Back when I was a newbie convert to organic produce, I used to get my fruits and veggies from Organic Express. It was an excellent deal, really: $29 per box of 12-16 types of in-season, all organic, 90% California-grown fruits-n-veggies delivered to my door.

I stopped the deliveries a while back, since I now get most of my produce at the Santa Monica farmers’ market. But in June, Organic Express sent me an email to let me know it merged with Spud — along with a $15 credit to entice me to try out the new service. So I checked it out!

Spud’s quite different from Organic Express. For one, Spud’s selection also goes way beyond produce to include baked goods, beverages, and prepared meals. And while Spud does offer an Organic Express-like “Fresh Harvest Box,” Spud customers can pick out the exact fruits and veggies they want — as well as how much they want to spend. The default amount is $35, though the website says “any amount over $15 to provide a good mix of produce.”

To help you decide, Spud offers a Produce Quantity Calculator, according to which I should opt for a $22 box to get my “recommended minimum number of servings per week.” Above’s what I got for $28.67 (before the $15 discount), with free delivery ($3.50 delivery charge applies for orders under $28) — somewhat less than what I used to get in my Organic Express delivery, though the fruits I selected may have been more expensive than what Organic Express generally gave me. For a visual comparison, Zach at LAist has a photo of what an Organic Express delivery looked like.

One cool feature of Spud’s that it tells you your food miles, the distance your food traveled to get to you. My box came out to 1062 miles, probably because of the bananas! To make it easy for locavores, Spud includes food mile details with each item — though once you start shopping outside the produce section, these miles start looking very inaccurate. Amy’s Cheese Enchilada, for example, has only this detail — “This product traveled 439 miles to reach our warehouse” — which means that the distance all the various enchilada ingredients traveled to get to Amy’s isn’t included in the total.

I’m sticking to my local farmers’ market and the Co-op for now, but for those who are trying to drive less but don’t have an organic grocery store or farmers’ market near you, Spud could be a nice option. And while Organic Express no longer is, the other organic produce delivery choices I covered way back in 2005 still seem to be alive and kicking, except for Pax Organica — plus new options have sprung up! I’ll write about those soon —

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