A few months ago, we decided to sign up for a weekly produce delivery service called Space Girl Organics. We had heard about them a few times but never really looked into it until we got a Groupon for half off our first box/order. We decided to try it out and have been using it for long enough to share a real review of their services.
When you sign up, you are given a choice between 4 different boxes: a standard fruit/veggie, just fruits, just veggies or a large fruit/veggie mix. From the pricing page you can see what was offered in the most recent delivery of any box so you know exactly what people are getting. For example, here was last week's delivery:
 Fruit Fresh Box $36 |  Vegetable Fresh Box $35 |
 Standard Fruit & Veggie Box $37 |  Large Fruit & Veggie Box $57 |
Like I did, I bet you're thinking "why is it so expensive??!". For starters, all of their produce comes from certified organic farms. The cost to the farmers to become and remain a certified organic supplier is high so they pass that cost along to the consumers. Space Girl also attempts to get as much of their produce as possible from local farms here in Florida but it depends on what is in season right now. As you can see in the boxes above, it tells you where each thing is coming from by listing the state or country abbreviation in parentheses next to each item (NC = North Carolina, MX = Mexico, etc). For me, I care more about having local SUSTAINABLE farming practices than certified organic but other than joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) this is as close as I can get. We can talk more about CSA's in another post.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that this price includes WEEKLY DELIVERY. That's right...I come home and the box is there waiting for me every week. The produce has never arrived damaged or mishandled from delivery because the Space Girl employees do all the delivery personally. Nothing is mailed or shipped to you. If you looked at their website, you might have seen it says there is a $10 delivery fee...but I just told you the delivery is free...confused? Well, the produce gets delivered in a cardboard box with some insulation and freezer packs inside to protect the produce from our hot weather. These boxes and insulation are costly to Space Girl so they can't afford to have you throw them away each week. On your first box, you pay a $10 delivery fee. On week 2, you put out the empty box and when they deliver your week 2 box you will be charged $10 for week 2 delivery but get a $10 credit for week 1 box return. So basically it's a one-time rolling fee of $10 as long as you remember to put the box out. And if you forget, just let them know the following week that you have two and they'll credit you for both.
So we've covered why it's expensive...which is really the only downside of this service. Outside of a higher cost than I would normally spend at my local grocery store, I don't have any complaints. Now that we've moved past the cost hurdle, let me tell you about why we LIKE this service and why we still pay for it.
You Can Customize Exactly What You Get
To help make sure that you are as happy as possible with your produce, Space Girl has a preferences section on your account where you can list things you don't like. Hate avocados? Weirdo. But even you weirdos who hate avocados can put that on your "don't like' list and they will substitute something else when they send your weekly "menu".
Another important thing to keep in mind is that this price includes WEEKLY DELIVERY. That's right...I come home and the box is there waiting for me every week. The produce has never arrived damaged or mishandled from delivery because the Space Girl employees do all the delivery personally. Nothing is mailed or shipped to you. If you looked at their website, you might have seen it says there is a $10 delivery fee...but I just told you the delivery is free...confused? Well, the produce gets delivered in a cardboard box with some insulation and freezer packs inside to protect the produce from our hot weather. These boxes and insulation are costly to Space Girl so they can't afford to have you throw them away each week. On your first box, you pay a $10 delivery fee. On week 2, you put out the empty box and when they deliver your week 2 box you will be charged $10 for week 2 delivery but get a $10 credit for week 1 box return. So basically it's a one-time rolling fee of $10 as long as you remember to put the box out. And if you forget, just let them know the following week that you have two and they'll credit you for both.
So we've covered why it's expensive...which is really the only downside of this service. Outside of a higher cost than I would normally spend at my local grocery store, I don't have any complaints. Now that we've moved past the cost hurdle, let me tell you about why we LIKE this service and why we still pay for it.
You Can Customize Exactly What You Get
To help make sure that you are as happy as possible with your produce, Space Girl has a preferences section on your account where you can list things you don't like. Hate avocados? Weirdo. But even you weirdos who hate avocados can put that on your "don't like' list and they will substitute something else when they send your weekly "menu".
Weekly Menu? What's a weekly menu? Each week on Friday Space Girl sends out an email newsletter with updates, a snapshot of your menu and a reminder to make any changes needed by Sunday night at midnight. You can go into your account over the weekend and see what they plan on sending you in the next delivery. You can also rate how happy you are with this week's "menu" and you can make substitutions.
Why would I need to make a substitution if they already accounted for things I don't like? Well, for example, bananas are on my "cool with me" list but we do have banana plants. If we already have 50 bananas i just picked off the tree, I don't want more in my weekly box. I'd rather get something else. How nice is it that you can just change your mind? You can click on the "sub" button next to any item and it will give you some choices. They even have some sort of cost conversion/calculation so if you swap something higher cost (like blueberries) for something lower cost (like oranges) you will get more oranges than you would if you were swapping something low cost (like apples) for the same oranges. Don't worry, you don't have to do any math or thinking at all, just click the "sub" button and choose what you want instead.
There were many more choices for the swap, this is just a few of them
And did you notice that my "menu" showed a dozen eggs for $3.75? Space Girl also has other items like eggs, chicken, rice, etc that you can shop for on their site. When you purchase an item it will ask you if you just want to buy it once or if you want it to become part of your weekly box. In my case, we get a dozen eggs every week from them (subject to availability but so far they always have eggs).
