Welcome to Valley Pantry Organics Buying Club
Valley Pantry Organics Buying Club is a unique way to purchase a wide selection of organic produce and pantry items, sustainable / environmentally friendly household products, and an opportunity to buy direct and support local farmers or small businesses who are using sustainable, organic and/or “spray free” farming practices & humane, natural animal raising.
Currently we order the following from our trusted distributors:
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fresh produce, dairy, bulk grains, nuts, flours, seeds, dried fruits
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Pantry products, refrigerated & frozen products
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Pantry products, household cleaning, refrigerated & frozen products
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Supplements & superfoods health & wellness products)
Currently we order the following from local farmers & businesses:
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Organic Dairy (fresh organic dairy products)
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Meats (pastured/naturally-raised meat products)
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Meats (Halal processed, naturally raised, grass fed option)
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Local Butter (salted & unsalted)
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Produce (locally sourced options)
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Linda’s Farm/Store (fresh/frozen fruit, eggs, laundry strips, Bothwell cheese, and more)
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Occasionally we will order specialty products based on availability or interest. Ie: Real Raw Foods, bulk honey, bulk Epsom salt. We are always open to ideas for a co-operative order.
Order pick-up is located in Howden MB, just south of St Norbert, approximately 2 km off Hwy 75 in the RM of Ritchot.
Our system of pre-ordering your groceries & other consciously created items from the comfort of home
Often less markup than buying “off-the-shelf” at stores depending on the product & the store
ALWAYS more choices than in stores
By purchasing bulk of your favourite most used products and skipping retailer's mark-ups you can save time & money
Purchasing from home, and picking up from one location just south of St.Norbert.
No car? Sick? no time? Delivery is always an option for an extra fee.
By-pass the retailers, and purchase direct from local farmers here in Manitoba, or from the bulk distributors here in Canada that normally are only accessible to storefronts
Membership Fees & Commitment
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to keep the food club running, below are some important considerations to consider before joining.
Membership fees - First order for new members the fee is waived
Good - $5 per order = up to $85/yr (approx 17 per year) pay only when ordering
Better - $6 per month = $72 = due every month even if no order (can be changed in March)
Best - Annual (April to March) $50 - prorated mid-year
● On average, 20% is added to the actual cost of your order. This helps us cover the time, energy & cost to run the food club.
● Members of Valley Pantry are asked to purchase a minimum $100 on every order placed with the large distributors (Pro-organics, UNFI, HORIZON Grocery) (not including local orders). We realize that we do take vacations, so those times would be exceptions up to 3 times per year is generally acceptable, if you’d be away for an extended period please let us know.
● Products are sorted and stored for pick up in Howden, delivery is available for a fee.
*For the first 6 months, new members are required to prepay their estimated total before the order is placed.
Unfortunately we have had new members join, order, and then abandon the club without paying. To keep the group running and viable, we have implemented the new members pre-payment policy, requiring new members to send payment before we submit the order.
Ordering $300 or less requires full estimated total
Orders over $300 requires a minimum 50% deposit when order is placed. Or keep a deposit on their account of $200.
How to Order
To place your order, fill in the online order pages, on the FoodClub website before the order close date and time. Once you place your order, consider it “bought.” You can change your order until the deadline is reached.
When ordering from the large distributors, we as a group order together to fill a case. For example a case may include 100 gala apples, when you are ordering you can choose the minimum amount of apples you want and the maximum amount of apples you want, or the exact amount you want.
Another example might be a case of canned Tomato Soup, a full case is 24 cans of soup, on your ordering database you can choose between ordering the full case, or part of the case like the example with the apples, choosing a minimum of say 8 cans and a maximum of 12 cans.
If 80% of the case is full then the order is placed (with a few exceptions), the other 20% is either divided to the members who were ordering that case, or in some instances may goes to in-stock items for purchase at a later date (AKA Linda’s store). This means sometimes you will get a couple more or less apples than you may have asked for in order for the group to benefit from filing the case and thus being able to order the food.
After the deadline, orders are compiled, and placed with the suppliers. The order ships from the distributor/farmer/ supplier and arrives at our pick up location.
Once our order arrives, it is “sorted,” and then picked up by our members (or delivered as requested for a fee). At this time, we are planning for a Monday pick up day. (otherwise it’s by arrangement).
Payment
We currently accept interac e-transfer or cash.
Every member’s order is reviewed and potentially adjusted for:
● extras needed to fill a case (ordered if filled 80% or more as mentioned above),
● Shorted items if more than enough for a case, but not enough for the next case.
● short shipments (sometimes what we order is “shorted” meaning the distributor ran out of the
product)
● weighed items, adjusted when rec'd and assigned to members
● spoiled or substandard food (we claim any food that is spoiled, damaged or rotten)
● additional purchases made at time of pick up. (You can purchase extras from in-stock items)
Committed members can carry a small balance or credit (less than $20) over to the next order.
It is a very different way to shop – members find they pay much more attention to the food they eat, and waste less. It does take a few orders to get into the “swing” of shopping this way – but with access to more choices, the amount of time saved, and the monetary savings are worth it for many families.
How to Order Video
The video below was recored live on zoom for new members to show them how to order using the food club software. Video length is 1:07. TIP: you can go to settings to speed up the playback to reduce the total viewing time.
Ordering Schedule
We have an order schedule for the big distributors that provide us with a variety of items such as fresh produce, baking goods, pasta, canned/packaged foods, frozen foods, and household items. Rotating between various suppliers gives us access to a large variety of foods and household products.
Special order cycles for meat, honey, dried fruits & nuts, spices, other foods and even other items occur less regularly and may be based on availability or interest.
Each distributor has a minimum amount that is required to place the order and for free shipping (preferable to get more food than to pay for shipping!)
Produce, and dry goods - every 3 weeks.
Pantry other chilled and frozen foods & household - distributors are rotated - every 3 weeks
Supplements, superfoods, wellness, personal care, etc. - every 3 weeks
Locals - meats, dairy, pasta, cheese, and so much more - every 3 weeks
Special Orders: TBA
Ready to Join?
If you have read through the website and watched the "How to Order" video(s), and you feel like the club is the right fit for you, please contact Linda to have your account set up.
Email the following details to ValleyPantryOrganics@gmail.com
Full Name(s)
Physical Address
Email Address
Phone Numbers - home/cell
Who referred you
Please indicate that you have read through the website and watched the video