Greenling

I have been looking into CSAs and local farmers options for quite some time now, and while there are a good number of options around San Antonio there were none that have convenient pick up locations/​times for the Far West side of town where we live. While the SA Farmer’s Market does set up in Leon Valley on Wednesdays, I usually can’t make it during the morning.
Then I remembered seeing this «Greenling» thing in one of the Amazon Local e-​mails I had received recently. For $ 20, I could get a $ 40 credit for a first time order, which covered all but $ 5.99 of a «Local Box» ($ 10 box deposit with first order), making it $ 26 to have a box of what appeared to be locally grown food that would last my husband and I a week delivered to our doorstep.
So, after poking around their website — step one is that they will tell you if they deliver to your address — and getting a feel for how it worked (It’s not complex at all) we bit the bullet and ordered our first box. You can set up recurring deliveries (which we will likely be doing soon) or do single orders.
Now, I will say that there was some confusion with the first delivery — it ended up showing up on our door at 9:20pm (I had already contacted customer service by then and left an after hours message), but it was a day with horrible traffic and weather all over town. Plus, they called me back first thing the next morning and not only verified that everything was right but apologized for the confusion.
As for the contents — we got a special one to start off with. It had one of the largest watermelons I have ever seen, plus some interesting things like Purslane and squash blossoms, as well as old favorites like peaches, potatoes, squash, etc. Here’s the best part — they include not only a list of everything and where it is from, but cool recipes that tend to include the weirder items, so you don’t even have to think that hard of what to do with everything. Admittedly, we ended up giving away lots of the watermelon, but it was a good amount for dinners/​leftovers for a full week.
This week’s box was even better, with a great mixture of squash, peaches, cantaloupe, potatoes, onion, etc. It also arrived much earlier than the first one, by around 5:00pm. Also, we got free green bags for storing the veg, and have received «Golden Banana» coupons for free «surprise me» options in the last (and our next) box.
As for cost — I’ve already had to go to the grocery store less, am eating better (because while the veg/​fruit isn’t as cheap as the generic at HEB, it is better quality and we are being better about not wasting anything), and the savings in time and gas is totally worth the $ 36 a week. I can’t wait to see what we get in future Local boxes and maybe try some meat/​dairy options.

I just recently found out about Greenling and of course I had to try them right away!
I am really loving the fresh, organic produce delivered right to my door! I am the laziest shopper in the world so being able to shop for produce right from my computer is awesome!
The service has been prompt and all my food is packed really well. They provide plenty of options and even recipe ideas as well! Yay!
I haven’t bothered to compare prices closely because I like this service so much. I don’t think the prices on their organic things vary too greatly from farmer’s market or HEB organic prices, though. And my trips to HEB now take about half the time or less!
Not only that, the whole family is eating even better. I am definitely a fan!

Organic, local products delivered to your door; nice web interface; flexibility of picking and choosing from a great selection. These are amazing features above and beyond the average CSA.
If you want the mystery harvest, sudden-​surplus-​of-​beets, pay-​by-​the season CSA membership, this is really not it. This is way more frou-​frou, and more like an independent grocer with delivery service. Greenling features meats, cheeses, and even some packaged items, like granola, yogurt, iced tea, etc. While the basic delivery packages such as the Local Box ($ 35) are fruit/​veg, browsing the full catalog allows for some impulse purchases.
Greenling also has food prep bundles, where you can order specific ingredients that are portioned and prepared for a particular recipe (which is included). Since it’s delivered and portioned, it’s even an easier cheat than buying chopped onion in a bag at HEB. It’s also more likely to be local and organic.
All these perks have to be weighed against the price. The $ 40 basket we got last week had some really great items, and it’s a bit miraculous to come home from a long day at the office and have Greenling waiting on your porch. On the other hand, when I unbundled it all, I had a definite awareness that I could get more bang for buck by hauling my lazy bones to Whole Paycheck or Gucci-​B and buying the generic granola. (On a side note, why is granola so expensive anyway?)
So I have mixed feelings about the concept of Greenling. It’s a bit like hiring a lawn service to help you grow your own tomatoes. But for busy people who like to eat healthy, local foods, it’s a wonderful, well-​managed service, and I’m happy to be a sucker in this case.

