Fresh City Farms

I absolutely love Fresh City Farms. My husband and I get a weekly vegetable/​fruit delivery for 2 people and we have been impressed with everything that they have sent. Produce is fresh, delicious and free of unnecessary packaging. Having our groceries delivered has been such a godsend in terms of convenience and saving time in our busy schedules and it’s a really great feeling knowing that the food we eat is organic, sustainable and good for us! We love the online function letting us replace some items in each bag as often as we wish with no extra charge. I also find that the bags are very reasonably priced and comparable to what I would spend at a Longo’s or Metro — oftentimes we cannot even finish what they send us and have to put our next bag on hold. It’s also been a great experience in terms of trying out produce that we haven’t tried before.
Props also to their excellent customer service! Delivery instructions to leave the bag at the concierge at our condo in downtown Toronto has so far been seamless. Keep up the good work!

Joining Fresh City Farms is one of the best food-​related decisions I have ever made. Having tried other meal services and been disappointed with the overall variety and quality of the food, I was finally ready to start cooking at home during the week.
My stipulations were:
* Must be fresh and preferably contain organic produce
* Must be reasonably priced ($ 10 a meal per person, or under) and provide home delivery service
* Must be able to cook the meals in under an hour
I gave Fresh City Farms a try back in August and haven’t looked back. The produce is always fresh and of the highest quality. The few times there have been issues with produce quality, the team has been quick to respond and resolve the issue by applying an account credit.
All of the meals have been well thought out, creative and used ingredients I wouldn’t normally cook with (quinoa, tempeh, rice noodles). The variety is also second-​to-​none, in four months I have had only a few repeat meals. The rest have been brand new.
I also love how I no longer need to go to the grocery store three or four times a week. The meals are delivered to my door in cooler bags. The meats are frozen and delivered on ice, ready to go straight into my freezer. I love how each meal bag is portioned as it completely avoids wastage — if the recipe requires two eggs and a half an onion, that’s what comes in the bag. My pet peeve was buying huge portions of vegetables and dairy and throwing it away since it usually went bad before I had a chance to use it all.
The one thing I wasn’t entirely convinced about was the pantry service, where you can pick individual grocery items to add to your bag. I found they were more expensive than buying locally, and didn’t really add much value other than the convenience factor. The portions (cheese, milk, eggs) were also quite small for the price paid, but I guess this comes with most organic produce.
If you are on the fence about this service, I highly recommend you try it out. Check out their website and Facebook page for coupons, they often have deals for first time customers to try the service out.

Fantastic! My husband and I just got our first recipe bag and loved both meals! It’s incredibly convenient to have all makings for two meals put together for you. The fact that it’s organic and supporting local farms and businesses makes this a great service. Well worth it and will continue!

I had such a great experience with Fresh City Farms. I still can’t believe how fresh their products are! And affordable! Check out my experience with them (my post is too long so you gotta check out my blog post — if you are curious). :)

I love Fresh City Farms. We’ve subscribed for a few years now and I am always impressed at how the team is always innovating the website, and offerings to customers. I love the quality and diversity of the produce. If we could eat more, I’d order more, but the veggie/​fruit bag every other week is perfect for our small family of 3. The website is easy to use, payments are also easy and clear. There’s nothing I don’t like. I think Fresh City is far superior than the other organic delivery companies out there.

I’ve been a subscriber of Fresh City’s fruit and veggie bags for a few years now and have never been happier with the produce and service. At first, my partner and I began with biweekly deliveries for both the fear of not being able to finish everything as well as the love for grocery shopping at local businesses. Over time, we grew (and continue to grow) to enjoy incorporating fresh produce into all of our meals and eat more fresh food now than ever.
That swell of hope quickly followed by disappointment when the door of the empty fridge is swung open hardly comes around anymore. Every week, we look forward to receiving a new bounty, which now conveniently includes dairy and pantry items. During especially busy times, the additional tub of yogourt, litre of milk, and dozen eggs really saves us a lot of time.
Being introduced to new produce once in a while has also really opened the door to interesting conversations with friends, neighbours, and co-​workers (who we often share our culinary creations with). Before Fresh City delivered them to us, a number of delicious produce including Jerusalem artichokes, tomatillos, spaghetti squash, and garlic scapes sat on my «to try» list for years. Between Fresh City’s accompanying recipes and internet searches, dishes that come from our kitchen are more inspired than ever.
Thank you and keep up the great work, Fresh City Farms!

