions
1/2 quart bag of okra
2.5 lbs red potatoes
An add on of fresh blueberries 

The cost for the produce box, delivered to  your door weekly is $23.50.

I went on some grocery store web pages and added up the cost of the produce if you bought it in the grocery store.  It came up to about $20 or $21.00.    And that was with shopping sales at different stores, not delivered and I know through experience....not as fresh.  I'm not sure what the cost would be if I shopped the farmer's market.

I contacted Mrs. Kat to see if she would allow me to review her produce box for my blog.  It can't hurt to ask. What I've found is that people who stand behind their products are more likely to agree to a complimentary sample for review, because they know you will not be disappointed.  

I contacted Mrs. Kat on Sunday and my box of produce was delivered today (Thursday)- free of charge to me for the review.

When the produce arrived, I was pleased with  how it was boxed.  The produce was organized well - heavy produce on the bottom, fragile produce on the top and things like the potatoes and okra were bagged and not just free in the box.  The presentation was nice.  It was all contained in a sturdy box that was easy to carry (it wasn't flimsy).  Also, the gentleman who delivered it offered me some tips about storage of the produce to keep it fresh the longest.

My husband came home right after the produce was delivered and we looked through it all together.  The thing I kept saying to him over and over again was how "fresh" the produce did actually look and it was CLEAN.  The potatoes were CLEAN.  The squash was CLEAN.  The tomatoes were CLEAN!  All the vegetables looked so nice and clean, they almost didn't look real.  I hate when I'm picking through produce at the store and all of the produce is dirty.  Even the onions were clean.  Take a look for yourself.  I didn't do anything to this produce other than remove it from the box.

So, in my complimentary box, I received the following (I have a food scale at home, so I did actually weigh everything):
4 ears of corn

Seriously can't wait to cook this.  It looks SO good!

2.5 pounds red potatoes

4 large tomatoes (about 3 pounds)

4 large peaches (about 2 pounds)

2 Carolina sweet onions (about 1 pound)

7 yellow squash (about 2 pounds)

1 pound of okra

I couldn't resist cutting into a peach.  It was wonderful.  I pulled back the husk of corn to take a peek at the kernels, and I can't wait to make this corn because it looks absolutely delicious.  The potatoes were firm and looked as though they would be great for baking.  And the tomatoes... I had to cut into one of those as well.  It was very good.

In Mrs. Kat's brochure for her produce box she says that you can taste a difference in fresh, locally grown produce.  I truly believe that you can.  

After receiving the box and seeing how fresh the produce really is, I think this is something that Tim and I might try.  So many times when we are looking for produce, we "settle". We settle for what they have in whatever store we went to, because we don't want to run all over.  Sure, we'll have to buy additional things, but it will be nice to know that we can expect fresh produce on our doorstep once a week.  And with the brochure in the previous week's box, you can plan for the additional things that you will need to buy for the week to supplement the box.  I think the produce provided is a good size of each variety for a family of four.  We are a family of five, but one of my kids is not a big veggie eater - so technically we are a veggie-eating family of four.  Knowing that I could customize the box, I would up the ears of corn, cut back on the squash (but still have some in there).....but that's about all I'd change.  We'd need more corn because all of us LOVE corn, and if I bought some from the store, you would be able to tell which ears were from the box, and we'd all be fighting for those, I'm sure!

I think Mrs. Kat has thought of something great in the start of this new business.  She saw a need and filled it - and made a business out of it.  So many working families don't have time to go to the farmer's market and pick out their own fresh produce each week.  To have someone do this for you and deliver it to your door... well that to me, is awesome.  As she stated in her brochure, it also encourages healthy eating.  

If you would like to contact Mrs. Kat about getting fresh produce delivered to your door, or find out what will be in next week's produce box, you can contact her at:

MrsKatsProduceBox@gmail.com  or at
843-665-1253

She is also working on building her website at mrskatsproducebox.com  You can visit her there as well.  I'm not sure what the delivery area is - but if you are interested, check with Mrs. Kat.

If you decide to contact her or click on over to her website for a peek, please tell her that you heard about her produce boxes on my blog.  I don't get anything out of it, but I'd love for her to know that sharing her story and her sharing her box with me was beneficial to her.

And to Mrs. Kat... I'll be contacting you to see what's in next week's box and to place my order!

Charity
aka - "Quality Mom"