Tag: Iowa Food Coop

6 Reasons to Eat Local in 2017

2017 is finally here! At Iowa Food Cooperative, we feel strongly there’s one resolution we should all commit to keeping: Eating local. Luckily, eating local is a great resolution to keep because it supports so many of things we want in our lives. Things like being healthier, being part of a community, and trying new things. Here are six reasons why you should eat local in 2017.

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1. Healthier, fresher food. Most of us start the new year with a goal of being healthier. We start going to the gym more, eat more salad and fewer chips, and pull out that yoga mat that was collecting dust in the corner of our living room. One way to stay on track with your healthy eating goals is to buy more fresh, local produce. You’ll find the food is more flavorful and lasts longer, which makes eating healthier more joyful. It tastes fresher because it is fresher. The salad mix you ordered was picked the day before you picked it up and traveled fifty miles instead of 1,500 miles.

2. Try something new! Maybe you said you’d try something new every week or every day in 2016. Maybe you have a Pinterest board full of bucket list items. If you’re adventurous you’ll love eating local and you’ll really love shopping at IFC. Our producers are always adding unique items like aronia berry brats, cardoon, and lard. Challenge yourself by ordering something you’ve never tried during every cycle. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite food!

3. A greater connection with your environment. By eating local food you’ll automatically learn about when foods are in season. You’ll find meals that represent winter to you, like hearty soups with lots of root vegetables, and meals that represent summer to you, like sweet corn and BLT’s. You will know that goats produce milk after they give birth, that you can eat the beet greens as well as the roots, and if you pay attention to what your local farmers are sharing on Facebook you might learn about farming too. Maybe you’ll start growing a few things yourself… or maybe you’ll decide to leave that to the professionals.

4. Become part of something bigger than yourself. When you eat local you do so much more than “just” eat local. At IFC we’ve seen our members and producers become friends who exchange holiday cards and congratulate each other on weddings and babies. At our annual meeting each year our members and producers sit together to share food and talk about the challenges and triumphs of farming, the environment, health, and the meaning of life. Okay, maybe not the meaning of life, but we wouldn’t put it past our members. By eating local you’re supporting a different kind of community that cares for each other.

5. Support Iowa’s economy. You love shopping in the East Village, bought your bike from the Des Moines Bike Collective, and prefer local restaurants to chains. You’re proud to be from Iowa and have the Iowa Native or Transplant sticker on your bumper to prove it. According to the 3/50 Project, for every $100 you spend locally $68 of that comes back to your community in the way of taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. When you shop at a national chain, only $43 comes back. And shifting just 5% of your out-of-area spending to support local produces and businesses would have a $1 billion impact on Greater Des Moines.

6. Local food preserves Iowa farmland and makes Iowa a more beautiful place to live. If you’ve ever visited one of our producer’s farms, or any diversified farm, you know they are beautiful places. Imagine if the drive across Iowa had more diversified farms raising vegetables, meat, dairy, and flowers, for miles and miles. It would be magical, but those farms and barns won’t be there for future generations if we don’t support them today.

6 Reasons to Eat Local in 2016

The New Year is well underway and our resolutions are going strong or forgotten. At Iowa Food Coop, we feel strongly there’s one resolution we should all commit to keeping: Eating local. Luckily, eating local is a great resolution to keep because it supports so many of things we want in our lives. Things like being healthier, being part of a community, and trying new things. Here are six reasons why you should eat local in 2016.

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1. Healthier, fresher food. Most of us start the new year with a goal of being healthier. We start going to the gym more, eat more salad and fewer chips, and pull out that yoga mat that was collecting dust in the corner of our living room. One way to stay on track with your healthy eating goals is to buy more fresh, local produce. You’ll find the food is more flavorful and lasts longer, which makes eating healthier more joyful. It tastes fresher because it is fresher. The salad mix you ordered was picked the day before you picked it up and traveled fifty miles instead of 1,500 miles.

2. Try something new! Maybe you said you’d try something new every week or every day in 2016. Maybe you have a Pinterest board full of bucket list items. If you’re adventurous you’ll love eating local and you’ll really love shopping at IFC. Our producers are always adding unique items like aronia berry brats, cardoon, and lard. Challenge yourself by ordering something you’ve never tried during every cycle. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite food!

3. A greater connection with your environment. By eating local food you’ll automatically learn about when foods are in season. You’ll find meals that represent winter to you, like hearty soups with lots of root vegetables, and meals that represent summer to you, like sweet corn and BLT’s. You will know that goats produce milk after they give birth, that you can eat the beet greens as well as the roots, and if you pay attention to what your local farmers are sharing on Facebook you might learn about farming too. Maybe you’ll start growing a few things yourself… or maybe you’ll decide to leave that to the professionals.

4. Become part of something bigger than yourself. When you eat local you do so much more than “just” eat local. At IFC we’ve seen our members and producers become friends who exchange holiday cards and congratulate each other on weddings and babies. At our annual meeting each year our members and producers sit together to share food and talk about the challenges and triumphs of farming, the environment, health, and the meaning of life. Okay, maybe not the meaning of life, but we wouldn’t put it past our members. By eating local you’re supporting a different kind of community that cares for each other.

