Guide to Organic Food Delivery in Chicago

Chicago is a great place to live if you enjoy and prefer to purchase organic food and produce for yourself and your family. Not only are there several organic food co-ops in the area that are supplied by a growing number of organic farmers and growers, but there are several farmer's markets to attend and even the option of organic food delivery services in Chicago.

The following are two organic food delivery services in Chicago that I am familiar with and highly recommend based on their prices and produce available.

Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks
Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks do not deliver to the area where my new home is located, but when I was within their delivery area they were certainly great to have availble. Fresh Picks delivers locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as meat, dairy and eggs, to your front door. The best thing about the service provided by Irv and Shelly's is that it benefits the local economy and gets organic food that you would otherwise have to scramble around the city looking for while keeping down transportation costs.

Basically, there are two ways to shop with Fresh Picks and both options are very affordable considering the door to door service of quality products. You can shop at the family, couple or individual size options, which are all priced by the amount of produce and food divided up for each grouping. The first shopping option is the Fresh Pick boxes, which are basically boxes of fresh produce that are put together based on what is available during the season and delivered to you for a flat rate. Your other option is to shop for the available produce, meat, dairy, baked and prepared organic foods that are available, like you would normally gorcery shop. It is important to remember that the produce varies depending on what is in season with area farmers and growers.

Fresh Pick boxes range in price from $18 to $40 depending on the size you choose. If you choose to shop yourself items vary in price, but those prices are pretty stable because they do not have to be shipped across the world or state, they are already in the neighborhood. www.freshpicks.com

Newleaf Grocery and Home Delivery
I found the Newleaf Natural Grocery when I was walking around the Roger's Park neighborhood after school one day. The Grocery Store is very close to Loyola University' Lake Shore Campus, and I wish more students knew about it because they are also complaining about the absence of a decent grocery near the campus. The grocery is literally a block away from campus and tucked into one of several apartment buildings and homes that line the area.

The Newleaf Grocery stocks locally grown, organic, hormone free meat and dairy products and fair trade coffee and goods. They also have the option of home delivered organic produce with the purchase of a produce box that you can choose three different sizes from as well as the type of produce you would like to receive. The price points for the produce boxes are $15, $25 and $33 and you can chose from mixed fruit and veggie, just veggie or just fruit boxes. As expected the types of fruit and quantity varies by the season, but there is a helathy and generous portion in each. The Newleaf Grocery is located at 1261 W. Loyola Avenue, www.newleafnatural.com