What is the Good Food Box?

In January of 1994, we packed forty Good Food Boxes in the basement of our office. In 2003 we distributed 4,000 boxes per month through 200 neighborhood-based drop-offs.

We buy top quality fresh fruit and vegetables directly from farmers and from the Ontario Food Terminal, and volunteers pack it into green reusable boxes at our Field to Table warehouse.

Volunteer co-ordinators collect money for the boxes in advance of delivery, then make sure that everyone gets their box after it arrives. We deliver to daycares, apartment buildings, churches—anywhere there are 8–10 people who want to buy a box.

How the Good Food Box works

The Good Food Box runs like a large buying club with centralized buying and co-ordination. Twice a month individuals place orders for boxes with volunteer co-ordinators in their neighborhood and receive a box brimming with fresh, tasty produce.

Customers pay between $12 and $32 for their box, depending on the version that they choose. Each box contains the same mixture of food, though the contents change with each delivery, depending on what is in season and reasonable at the time. FoodShare truck drivers deliver the boxes to the neighborhood drop-offs, where the local volunteer co-ordinators ensure that customers pick-up their boxes.

We choose Ontario-grown products for the box whenever possible because we want to know where and how our food is produced, to support local farmers and reduce the fossil fuels burned when we import food. Customers pay the cost of the food itself, while distribution overheads are subsidized. Also available are a fruit basket, organic boxes, and the "Reach for 5" basket, geared to seniors, that contains prepared, cut-up fruit and vegetables. All of the boxes are accompanied by a newsletter that offers nutrition information, as well as easy and economical food preparation tips.

Professional evaluation of The Good Food Box shows that participating in the program helps people access a more nutritious diet. It is now thought that up to 70% of deaths result from diseases that have a diet-related dimension, and there is mounting evidence that eating enough fruit and vegetables is key to preventing disease. Not only is it a matter of justice that everyone should have access to the food they need to keep them healthy- it also makes sense because of the enormous costs to the health care system that result from treating these diseases.

The Good Food Box makes top-quality, fresh food available in a way that does not stigmatize people, fosters community development and promotes healthy eating.