Mama Earth Organics: Fresh Produce Delivered To Your Door {GIVEAWAY}

About a year ago a friend mentioned to me that she used to work for an organics delivery company in Toronto called Mama Earth Organics. She talked about how great they were and about the work they were doing bringing organic produce to Toronto and the GTA. It sounded cool but I was a little hesitant at first.

For years I had passed by the organics section at the grocery store thinking everything seemed so expensive and didn’t look any better or fresher than the other produce available. But whether it was my friend’s personal testimonial or the knowledge I was starting to gain through my nutrition studies I decided to give it a try. And am I ever glad I did!

I have been having fresh, organic, often-local produce delivered to my door for the past year and loving it. So much so that I’m teaming up with Mama Earth Organics this week to bring one lucky reader a free week’s delivery of fresh fruits and veggies! But before I get to the giveaway, let’s chat about why going organic is such a good idea.

Why go organic?

Whether it’s the increased cost or skepticism about whether organic is really better that’s keeping you from buying organic, I totally understand. But here are four key reasons that may help you see why eating organic can be so beneficial to you and to the environment.

1. Reduced exposure to pesticides and herbicides

Whereas conventional farming involves the use of  synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, some examples of organic farming practices include using natural fertilizers to feed soil and plants and using crop rotation or mulch to manage weeds. They may also use insect traps, careful crop selection, predator insects or beneficial microorganisms to control crop-damaging pests. For me, with all the pollutants and chemicals we face on a regular basis, any chance I have to reduce the toxic load on my body is a welcome one. Knowing that the fruits and vegetables I eat haven’t been sprayed with chemicals easily makes it worth the slight increase in cost.

2. Avoid GMOs

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are living organisms created through genetic engineering in a lab that do not occur in nature. There is growing evidence that GM foods can contribute to an increased risk of allergies based on GM crops such as soy, corn and cotton. GMO studies on animals have also shown increased risks of liver problems and reproductive issues. Organic standards forbid the use of GMOs so going organic is an easy way to avoid their consumption.

3. A potential boost in nutrients

Although some studies suggest the health benefits of organic foods over conventionally-grown foods is unclear, a 2003 study indicated that good soil nutrition — such as that used for organic crops — increased the production of cancer-fighting compounds called flavanoids and markers of antioxidative defense in humans. It would seem that conventional farming practices like pesticide and herbicide use disturb the production of these compounds. I believe that a healthy soil and natural farming methods leads to healthier produce and that’s a big part of why I choose organic.

4. Contribute to a better environment

Along with all the benefits to your body and the body of those you feed, organic farming is better for the environment. Organic farming practices contribute to reducing air, water and soil pollution, conserving water, reducing soil erosion, increasing soil fertility and they also use less energy.

Why Mama Earth Organics?

So, now that you know all the great aspects of organic foods in general, let me take a quick moment to tell you why I choose to get my organic produce through Mama Earth Organics:

1. Delivery is free! That’s right, there’s no added fee for having your fruits and veggies delivered to your door.
2. It saves you time. Produce for the week, no extra grocery trip needed!
3. It’s affordable. By avoiding the overhead expenses associated with a traditional retailer they’re able to aim to have the value of their bins be equal or lesser in cost than what you’ll find at the grocery store.
4. Supporting local. Mama Earth works with local organic farmers and always favours small family-owned farms over factory farms. When something isn’t available locally, they search for the next closest alternative and don’t get anything that needs to travel overseas or by plane. In the in-season 80-90% of the produce in their bins comes from local Ontario farms.
5. It’s fresh. If an item that’s supposed to go in their bins is less than 100% it doesn’t go out and is instead replaced with another fresh item of equal value. And if you happen to get an item that has wilted in your bin or isn’t up to your standards, they’ll refund you no problem.
6.  Reusable bins. Their bins are collected each week, washed and reused for less waste.
7. All your organic needs in one place. In addition to the produce they deliver, you can also have things like organic juice and fresh baked goods added to your bin so almost all your shopping can get done at once!
8. Variety. You get a huge range of produce in your weekly bin. For example, the regular-sized basket a couple of weeks ago had fiddleheads, kale, leeks, acorn squash, vine tomatoes, zucchini, bananas, grapefruit, kiwis, mango and pears. That’s a whole lot of fun foods to work with!
9. Trying new things. One of my favourite things about my Mama Earth bins is that they’ll often surprise me with new produce I never knew existed. Chances are you’ll find something cool and new in your bin that you can experiment with.
10. Organic produce. And of course, all their fruits and veggies are organic!

How does it work?

Getting your produce from Mama Earth is simple. You pick the size bin you need for you or your family and that becomes your “standing order”. If there are foods you don’t like you can select these as your 5 “never send” items that will never appear in your bin and also make a note of the items you love and want more of. Each week a selection of fruits and veggies (or just fruits or just veggies if you prefer) will be selected for your bin and you’ll be sent an email with your bin’s contents.

If your fridge is too full or you’ll be out of town for the week you can always put your bin on hold. If you want to make any modifications to your bin you can do that too for just $2. You can also add other items like baked goods, seeds, spreads, tofu, eggs, dairy, fresh juice and more. The deadline for any changes is 10a.m. the day before your delivery.

Where you’re located will determine the day of the week your bin will be delivered on. Then when that day arrives your bin can be delivered to you or left on your doorstep — whichever works best. And if you live in an apartment, arrangements can be made so your bin can be left for you.

Your bin will contain everything you ordered as well as a receipt that even has recipe ideas on the back of it for the contents of your bin!

It’s GIVEAWAY time!

Mama Earth has been so incredibly generous as to offer one lucky Nourished Sweetly reader a $52 gift certificate — which is equal to one regular basket plus the sign up fee! Keep in mind that they can only deliver to Toronto and the GTA so you’ll want to either be local to the area or willing to give your prize to someone who is. Check the Mama Earth delivery info to see their full delivery area. There are 4 ways to enter the giveaway:

1. Leave a comment below saying what fruit or veggie you would be most excited to get in your bin.
2. Sign up to receive the Nourished Sweetly Newsletter (can be found in the sidebar on the right of this page) and leave a separate comment below saying you did. If you are already a subscriber, simply leave a comment below saying so.
3. Follow Mama Earth Organics on either Instagram or Twitter and leave a separate comment below saying you did.
4. Follow Nourished Sweetly on Twitter and leave a separate comment below saying you did.

Note: Please make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry as that is how the submissions are counted for random selection. Don’t want you to miss out on any entries!

Contest will be open until 11:59p.m. Sunday June 12th and the winner will be notified on Monday June 13th. Good luck!

If you don’t win the giveaway, don’t be too sad! If you mention you heard about Mama Earth from Nourished Sweetly you’ll get $15 off your first order!

Check out the recipe for Healthy Potato Salad inspired by one of my Mama Earth Organics bins >>

Photos courtesy of Mama Earth Organics

Disclaimer: I was provided with the prize to be given away for this post by Mama Earth Organics but all opinions shared are my own.