Books like Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life and The Omnivore’s Dilemma finally got into my head this winter, and I made a commitment to eating local, sustainably grown food by joining a CSA (community-supported agriculture; also known as a farm share or vegetable box scheme). I signed up with Stillman’s, a local farm, which offers a half share for $350/season. It was a bit of an ouch to put down $350 in January for food I wouldn’t see until June – especially since I was unemployed at the time! – but it’s now two weeks into the program, and I don’t regret it one bit.

The benefits of a CSA are many:

  • The pricing is excellent - for 20 weeks of food I pay  $17.50 per box, which feeds two people per week, for a total of about $9 per person per week. A full or large share, which feeds around four people, is an even better value, at $500 per season, or about $6.25 per week per person. And this is for locally grown, pesticide-free (or minimal), sustainably harvested food!
  • Since in most schemes you pay for this months ahead of time, when the season starts up it can feel like someone is handing you a box of free food every week.
  • You’ll definitely end up adding more fruits and veggies to your diet as a result. (One of my friends joined a CSA for this very reason, as did fellow frugality blogger Mrs. Micah).

On the other hand, there are a couple of common complaints about CSAs:

  • Unfamiliar foods – the “How do I cook this?” problem
  • Too much food – the “How the heck am I supposed to eat all this food?” problem.

Like most things, CSAs are only a good value if you use up what you get. Soggy beet greens melting into the bottom of your refrigerator do nobody any good. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about – from my own experiences, and those of friends – about making the most of a CSA.

1. Right-size your box. When signing up for your CSA, most farms will give you guidance on how big a share to get. At least here in Massachusetts, the sizes seem somewhat standardized – a full or large share is intended for 3-4 people, and a half share is intended for 1-2 people.

Note that these are hungry people. If you eat a lot of meals out, and it’s just you, you’ll probably want to arrange to share it with someone. Ditto if you’re a kitchen novice, because cooking skills come in handy here. When in doubt, round down. CSA overwhelm is a real problem.

2. Positive ID. It’s sad, but true – we don’t all know what kale, or escarole, or chard looks like. When you first open your box, be sure you know what everything is. If you’re a kitchen novice, you might want to open your box upon pickup, while you can still ask one of the farmers/CSA staff. If you get something home and still can’t identify it, turn to Google Image Search or a resource like the Cook’s Thesaurus.

3. Be prepared. Once you know what everything is, it’s a good idea to get it ready to cook. You’ll be more likely to eat everything that’s in your box if it’s on hand when you need it.

At least at the beginning of a CSA, you will probably get a lot of greens, and these should be washed and dried (in a salad spinner or with a towel) before being stored with a damp paper towel in a plastic bag. My CSA’s newsletter recommended filling your sink with water and adding a little salt to it – to convince any insects that might be holding on to the goods to leave -  before soaking your greens.

Additionally, if you know you’re going to be making a particular dish already, you might want to start preparing that – boil the beets, macerate the strawberries, etc.

4. Plan your menu. While the greens are soaking is great time for you to put together a menu for the week. I put this 4th, but by priority it should be first, as your skills at planning will make or break your success with a CSA.

When planning a menu, I typically turn to my favorite cookbooks first – I especially like the Moosewood Cookbooks for this (I have the original Moosewood Cookbook and Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites), because they do a wonderful job of bringing out the flavors of vegetables with careful seasoning. Cookbooks that focus on seasonal cooking (such as Clean Food or Simply in Season) would also be especially appropriate.

Some CSAs have newsletters that will suggest recipes. Mine posts tasty recipes on its blog. And there’s always the interwebs. Of course, if you have a favorite recipe for peas/cucumbers/squash, that should go in, too.

Once you’ve got a list of dishes you’d like to make, start planning where they go in the week. I typically try to make a selection of soups, salads, and dips to eat as lunch foods or snacks throughout the week, and plan simpler, one-pot meals for dinner. I love Stonesoup’s “5 ingredients|10 minutes” for the latter.

Bonus points: Coordinate your menu not only with what’s in your CSA, but what’s in your fridge/pantry already, and your grocery store’s weekly flyer. I’m not that kind of menu planning black belt yet.

5. Use everything but the squeal. Did you know that beet greens are edible? In fact, what we call chard or Swiss chard is just a different variety of beet (Beta vulgaris). How about radish greens? – when I was living in France, I sampled a delicious soup made from radish tops. Celery greens make awesome vegetable stock. (Warning: be sure you look things up before you sample unexpected parts. Some of them – like rhubarb leaves – can be toxic).

6. Share the love. Is there stuff in your box you won’t eat? Then share it with people who will!

Me, I hate cucumbers. I love pickles, though. When I got a single cucumber in my last box (not enough to pickle!) I actually turned around at my July 4th party and handed it to my friend Vik. She looked at me weird, but she gratefully took it off my hands.

Another idea is to have a dinner party featuring your CSA veggies. As I learned at the aforementioned party – which featured local blueberries and strawberries, corn, and beef – everyone loves local food. I even convinced a vegetarian of four years to eat one of our local beef burgers!

At the end of the day, I think I’ve done a fair job of making the most of my CSA. I’m currently a month in, and the only thing I’ve had to throw out was a handful of lettuce that got lost in the bottom of the crisper. More importantly, I’ve added veggies to my diet, and built community with local farmers. It’s a win-win.

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