Houston Area Food Co-ops

By vernon, October 1, 2010, Be Green & Save, Food & Dining Out, For Moms, Groceries, Shopping Tips

Have you grown suspicious of your big box grocery store’s organic department? Or maybe you just want to look for really good quality produce from local farms at a really good price for your family? One of the best deals for decades has been food co-operatives or, “co-ops” for short.

Co-ops typically work by having members pay a yearly membership fee. Some offer discount incentives to members to volunteer to work in the co-op a few hours a month. Members typically enjoy voting rights to manage the co-op, a price discount (the form varies), and sales open only to members.

The great thing about co-ops is that they welcome members from diverse backgrounds, are community active, and encourage local farmers to supply them. Houston is fortunate to have several large co-ops:

One is the Reba Henderson Food Co-Op at 1235 Lorraine St. operated by the Wesley Community Center.
The other is the well known Central City Co-op at Grace Lutheran church at 2515 Waugh Street. They feature all kinds of produce and post a list to their website each Friday. The site itself loads fast, is easily navigable, and has lots of recipes. What’s really handy is The Find Us! tab. This shows a listing of their partner co-ops throughout the greater Houston Area. So if you can’t make it into downtown, you can sign up with one of the partner co-ops.
The Rawfully Organic Co-op is a healthy eating commitment by its founder, Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, to spread the news about the benefits of eating raw organic plant-based foods: fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, nuts, and seeds. Rawfully Organic is a non-profit and began 2 years ago and now has over 1300 members. Shares are boxes of bulk food. They buy it and split it amongst everyone. Because it is seasonal and because it is a co-operative, people will not always receive exactly what they want or in the quantities they want. Full and half shares are available; more info on the local organic farmers is on the website. The website, meanwhile, is visually beautiful — stunning, infact. The downside, though, is that it is very Flash dependent and if you have a slow internet connection (or just an old, slow computer) the pages load very s l o w l y.
If you are looking for a co-op that offers organic produce and poultry and beef, as wellas natural bath, body and home products, check out the The Third Day Market Co-op of Rosenberg, Texas. Third Day serves Sugar Land, Richmond, Fort Bend County, and Southwest Houston. Shares are only an additional dollar for every produce order. Their meat comes from USDA-inspected a family owned Texas businesses who raise poultry and dairy. Produce orders can be made on-line; other items are listed need on a downloadable xml form that you print and mail-in. You can also pre-order and pay while at the co-op on distribution day Parkway United Methodist Church, 5801 New Territory Blvd, in Sugar Land, between 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on every-other Wednesday (check their shedule).

Both Jolie Vue Farms and Law Ranch Cattle Farms are farms that sell directly to the consumer.

Jolie Vue Farms located in the bluebonnet hills of Washington County, about 85 miles northwest of Houston. It offers home delivery of seasonal choices of beef, pork and poultry. The cost is at $36 annual sign-up fee and then a monthly fee of $200. Each package is delivered in one of their coolers and is designed to feed 2 adults 3 times per week for the entire month. More information is at their website.
Law Ranch Cattle Farms raises grass-fed Angus. They are in East Harris County, Texas about 20 minutes from downtown Houston. Grassfed means the cows are raised on what their natural digestive systems intend them to eat: grass. Because they don’t have the same digestive problems as corn-fed beef, grassfed beeves are healthier. If you’ve never bought beef from a ranch before,these are the people to talk to. They offer packages of beef from 25 pounds all the way to quaters, haves, and whole beeves. They have lots of information on the different cuts, the slow food movement, and recipes. They do not ship but are willng to deliver. You can buy from them on-line but it’s best to take a day trip and visit them.