5. Support Iowa’s economy. You love shopping in the East Village, bought your bike from the Des Moines Bike Collective, and prefer local restaurants to chains. You’re proud to be from Iowa and have the Iowa Native or Transplant sticker on your bumper to prove it. According to the 3/50 Project, for every $100 you spend locally $68 of that comes back to your community in the way of taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. When you shop at a national chain, only $43 comes back. And shifting just 5% of your out-of-area spending to support local produces and businesses would have a $1 billion impact on Greater Des Moines.

6. Local food preserves Iowa farmland and makes Iowa a more beautiful place to live. If you’ve ever visited one of our producer’s farms, or any diversified farm, you know they are beautiful places. Imagine if the drive across Iowa had more diversified farms raising vegetables, meat, dairy, and flowers, for miles and miles. It would be magical, but those farms and barns won’t be there for future generations if we don’t support them today.

What Is Iowa Food Coop?

If this is your first time visiting our website you might be wondering, what is Iowa Food Coop?

To put it simply: Iowa Food Coop is an online ordering system for Iowa produced food. Our members have access to over 1,500 Iowa produced products, which they order on a bi-weekly schedule.

There are a lot of special things about Iowa Food Coop besides our selection of Iowa produced products. Here are just a few more things that set us apart.

Order Exactly What You Want From Home
Logon to iowafood.coop/shop and browse our selection. You can sort by producers or by item. You’ll find that we sell all of the staple items you need like bread, eggs, milk, cream, and meat. We also sell specialty items like Iowa produced maple syrup, soap, hummus, kombucha, dog treats, baby food, and the list goes on and on. Our producers are expected to share their growing practices and ingredients with you so you know exactly what is in the food you’re eating.

 

Visit our producer profiles and pick one out. You can read about their business and practices, and if they currently have items for sale you can read more about their individual products.

We Don’t Have Food Waste
We’re not a store and we don’t have inventory. When our consumer members place an order online they are ordering directly from the producer. When the cart closes the producer gets a list of everything that was ordered that cycle and brings it to our Des Moines location the day before or morning of distribution. Since we only receive what was ordered we don’t have excess food to throw away.

85% of the Money You Spend Goes to Our Farmer-Owners
When you shop at Iowa Food Coop you are not supporting corporate interests. The money you spend goes directly into the pockets of our producers and into making IFC a great alternative to the conventional food system. You can feel great about the money you spend at IFC.

Shop Less Often and Eat Healthier
Several IFC members buy at least half of the food they eat through us. By ordering on IFC’s bi-weekly schedule they cut their trips to the grocery store down significantly and know more about where their food comes from. No longer tempted by grocery aisles full of cookies and chips, they often find that their diets improve dramatically. And this is not a fad diet. An #iowavore diet (mostly local, Iowa food diet) is a way of eating that not only makes the consumer healthier, but helps local farmers and our local economy.

 

We Sell Iowa Grown Food Year Round
Iowa Food Coop is a year-round option for eating local. Just because the farmer’s market season has ended or your CSA is done doesn’t mean you have to stop eating local. Purchase meat, greens, milk, vegetables and more through IFC all winter long.

Step One: Check to see if the cart is open.

You’ll notice in the left sidebar of this site we list our Upcoming Order Cycles. Check here to see when the cart opens or closes. You can also check our Facebook Events page and subscribe to be notified of upcoming order cycles. When you become a member at this page you’ll be signed up for our cart-is-open reminder emails. Your first six months as a member are free, which gives you a chance to fall in love with IFC!

Step Two: If the cart is open, fill up that basket!

Go to iowafood.coop/shop and login (you’ll get your login information when you become a member in Step 1). On the member panel page you’ll see your “Basket Status.” Click open a shopping basket. Select your delivery type and pick-up location. Once you’re in, click shopping and browse our list of products by category, producer, or search for the item you want!

Step Three: Pick-up the following Thursday!

Whatever is in your cart on Sunday night is ordered. You can set up payment online or you can pay when you come to pick-up on Thursday. Here’s a list of our convenient pick-up locations. Find the location closest to you and become a regular at Thursday pick-ups!

Step Four: Enjoy food and share with us on social media

We love to see what are members are eating and enjoying. Share your photos with us on Facebook and Instagram using the #iowafoodcoop hashtags.

So what are you waiting for? Click to join!

President’s Blog – On Turning Five

By Pete Woltz, IFC Board President

Unexpected costs can be aggravating. Last week I misplaced my car keys and had to rent a car to get back home from KC.  I thought I chose the company with the most reasonable rates, but when I returned the car I was shocked to see my final bill.  With taxes, fees, and adjustments, it was a third more than the quoted price.

I mention this story because we as a cooperative have just come through a remarkable fiscal year that ended on June 30. Thanks to dedicated consumers, popular new products, and an increase in the number of distribution cycles, sales exceeded expectations and we ended up with a $6,300 profit for the year.