We had signed up for Fresh City about 18 months ago, and really, really liked it for at least the first year. The produce, the variety and quality, the delivery and customer service were all great (5 stars back then).
Unfortunately, over that last few months the quality of the produce we received has consistently declined, so much that we finally decided to pull the plug on it.
Produce that was nowhere close to being ready to be picked, or already started spoiling in our delivery bag, to produce that was simply sicklish: From one case maybe once a month we went to something being obviously wrong in every single bag, and somehow I figure that this might be due to FreshCity Farm’s success (and I really do wish for them to be successful), and them not being able to handle the increased volume, both in terms of sourcing acceptable produce and handling it.
I might give them another go in the future, to see whether things have improved. In the meantime I prefer to buy all my organic/​local produce myself.

Great company. The produce is always in good condition. Tons of add-​on options (milk, eggs, pantry items) and a do-​not-​send list option.
Customer service has been amazing so far. I’ve had one quality issue with an item in my bag, and they credited me the amount, no questions asked. It was very easy to suspend the service for a week when I was away and resume it when I returned.
I pick up my bag from Ideal Coffee on Ossington, and this week I forgot to go on my pick-​up day. They kept the forgotten bags overnight (I wasn’t the only one), and I was able to go in the next day and get it. Everything was still in perfect condition.
*photos are of small veggie bag

Where do I begin?! I was incredibly unsatisfied with fresh city farms! The amount of produce you receive is not nearly worth the money you pay, every time you have a question or an issue, their ‘member support’ number never connects you to a person and you have to leave a message which they rarely reply to, and the only option to pay is via pay pal which fresh city farms kept saying that there was something wrong with my credit card. There isn’t anything wrong with my credit card, I use it all the time, so clearly the issue is with pay pal, but Fresh City Farms insisted that it was an issue with my card. When I e-​mailed them to try to arrange an alternative payment option, I never heard back, even though their automatic message reply says they ‘aim to reply within the next business day at the latest’. When they did finally contact me, it was regarding my outstanding balance and that I still owe it (which I already knew!), instead of a reply to my query regarding an alternate payment method. I had to cancel my service after two weeks and am in the process of looking for another provider.

We have been Fresh City Farms customers for almost two years now. With a little one at home, we knew we’d be cooking more often and wanted to diversity our veggie choices and support local farmers. Here are the things we love:
— Weekly recipe cards to showcase creative options for using the food
— Lots of local vendor options (Sweet and Sour Tofu from a vendor at St. Lawrence Market is a weekly addition for us)
— Flower delivery, having a weekly or bi-​weekly flower bouquet delivered is a good value given what you’d pay for delivery from a flower shop, and is always very creative and also locally grown (no flying flowers half way around the world)
— Easy online account management/​holds/​etc.

After starting with fresh city during one of their promo offers, I have now been with them for over a year. They consistently put together a great blend of groceries at a fantastic price.
I have done this with a few other companies, but here are some ways I found fresh city better:
— produce was always packed and delivered carefully. Even tender produce is consistently in good condition.
— the one time a product was damaged, a refund credit was put on our account for the loss with minimal hassle
— the web interface for managing your produce is super convenient: delivery holds are simple, modifying your order is a snap
— you can add regular pantry items to be included in your bag for repeat or single delivery. We will often add onions or garlic to our orders, and have milk delivered weekly (biweekly deliveries of specific items are an option too)
— recipe cards and produce info is included with each bag to help you figure out how to prepare some of the produce that may be new to you
— I really appreciate that they are using plots of land that would otherwise be unused, such as lots designated for future development that are sitting empty; even downtown!
— frequent community gatherings such as farm tours and BBQ’s
— pre-​delivery emails are sent a few days prior, giving a heads up as to what is in your delivery so you can plan ahead
Some things to keep in mind if this is new to you:
— the price is low because the farmer’s produce is guaranteed to be sold as it is grown. This means the food doesn’t sit on shelves or end up rotting and being wasted. To me it makes giving up the choice of food quite attractive in return for the low cost and high efficiency
— lots of leafy greens and sprouts will be in your bag all year because they are simple to grow quickly and take up small plots of land for the amount of harvest
— local food is fresher and, of course, supports the local economy
— it can actually help you plan your food for the week, because it helps you narrow the options to certain ingredients without your cooking getting boring
Some specifics I am hoping to see for future development:
— larger delivery zone
— other delivery options tailored to apartment building dwellers who work daytimes
Overall: consistent service and great quality produce. Happy to be with them!

I’m upgrading the star because of their prompt response to my concerns and attempts to win me back. I do appreciate good customer service :)

Went with a friend and we ended up getting hooked.
Instruction was interesting and made it easy — the group that puts this on has a very informed but easy going approach. Lots of know how, but also made it simple
We will be making cranberries for our Xmas gifts this year!

yay! I’m loving fresh city farms! A few years ago I subscribed to another fruit and veggie box but then moved away from Toronto. Now that I’m back I’m so happy to have found Fresh City Farms! The selection is good and I felt like I received a good amount of food. This week I got kale in my basket and was unsure what to do with it, but there was a postcard with a few kale recipes! I love it! Made the kale chips right away.

