One of the hardest parts of switching to real food is finding affordable places to buy that food. I really enjoy sharing the good deals I get at Costco, so today I thought I’d share another resource in my real food arsenal: Azure Standard.
How Azure Standard Works
Azure Standard is natural and organic foods retailer that delivers food by truck to pickup locations across the western United States. At the moment they deliver to most states west of Missouri, as well as to a few more eastern states. Depending on where you live, there may be a drop point quite close to your home.
Ordering from Azure is easy. There is no membership fee to order–you just sign up for an account through their website and then join a local drop point group. Each group orders once a month. You place your order online, then go meet the truck at a pre-arranged time when it drops off the group’s order at your local drop point.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Azure
One of the things that I especially like about Azure is that you don’t have to order most things in bulk. You will get a bigger savings if you order a bulk amount of something, of course, but if you only need a small amount you can often just order that and still save money. You can also order modestly bulk amounts of things–like five pounds of beans, for instance, instead of twenty-five–which helps you save money but is more realistic to store if you live in a small home.
Azure’s prices tend to be very good. This is not true of everything, of course–the produce, in particular, I find to often be much more expensive than what I would pay at my local health foods store. It’s worth it to do some price comparison with your other food sources before ordering, but for many things I believe I save a significant amount of money by buying through Azure.
The main disadvantage of ordering from Azure is that you have to go meet the truck at a particular time. If the pickup time doesn’t work with your schedule you may be out of luck. Depending on who organizes your drop point, though, you may be able to make arrangements for the drop point coordinator to take your order back to their home so you can pick it up later. (I doubt all drop point coordinators are able to do this, but it’s worth asking.)
Real Food I Order from Azure
Curious what sorts of real food Azure carries? Here are some of the items that I regularly order:
- Dried beans
- Expeller-pressed coconut oil
- Sprouted brown rice flour
- Organic, grass-fed cheese
- Extracts and spices
- Starches like tapioca and arrowroot
- Raw nuts
- Vinegars
- Pastured eggs (when we can’t get local eggs)
- Corn tortillas
- Parchment paper
- Canned or jarred tomatoes
- Castile soap
- Tea for kombucha
- Raw honey
- Traditionally-fermented pickles
Do you order from Azure Standard? What are some of your other favorite real food resources?
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