WOW!!! This is the best! I had my first delivery on Wednesday and it was exactly what I wanted.
The website is very easy to use and the variety of items to chose from is wonderful. I chose to use the COD method of payment since a few reviewers mentioned a billing issue. I also chose to have my first delivery as a One-​Time Delivery, just in case it was not as I expected.
The delivery driver was polite and not chatty. I paid the driver the cash (including a tip) and took my box inside and couldn’t wait to open it. Everything was packed wonderfully and the bread was not smashed. The steaks were in a great freezer type bag to keep cool and the fruit was wonderful. The peaches were small, but so fresh and juicy. They were gone by the end of the day. I can’t remember the last time I saw big, plump, blue blueberries. They were so good. HEB’s blueberries are small and lack flavor and colour.
It love what this company is doing and I love that I don’t have to go to HEB. I can have great, organic, locally grown food delivered right to my door. What more can you as for?!
I have already placed my second order and can’t wait for it to arrive!

I had my first delivery last week and it is very convenient. I live in a downtown apartment, so delivery to my building is generally a bit of an ordeal. Greenling did not appear to have any problems and I was greeted by a large green tub in front of my door. Instead of spending an hour or so getting to the store, shopping, and returning, I had only to carry in the bin and put the produce away. Talk about easy! It’s not cheap, but once you factor in the time it takes to get to the store and the cost of the organic food, it evens out.
The online interface is pretty decent and I like that they carry some pantry items, so I look forward to drastically reducing my visits to the grocery store.
The quality of the food is great. It’s not the pretty prepackaged food you get at the grocery store, it’s the real deal and tastes great. I look forward to ordering from them again.

I was getting in a cooking rut and decided I needed to find a way to get out of said rut, along came Greenling!
I found out about Greenling through a blog and debated for months about whether or not I wanted to spend $ 35/​box for the Local Box. I finally bit the bullet and decided to give it a try, I’m so glad I did!
I order the Local Box which is a box that comes with items that are unknown to the customer until the Sunday before Delivery day.
The Local Box has made me be more creative with my cooking and I love that! There are some produce items that HEB doesn’t carry so it’s nice to be able to try certain items. I do like Farmer’s Market, but it’s kind of hard to get down there at 10am on a Saturday so this is much more convenient!
I only order the Local Box every three weeks. I can’t imagine using all of the ingredients in 6 days! And I usually cook 3 times a week!

I shop at both Farmers Markets at Leon Springs (
) and at the Pearl Brewery (
). When I need additional grocery items, I rely on Greenling to deliver the rest of the items on my grocery list. They offer a great variety of organic and local products. The baskets/​boxes I’ve received have been packed with care and detail. I arrive from work late in the afternoon so this is very important to me. The produce, meats and dairy have all been fresh.
Completing your order online is simple and user-​friendly. Be sure to check or uncheck the dates you would like your basket/​box delivered to ensure that you have your groceries when you expect it.
As a fitness/​health/​wellness professional, I highly recommend Greenling. If you would like to take small steps to improve your nutrition and lifestyle by choosing quality food items, Greenling is a sensational choice. The service is phenomenal and the food is delicious. Greeling: Two thumbs up!

This is a great service! The food is always fresh, delicious and «packed with care»! It’s such a simple service — just a few clicks and you’ll have fresh organic food delivered to your home or office. I love love love the grassfed beef! It is the best! The vegetables are always perfect, never too young or too old. And the cheese is so fresh.
The only thing I would prefer to change would be the way the default baskets work. You are automatically scheduled for a weekly delivery based on your last order; if you don’t need anything for the following week, you must remember to cancel that order. I wish it was having to place an order rather than having to cancel an order — but that’s just me! That might be something most busy folks love about this website; I however sometimes forget to log on and cancel and then I have too much food (not that that’s really a big problem)!
Overall Greenling rocks! Yay — I’m a fan!

