CSA vs. a la Carte? A Win, Win.

Is it more economical to purchase local items from a CSA or a la carte? First, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. The farmer offers “shares” to member consumers, aka a weekly bag of seasonal produce.

Last year we were members of City Fresh; this year we’re members of the Fresh Fork Market CSA. I LOVE the Fresh Fork Market CSA because we’re getting not only fruits and vegetables but meats, cheese and grains. Plus there’s the option of buying extra items a la carte at pick-up (kind of like grocery shopping off the back of the truck!)

So back to my original question – is it more economical to purchase local items from a CSA or a la carte? Based on straight cost, the CSA is the way to go. The CSA has the advantage of purchasing from the farmer in bulk and therefore can sell items to its consumers at a cheaper price. However, the downside to the CSA is that you don’t get to customize your order. From week to week you can’t be exactly certain what items you’ll receive (you can do a pretty good job guessing though based on the month and what’s in season – e.g., you’re never going to get asparagus in August but probably will get tomatoes and corn).

However, I also like to purchase items a la carte from the farmers market and the back of the Fresh Fork truck. My trick is to take a sneak peak at what’s in store in the CSA each Tuesday (by checking out Fresh Fork’s online newsletter), and then purchase any filler items at the farmers market on Wednesday, at CSA pick up on Thursday, at the herdshare on Monday or at the grocery store throughout the week.

I can honestly say that eating local has been much easier than I first anticipated. It’s not nearly as costly as I thought it would be, and obtaining products has been a breeze. It does take a bit of time, but it’s definitely worth the effort!