However, just like my rental car bill, there have been costs that are not reflected in our profit figure.  To keep the Coop alive financially, we lived off of grants and the help of volunteers. We’ve  consumed some of your equity, eliminated staff, and underpaid remaining staff. Perhaps most importantly (and thanks to the generosity of Merle Hay Mall), we have paid no rent.

Unfortunately, to use a term we local food enthusiasts can relate to, these practices are unsustainable.  To address this issue, the board approved a modest increase in our fees for the first time in our history. As a member of the board and a participant on this year’s budget committee that approved the increase, let me say that the decision was a painstakingly difficult one.

The decision came down to a question of sustainability. Our success in 2013 gave us a glimpse of what the IFC can become.  It was the unanimous opinion of the board that we embrace our destiny by creating a business that is financially sustainable.  This remarkable local food delivery system that we have built together these past four years must not be allowed to go away due to the lack of adequate funds to cover costs.happy-birthday-cake65

We have turned five and have matured as an organization.  It is now time to accept our financial responsibilities and keep this truly unique organization serving us for many delicious years to come.  Thank you for supporting this decision and KEEP SHOPPING!

President’s Blog – Out of the Primordial Soup!

By Pete Woltz, IFC Board President

PlanningI have been thinking lately about my dual role experiences as both a producer and consumer of the Iowa Food Coop.  Shopping and selling products through the IFC presents some interesting challenges.  Because I have become a product of a society geared toward instant everything, delivering product and shopping on a two-week schedule requires me to resurrect an ancient set of skills
 planning!

Many of our regular shoppers have a highly evolved ‘meal planning’ gene.  To them, sitting at a computer to plug from over 1,000 locally-produced IFC food treasurers into approximately 42 meal time slots becomes second nature.  One by one they mix and match and visualize the future.   “Let’s see, Steak ‘n’ Eggs greens simmering with LaVentosa Berkshire bacon, that’ll work for next week’s potluck”. 

As producers, we must accurately plan and track our inventories so as not to ‘out’ a product on distribution day.   And, I am not talking sexual orientation here!  Outing occurs when a product is removed from a consumer’s invoice.  This can occur for any number of reasons, but it is usually a sad event for everyone involved.  It creates loss of revenue for the IFC, loss of revenue for the producer, and, most importantly, disruption in the lives of our highly evolved and much beloved consumers. 

Here are a couple Evolutionof things we as producers can do to help keep ‘outs’ from happening.  Check and double check orders prior to delivery.  Also, use the IFC website’s inventory feature to control sales volume.  Check inventory against orders prior cart closing.  That way, consumers can be notified in time to make a product substitution in the event of a product ‘out’.

The IFC is the best place on the planet to feed ourselves.  It may take a little more planning and a little more strategy, but hey, we are evolved!  SHOP THE COOP today.

President’s Blog – You Are How You Eat!

By Pete Woltz, IFC Board President

The IFC is much more than another place to buy food.  A while back Kelly and Angie Tagtow shared a request from a journal that was seeking essays that explored “the intersection of cooperatives with alternative food systems initiatives”.   I was so moved by the request’s language on cooperative food systems that I read a portion at an IFC board meeting for a bit of pre-meeting inspiration.

The words hit a familiar note for me.  Cooperative food systems were described as organizations populated by “food citizens” acting within “civic food networks”.  Cooperative food systems, they went on to say, were distinguished from conventional cooperatives in that they:

  1. Reconnect farmers and consumers in more direct and meaningful ways
  2. Sell to local and regional markets through alternative networks
  3. Promote food production, distribution, and consumption processes that are environmentally sound or socially just.

 

As my involvement in the IFC has expanded over the years from producing products that meet IFC standards, to public speaking, to Board involvement, to volunteering on distribution day, I have come to feel a compelling sense of citizenship within this extraordinary local food community.  More than just an intersection of consumers and food producers, I find the IFC to be a vibrant community of citizens accepting the responsibilities and enjoying the privileges that come with citizenship.

What are the responsibilities?   For starters, an all-volunteer workforce of “food citizens” somehow manages to collect hundreds of local products every other Thursday and distribute them to lines of very patient consumers at four different sites.  Thank you volunteers and patient consumers!

But responsibilities in a cooperative food system go beyond the sometimes overwhelming tasks of distribution.  There are responsibilities our producer owners accept to offer wholesome foods produced with practices that protect our land, water, and wildlife.  There are responsibilities to care for those who are less fortunate, which we do by supporting our EBT members with donations to cover their fees.  Indeed, being responsible is a theme that runs through everything we do.

What about the privileges that come with citizenship in our local food system?  Are you kidding – local greens in February!?!

I would also argue that this great privilege is also our responsibility. I encourage you as a coop citizen to buy products from our producers.   April sales are well on the way to meeting budget projections.  You can help us meet our goals and keep our community alive and healthy by loading your cart this next cycle with the most wonderful local Iowa products available anywhere.  Please shop your Coop!