I gotta admit, I was a little skeptical about ordering from Greenling at first. I mean, I really LOVE Central Market. But I kept reading more and more stuff about the effect of pesticides and other chemicals that we don’t even realize are in our foods… you can’t wash it off because it’s IN the food. So I’d try to buy organic stuff at Central Market and Whole Foods, but they honestly didn’t have as much variety as I was hoping for. Plus, it was all from places like Chile or California or New Zealand, and I was thinking «ok, how good is THAT for the environment? Trucking something halfway around the world to get here means it’s either not ripe when it got picked or it’s not fresh when it gets here… so why am I paying so much for this stuff?»
So I heard about Greenling from a friend of mine and thought I’d try it. Like a previous review says, they deliver groceries right to your house. Everything they carry is organic and they carry a TON of locally grown foods — not just veggies but also meats, cheeses, milk, etc.
Ok so it did take me a while to try it because I really do like picking out my own stuff at the store. But I decided to make an effort to be healthy and went online to place an order. It took me a few minutes to understand how the ordering system works, but once you get that it’s set up in categories and you can just mark everything you want and it automatically goes into your basket, it’s pretty easy. A pevious review said the prices were a little higher than HEB and they’re sorta right. I’m not a trendy big-​spender so I actually made a list of stuff I bought online and at HEB to see how the prices compared. The thing is, Greenling’s prices are considerably more than the REGULAR NON-​ORGANIC and NON-​LOCAL foods, but the whole point is I want to buy organic… and when you match those prices up Greenling actually is ABOUT THE SAME for most organic foods (and once you throw in free delivery, it actually is a wash or sometimes even less).
Surprise #1:
The crate of food showed up at my door (well, actually I have a side gate and they put it in there since I’m usually not home when they deliver)… and I was surprised by the fact that it looked like a farmer’s market had just made a delivery. I guess I was expecting all the pretty packaging like Whole Foods, but their customer service person (super nice girl on the phone) said they try to eliminate as much packaging as possible because they’re really tuned in to being eco-​responsible. All the stuff was just perfectly fine in the crate — they pack it with ice packs to keep it cool in the summer.
Surprise #2:
I always thought that since I shopped at Whole Foods and Central Market, I was getting the best, freshest tasting food/​produce. Oh. My. God. I was so wrong. Seriously, the fruits and veggies I get from Greenling are so amazing, I didn’t even know they could taste that good. I never knew what a real tomato was supposed to taste like, and the peaches this summer were out of this world. My favorite so far has been the mozzarella cheese. Of course, this is all from local farmers and they apparently grow/​produce in smaller batches so everything tastes better. MMMMmmmmm.
Surprise #3:
Amazingly, I don’t miss grocery shopping. I used to go to Central Market or Whole Foods 2 – 3 times a week, and have probably only been to to the store 2 or 3 times in the last 2 months since starting to order from Greenling. Seriously, they have so much selection I don’t have to go shopping anymore. And what I realized is that my house is still always stocked but now I don’t have all those impulse buys that blew my budget when I’d be at the store (olive bar, anyone?). I didn’t think this would be the case, but I actually spend less time & less money/​gas now since I order online and don’t waste $$ on impulse buys.
Greenling has really changed the way I shop and I feel better about what I’m eating. The only negatives I can think of are that they don’t carry non-​food stuff so I still have to go to Target or HEB for paper towels, laundry soap, etc. Oh, and sometimes (not super-​often) on the local items from local farms they will run out because they farmer wasn’t able to harvest enough that week, etc., so it helps to have a flexible attitude and just enjoy what they put in your box. Even though you order online, there’s always someone to talk to at the company who will help you… I’ve had to call once or twice about stuff and they’re always really friendly and helpful. Great attitudes and customer service. Two thumbs up in my book!

We’ve been using Greenling since they first started delivering in San Antonio nearly a year ago now and have been very impressed by the products and service they provide. Sure, it’s a little more expensive than HEB, but does HEB provide local produce, meats, and other organic groceries delivered to your doorstep? I didn’t think so. I mostly use them for the fresh, local produce, but add other random stuff to my order as needed or impulsively.
They don’t charge for delivery, they just require a minimum $ 25 order. You can set up a weekly occuring «basket» or change it up from week to week. Oh, you don’t have to order every week either. Just order when you feel like it. They’re very flexible and a very friendly company to deal with.
I had some concerns about ordering dairy products during the warm summer months, but they always pack it that stuff in a silver cellophane bag with a recycled bottle of some sort full of ice. It’s a simple, green solution that works. ;)