Okay! This is officially my first review on a service that I am loving right now: Lufa Farms.
If you know me, you’ll know that I can’t stop talking about Lufa Farms because I am very impressed with the initiative! Also, I have a new found love and fascination for gardening, even if I am terrible at it. I’ve been signed up with Lufa farms for about 3 months now and overall the experience has been pretty darn good.
What is Lufa farms?
Lufa is a service that delivers local farm fresh produce and other varied products to a drop-off destination of your choice in the city of Montreal. The produce primarily comes from the Lufa rooftop farm, located in the city itself or from partner farms in Quebec.
Why Lufa?
No brainer: It’s Local!
|Reduce your carbon footprint |Get fresher products |Support local industry|
Oh yeah! And they don’t use pesticides! The rooftop veggies are not certifiably organic due to their irrigation process however they do use biological pest control methods: Lady bugs!
Read more about it on their website.
Most, if not all of the partner farms are certified organic so most of the produce has not been exposed to any pesticides or preservatives. Yay!
To top it all off, if you are lucky like me, the drop off point is literally 3 mins away. I am saving time and energy not having to go shopping for my veggies every week. Finally, the main selling point for me is TASTE ! When your veggies are local, they are not being prematurely picked which causes them to loose flavour since the ripening process is happening off the vine. They also aren’t traveling overseas and shelved in stores for days before they finally make it to your refrigerator. Fresher veggies taste better and they are more nutritious. Lufa’s cherry tomatoes are a little taste of heaven.
Disadvantages:
Ok ok, now bad points. It’s definitely pricier than shopping at the supermarket. A small bag of spinach or a pint of cherry tomatoes goes for about $4 which is almost double the average price at your grocer (depending on the season). Mind you, if you shop organic then you are pretty much looking at a similar price point.
Also, if the drop-off point is not located near your home or work, you may not want to out of your way to pick up your basket.
Finally, selection is limited and you start to get a lot of the same products from week to week. I actually found the limited selection to be fun in the beginning because I would be able to create new dishes and try veggies that I never really integrated in my meals before. The problem is when you have a particular meal planned for that week, you may not be able to get the specific veggies you need from Lufa and have to go out and buy more. The minimum Lufa order is $22 per week which is just the right amount for one person like me, who eats lots of greens. However, I find that when I have to buy extra products at the grocery store, my fridge becomes too full and I am struggling to find a way to eat everything. At that point I invite people over and feed them… This method can get pretty costly!
Besides price & variety, I really can’t say too many other negative things about Lufa farms.
Website: 5/5
Easy to use and informative!
Service: 5/5
Flexible with pay as you go! No commitments, no issues with delivery. Easy credit card payment! They did mix my order up once by not delivering a product as promised. They credited me for the amount and it was not a major issue. Sometimes they give you “extras” which is always a pleasant surprise.
Quality: 5/5
Great produce, always!
Value: 4/5
Good value for the price but definitely more expensive than your grocer.
It’s not only veggies!!
They now offer fresh bread, baked goods, coffee ( roasted in Montreal), honey, jams and other various products. The bread is from Bete a Pain and I order it almost every week because it is just plain fantastic.
I assure you, I’m not working for them! Although, maybe I should be… If you want to try Lufa, I’d say begin by checking if there is a drop off point near you since that will determine the convenience aspect. Then explore the marketplace to see what types of products are offered. If you like the look of the products then sign up for your first week because with pay-as-you-go, you won’t be forced to stick with it. The small basket is good for 1 person who has a plant based diet ( like me) or two people who eat a bit less veggies.
