A Box of Local Food to Go

Food to Go boxes ready for pick up at Worcester Regional Food Hub

Are you kicking yourself for not signing up for a local food delivery service and now they’re not taking new customers? You still can get a box of local food from Worcester Regional Food Hub’s Food to Go project with online ordering and curbside pickup.

Each Food to Go box is filled with local products including bread from Crust Bakeshop in Worcester, meat or chicken and eggs from Lilac Hedge Farm in Holden and salad greens from Little Leaf Farms in Devens, along with several other regionally produced items. The $67 box can provide a family of four with a few meals, snacks and dessert according to Shon Rainford, director of Worcester Regional Food Hub.

The Food to Go project launched after the Food Hub saw its wholesale business—delivering local foods to schools, hospitals and restaurants—disappear when the Coronavirus shutdown orders were enacted in mid-March. The Food Hub’s three-member team put together a plan to offer food boxes with curbside pickup within six days. Word spread through the Food Hub’s Facebook and social media accounts; now more than 300 boxes are picked up weekly.

Last week’s box included the above-mentioned items plus whole wheat flour from Four Star Farms in Northfield, Maple Valley Creamery mozzarella cheese from Hadley, cider from Bolton Orchards in Bolton and milk from Mapleline Farm in Hadley. The box also contained products from the Food Hub’s kitchen clients: Minuteman Kettle Corn, Nutty Bird Granola and Batch Ice Cream.

“The items change every week,” said Rainford, and plans are to add cheese, meat and produce boxes in the weeks ahead. You can add on from a list of food items, such as ground beef and bacon and prepared food, such as chicken pot pie. There’s no commitment; you can buy weekly or whenever you need to fill your refrigerator or pantry.

Shop the Food Hub’s website to purchase the box for $67 before noon on Wednesdays. Then pick it up on Wednesdays from noon to 5pm at the Food Hub’s parking lot located at Greendale People’s Church, 25 Francis Street, Worcester.

You drive up, give your name to the Food Hub staff and they will load your box into your car; you don’t have to get out.

The boxes are making a big impact for some of the Food Hub’s start-up client businesses, Rainford said. Some have adapted their products to include pre-made meals. “It’s a time for everyone to shift gears,” he added.