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".
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: