Review: Veggies and Meat Delivery

*Update 6/26/2012 - I've change the title to just Veggies and Meat delivery since not all of the vendors in the list offer organic items.

I've become more conscious of what food to cook/eat ever since Naima lessened her milk intake and started eating more and more solids. Unfortunately, the area where we live at has no accessible wet market and I usually end up shopping in SM Hypermart or Shopwise or S&R. S&R's produce is fresh - for Hypermart/Shopwise, I'm able to get fresh items if I go on delivery day. However, I don't think their produce are organic.

Sometimes, I'm able to go to Salcedo or Legazpi markets to buy vegetables (which I hope are organic because they're quite expensive!). I am constantly on the look-out for companies that deliver fresh organic veggies and was happy to have found a couple that do!

1. Shusaesh Farms, Inc. [Update: February 2013 - Shino has stopped deliveries :( Scroll below for other options]

In early 2009, I was quite happy to find a company that delivers fresh organic veggies. An officemate shared their number. The company is called "Shusaesh Farms, Inc." formerly "Francisco-Shinozaki Farm Inc." and is based in San Jose Patag, Santa Maria, Bulacan. I emailed Yasutaka Shinozaki for details on ordering and he sent me the following information about his farm:

"We develop farm from soil, no pesticides, no weed-killers, or no chemical fertilizers at all, take out insects, caterpillars and worms by hands every day, use smoke of natural leaves, branches and grasses, sometime spray vinegar or calamansi with garlic, even deploy fine nets to protect our vegetables, and use compost and other natural materials only. Our fowls are grown up in open area or rice field, never been kept in small cages all long, eat all natural stuff, like rice-bran/dusts, beans, corns, potatoes, greens, fish, seaweed, and our organic vegetables and fruits, and drink deep well or natural water only, running around or swimming around about 2,000 square meter area, we don't use anti-biotic in principle, unlike broilers, which are usually over-dozed with special hormones to grow"

You can read more details about the farm here. I started with vegetable delivery from them in May 2009. Shortly thereafter, delivery stopped because Shino's farm was affected with Ondoy - and this meant no deliveries for the whole of 2010!!

Early this year, Shino texted me and said that they were ready to receive orders again and I was happy to note that they did not increase their prices from 2009.

I put in my first order for the veggies (invoice on left) and requested Shino to adjust the amount of certain items e.g. squash (which I wanted less of) and lettuce (which I asked to be increased). I chose the small basket for P450 plus P50 delivery chip-in. The big basket is P650 and you get 1.5 more veggies compared to the small basket. Aside from veggies, you can also order eggs, chicken, duck (wild or white), goose and turkey. They also have fruits and other vegetables available which can be added on top of your basket order.

Shino admits that their vegetable prices are more expensive than ordinary but he justifies this as they put in more care towards the production and their harvest ratios are less. We used to correspond via email and he emails the harvested items for the week. However, since Ondoy, their internet connection has been spotty and he recommends contacting him via SMS - 0917838-8081 instead.

Check out my veggie delivery from Shusaesh Farms:

2. My Personal Farmer

This company was referred by a friend when Shino stopped delivery. However, I found the prices quite expensive maybe because the produce was packed and flown in from Bukidnon. From what I gather, this company is quite popular with the expat community in the Philippines, though. My Personal Farmer is based on Village Supported Agriculture and designates a "village mother" in Metro Manila where you can pick-up your weekly delivery. You can read about their farming methods here.

Technically, there is no delivery straight to your home but you can choose a pick-up place near your home. You can choose from full box (P1600), half-box (P850) or couple's box (P800). Multiply those prices x 4 and that's the amount you need to pay to sign-up, because you need to commit to 4 deliveries - this was why I was quite hesitant to try their delivery.

In early January 2011, I was excited to stumble upon a Beeconomic Deal offering a half-box of produce at P425. I purchased 2 coupons and tried the January 26-27, 2011 delivery. For that week, my half box contained 1kg of carrots, 300g each of broccoli, green cabbage, celery and pak choi, 600g of squash, 200g each of cherry tomato, baguio beans and spinach, 400g of pechay, 200g of lettuce mix (butterhead and red wave), 175g of organic herbs (parsley, oregano, chives and lemon grass) and a 1.5kg pineapple!

Check out My Personal Farmer delivery:

The veggies were fresh and very-well packed. However, I do have an issue with the pick-up. The village mothers are clients who have been designated as pick-up points. They are not employees of My Personal Farmer and coordination plus patience is necessary for a successful pick-up. In my case, the village mother nearest to me lived in a restricted area so I had to deal with arrogant security guards before I could pick up - I don't think I want to deal with this every week.

Verdict:

Check out the vegetables delivery I had from Shinozaki (with radish) and My Personal Farmer (with broccoli and pineapple):

Except for the tomatoes, squash and lettuce, the box contents were quite different. So if you have the budget, you can opt to have weekly deliveries of half-box from Shino and another half-box from My Personal Farmer (with pineapples straight from Bukidnon!). However, given the huge variance in price, I will probably continue with Shusaesh Farm, especially since they deliver straight to my home.

Other vegetable delivery options:

I came across Emporium Antipolo (FB Page), a store in Antipolo that also delivers fresh produce. However, I was not able to try them yet as I'm still waiting for the response to the 2 emails I sent last week. Not too reliable, huh?

Another option to consider is Herbana Farms. According to their website, their produce is available at Mercato Centrale and Salcedo Market. I was able to get a flier for the Community Supported Agriculture Program but find the prices quite steep. You need to pay an annual membership fee of P1000 plus at least P1,200 for a box of veggies. Contact Gian Carandang at 09228180215 for details. A tip from a friend - text Gian on Thursday to order veggies then just pick them up at Mercato/Salcedo Market on Saturday. See flier for CSA below:

*I love Picasa's slideshow! I like using it rather than pasting my photos on the post. As you can see, I can't figure out how to arrange the inserted photos properly. :(

*Disclosure: All vegetables were purchased and paid for. :D

*Update - 02/01/11: Thanks to Rowie, I was able to add another veggie delivery option to my list - GoodFoodCo. I emailed them this morning and got a response this afternoon! Charlene gave me the following details:

What we're basically doing is a community-supported agriculture program where stakeholders in the city, like yourself, commit to purchasing a season's worth of vegetables to support the livelihood of small organic farmers in Tarlac and Zambales. What we offer in return is a basket of 3.5 kgs of fresh, seasonal organic vegetables every Saturday from Feb 12- April 30 which you can pick up at one of our designated pickup points (Loyola Heights, Valle Verde 5, New Manila and San Juan) between 9.30 am- 1pm.

Each basket is P400 and you need to commit to 12 weeks delivery. Check their blog for details.

*Update - 02/02/11: Found another CSA program - OrganicManila through the PinoyOrganics blog. The farm is located in Benguet and you need to pay a one-time, assignable and refundable fee of P1000 to purchase a share and participate in the program. Boxes range from P600-P1,950 and there are pick-up points in Makati, Quezon City and Pasig - none near my residence though! Visit their site for more details.

*Update - 04/13/11: Dainty Mom also wrote an article for smartparenting.com listing 10 Organic Food Sources.  Also found another organic vegetable delivery through Facebook - The Green Grocer.  Check them out!

*Update 07/28/2011:  Found another weekly vegetable delivery from Down to Earth.   Prices are quite reasonable!  Plus they have grassfed beef, pasture raised pork and chicken! Check them out:

Regular	Box of 3-4 kilos	P2,000/mo.; 1 box/wk for 4 wks.
Medium	Box of  5-6 kilos	P3,400/mo.; 1 box/wk for 4 wks.
Large	Box  of 9-10 kilos	P6,400/mo.; 1 box/wk for 4 wks.

*Update 08/15/2011:  Check out Down To Earth's blog post - "Eat What you Sow".  They also list down several sources of real food in Metro Manila.  Several are from the South, though.

*Update 09/29/2011: Here's another CSA Program - Organic Manila based in Pasay City.  Their veggies are sourced from Majayjay, Laguna - the Costales Nature Farms which you can book for farm tours.

*Update 10/10/2011: Another organic produce delivery based in Bulacan with a Makati office, as shared by Pat Grace - Green Earth Heritage Foundation.  I saw from the website that each bag of organic produce is P45 only!! That's cheap!  Let me know if you've tried them.

*Update 10/18/2011: Free range meats available via phone orders! As shared by Michelle.

*Update 6/26/2012:  Available from The Farm Organics - fresh organic grass fed beefs.  Call 0927-741-2660, 0947-939-6598, 4039130

*Update 7/30/2012: Found a Cebu-based organic vegetable farm who delivers - Tanny's Organic Farm.   Visit their Facebook page for details.

*Update 2/13/2013: Green Earth Heritage Foundation is a member of the Organic Farmers and Processors Association of the Philippines.  They deliver medicinal and local greens.  You can also visit their farm in San Miguel, Bulacan.  

Do leave a comment/feedback if you've tried any of the listed vendors. Thanks!

*Update 4/21/2013:

Photo from Balik Bukid Davao Facebook page

You can order organic produce in Davao City!  Visit Balik Bukid in Calinan.  Details in their Facebook page.  To order Balik bukid organic produce call louella at +639173021208