As I said above, the menu gets sent on Friday and then you have until Sunday night to make changes. On Monday morning, your box is "locked" and you will be charged for whatever it was saved as. If you forget to go check it, you'll still get your box...you just get the standard menu plus any weekly add-ons you might have.
It's Convenient
Did I mention how convenient it is to have it delivered to my door? Did I? Well that part is actually even more convenient than I ever imagined. Not only do I not have to go to the store, but if I have some meat in the freezer and veggies delivered, sometimes I can go the ENTIRE week without going to the store. I would say now, I go to the store once every 1-2 weeks but only need a few small things like a spice I ran out of or maybe some dairy product like cheese or milk. Since we have already stopped buying single serving products (Click Here to read my post about getting started on the journey to less junk food and less trash), and we have been trying to buy less boxed or canned goods, really the produce and meat cover most of our needs. Not having to go to the store as much is great. Even better is not worrying that if I don't get to the store at the start of the week, we will end up eating out all week. Now I can usually go whenever is convenient (even if it's mid-week) and I NEVER need a cart. Just a small basket of items.
The Produce Tastes Good
Have you ever been at the grocery store and realized that all of the strawberries look pretty bad? Or there's only two peaches left and they're really bruised? Well that never happens with Space Girl. The produce is always excellent quality. It's not all ripe and ready to eat immediately, which is good or you'd have to eat it all the first day or two and then wait a week for more LOL. Most importantly: EVERYTHING TASTES GREAT. I mean it, I kept track (you probably know by now that I'm an obsessive list maker) and I scrolled through my comments on all the different fruits and vegetables we've had delivered and they were all positive. There were a few items that I noted the portions/sizes of the item were smaller than expected (not often but a couple) but the flavor was still spot-on. Plus, it's gotten us to try some new vegetables! I no longer decide what recipes to make and then go to the store to get all the ingredients. I see what shows up in the box, pull out some meat and see what I can make. So I'm much more willing to try and make something new (like collard greens or eggplant which I had eaten but never cooked) if it just shows up in the box.
Great Customer Service
If you haven't figured it out already, Space Girl really goes above and beyond to keep their customers happy. If you ever have any issues, you can email them and they will respond right away. When you get your first box they give you a magnet for your fridge informing you how to properly store each item best and the weekly newsletter sometimes even comes with suggestions on what to make with your produce.
Overall, the higher cost of paying for an organic delivery service from Space Girl is FAR outweighed by the convenience, customer service, and quality of produce. By the way, I am not at all affiliated with Space Girl. The only thing I get from this review is that if you sign up and refer me, I get a small referral credit (and you can too when you refer someone!). If you live in the Space Coast, FL area, I highly recommend checking it out!
www.SpaceGirlOrganics.com
Here are a couple pics of what we got in our boxes:
As I said above, the menu gets sent on Friday and then you have until Sunday night to make changes. On Monday morning, your box is "locked" and you will be charged for whatever it was saved as. If you forget to go check it, you'll still get your box...you just get the standard menu plus any weekly add-ons you might have.
It's Convenient
Did I mention how convenient it is to have it delivered to my door? Did I? Well that part is actually even more convenient than I ever imagined. Not only do I not have to go to the store, but if I have some meat in the freezer and veggies delivered, sometimes I can go the ENTIRE week without going to the store. I would say now, I go to the store once every 1-2 weeks but only need a few small things like a spice I ran out of or maybe some dairy product like cheese or milk. Since we have already stopped buying single serving products (Click Here to read my post about getting started on the journey to less junk food and less trash), and we have been trying to buy less boxed or canned goods, really the produce and meat cover most of our needs. Not having to go to the store as much is great. Even better is not worrying that if I don't get to the store at the start of the week, we will end up eating out all week. Now I can usually go whenever is convenient (even if it's mid-week) and I NEVER need a cart. Just a small basket of items.
The Produce Tastes Good
Have you ever been at the grocery store and realized that all of the strawberries look pretty bad? Or there's only two peaches left and they're really bruised? Well that never happens with Space Girl. The produce is always excellent quality. It's not all ripe and ready to eat immediately, which is good or you'd have to eat it all the first day or two and then wait a week for more LOL. Most importantly: EVERYTHING TASTES GREAT. I mean it, I kept track (you probably know by now that I'm an obsessive list maker) and I scrolled through my comments on all the different fruits and vegetables we've had delivered and they were all positive. There were a few items that I noted the portions/sizes of the item were smaller than expected (not often but a couple) but the flavor was still spot-on. Plus, it's gotten us to try some new vegetables! I no longer decide what recipes to make and then go to the store to get all the ingredients. I see what shows up in the box, pull out some meat and see what I can make. So I'm much more willing to try and make something new (like collard greens or eggplant which I had eaten but never cooked) if it just shows up in the box.
Great Customer Service
If you haven't figured it out already, Space Girl really goes above and beyond to keep their customers happy. If you ever have any issues, you can email them and they will respond right away. When you get your first box they give you a magnet for your fridge informing you how to properly store each item best and the weekly newsletter sometimes even comes with suggestions on what to make with your produce.
Overall, the higher cost of paying for an organic delivery service from Space Girl is FAR outweighed by the convenience, customer service, and quality of produce. By the way, I am not at all affiliated with Space Girl. The only thing I get from this review is that if you sign up and refer me, I get a small referral credit (and you can too when you refer someone!). If you live in the Space Coast, FL area, I highly recommend checking it out!
www.SpaceGirlOrganics.com
Here are a couple pics of what we got in our boxes:
