PeaPod and local

Hey, I've been put in charge of doing the PeaPod ordering for my office. Being new to the area, are there any good locally produced products I might look at for kitchen supplies? Always like to support local food and agriculture when possible. Thanks!

I'll be interested to hear if anyone knows of any local products offered through PeaPod. In Chicago, they work with Jewel, and that chain has never made a point of supporting local agriculture.

If there's even some ideas of likely candidates, I can do the searching and/or petitioning PeaPod to consider adding those products.

starbird wrote:If there's even some ideas of likely candidates, I can do the searching and/or petitioning PeaPod to consider adding those products.

What you might consider doing is checking some of the Farmer's Markets threads and see if there's anything that sounds good, then petition PeaPod to carry that stuff. Bigger producers like Nichols might be a good bet.

Just wondered, does anyone here actually buy their food from Peapod? I considered it at one point and came to the conclusion that it would not work for me. One of the main problems was the weird way they ran their produce dept. For example, you could not buy a whole watermelon, only portions priced by the pound. No bags of potatoes or onions, only by the pound, etc. Also, they had no 2 liter bottles of soft drinks, only cans. At least that's how it was a couple years back.

I have found that Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks - www.freshpicks.com - is a wonderful resource for organic locally produced fruits and veggies. Many of their suppliers, Nichols included, are Farmer's Market vendors. Consider Fresh Picks a local-based organic PeaPod.

Cogito wrote:Just wondered, does anyone here actually buy their food from Peapod? I considered it at one point and came to the conclusion that it would not work for me. One of the main problems was the weird way they ran their produce dept. For example, you could not buy a whole watermelon, only portions priced by the pound. No bags of potatoes or onions, only by the pound, etc. Also, they had no 2 liter bottles of soft drinks, only cans. At least that's how it was a couple years back.

We buy a decent amount of groceries form Peapod. I have never ordered watermelon from them so I dont know how they sell it, but you can get bags of potatoes or onions. You can even say you want 2 (or whatever number you want) potatoes and that is what you get or you can order a 5 lb. bag. They also sell two liters of soda. I wasn't using it a couple of years ago but it seems like a lot has changed.

Some one else brought up their relationship with Jewel. We asked them about this when we first started ordering from them and they said that they used to affiliated with them but are no longer. Their generic brand is country delight, which I believe is from Certified Grocers

They do offer some interesting stuff like Tallgrass beef and all of their cryovac beef is from U.S. Stockyards (I 99% sure on that). They also carry some products from Wild Oats, like their milk.

In the end I think you if really want to support local agriculture you need to go with a CSA or go to farmers markets. I was turned on to CSA through here and absolutely love it.

For my home, of course. But PeaPod is the supplier my office goes with, and, thus, I have to work within that. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

villamickey wrote:I have found that Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks - www.freshpicks.com - is a wonderful resource for organic locally produced fruits and veggies. Many of their suppliers, Nichols included, are Farmer's Market vendors. Consider Fresh Picks a local-based organic PeaPod.

Thanks, villamickey. I had never heard of this, and, while I tend to do my own shopping for fun, there are times when I need a hand-- like last summer when I broke my ankle. Also, this seems like kind of a good compromise for those who would like to get a CSA, but who travel a lot or can't use that much produce in a week. This is a good resource for busy families with very young children-- it's hard to get the shopping done with a toddler in tow!

Peapod now carries West Loop Salumi items, which I think is pretty cool of them. Currently available: bresaola, finocchionna, chorizo, barolo.

I use Peapod somewhat frequently mostly in really cold or hot weather when I really don't want to shlep to the store. I love Peapod!!! I also think they are good to buy things for holidays when you need to buy a big load of stuff but don't want to carry all of it in. They deliver to your door or will even bring into your kitchen. If you click on Chicagos best on their website you can see they carry a selection of local food and brands. Many people seem to have some trouble with Peapod until they get used to their website. I know my late mother would complain they did not have certain things but mostly they did, she just was not that aware of how to find them.