Last year my fiancé and I went to a canning workshop at
Patagonia where one of the owners from Fresh City introduced us to their box
program. We began subscribing to the weekly delivery program this spring and
are loving it so far. Every week is a fun surprise and it’s forcing us to eat
healthier and more locally — we’re also getting more creative with what we’re
cooking! The bag comes with a good variety of fruits and veggies and is
definitely enough produce for the both of us for the week.
Signing up online was easy (they take PayPal or Cheque) and we
were happy to see that we can skip deliveries in case we go up to the cottage
for a few weeks this summer. We will definitely keep ordering from Fresh City
and may even branch into some of their add-​ons like cheese eventually.

I signed up for this service and was quite excited, despite others’ reviews. We received our first ‘box’ (it was actually in a bag) and were quite disappointed. Due to the weather, a number of items had to be substituted — which was completely understandable. However, the ‘free flowers’ promotion failed to deliver and when I inquired, I was told that the promotion was over now, but they could add some extra produce next week, but could not offer me flowers. Seeing as they offer flowers as an add on, I don’t know why they couldn’t just send flowers the next week.
The quality of the actual produce was mediocre. Maybe I’m spoiled living in downtown Toronto, but the spinach smelled like it had gone rotten as soon as we took it out of the bag, and we soon discovered that large chunks of it had. The remaining pieces were ok, but all looked like they were about to go rotten and needed to be eaten immediately. We regularly eat organic and visit local farmers markets, and I’ve never experienced this before. It made me think that these ‘boxes’ were prepared much farther in advance than I was lead to believe.
We ordered the large fruit and veg box, which mentioned it feeds 2 –4 people. The quantities were quite small and for many of the dishes I would make with those items, I would need to supplement with additional produce. For example, we received one beet with no greens attached. I was looking forward to making a beet quinoa, but needed to buy more beets to make up the 1 cup of chopped beets for the recipe. I’m glad I was only relying on the box to feed my husband and I, because it would never feed 4 people unless you rarely eat veggies.
I cancelled our subscription after this first box, both due to the quantities and the quality. I had high expectations and wish this had come close to delivering on them. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this service.

During my various stints in Toronto over the last couple years I’ve had only positive experiences with Fresh City. Having lived in California, I’ve seen my share of «CSAs». I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to find a CSA like Fresh City in Toronto, but even more impressed to see they have taken it one step further and incorporated (and promoted) urban farming. Not to mention the fact that pulling off an urban farming CSA is a lot more difficult in a Toronto climate than a California one.
Unfortunately, I’m in Boston now; otherwise I’d be counting on Fresh City to keep me fed, and Toronto healthy.

a few of us signed up for box delivery and we have yet to have a week without something missing or already spoilt.
This week’s surprise was a half dozen rotten eggs.
Hmmm from lemons that are mouldy within a week, to wrinkled apples, dried out oranges, soft and mushy potatoes and now green on the inside «farm fresh» eggs. I have never seen food turn so quickly in my life.
I don’t think this has anything to do with items being organic, more susceptible to spoiling and/​or less than perfect, but rather poor food handling and perhaps purchases of end of the line/​past the best before date organics from the food terminal.
I was eager to support this organization (we signed on very early), but these rotten eggs are really the last straw. Do yourself a favour and just buy from your local farmers market.

I suscribed it about 6 weeks back and am VERY HAPPY with the quality of produce. Home delivery option is excellent. Prices are liitle higher than Farmers Market by about 10% but still worth saving time and effort. But for this reason I would have given it 5 Stars.
Year round service is another great feature.
I have paid $ 1,000 advance and got $ 60 credit + $ 19 for first box as new subsriber.
We are a family of 5 adults. A large/​regular box each of vegetables and fruits needs some suplemental buying of individual items like onions, tomatos, garlic, frozen vegetables specific to Indian needs such as okra, karela, beans etc from local stores. Very well organized and informative website makes changes in weekly order very convenient. Try different combinations like large boxe of vegetable and fruit combo or individual large boxes and see what suits your needs and budget best.
Leaving it to them to select the produce in the CSA box makes you learn about and try different varieties of nutrient dense foods.
Meat is missing here which I buy from Fresh from Farms at 350 Donlands Ave. Free Range eggs can be bought from Fresh City Farms ($ 6.25/Doz) and Free Run eggs from Fresh from Farms ($ 4.15/Doz).
I learnt about CSA boxes from Michael Pollan’s book «In Defence of Food». A MUST READ.

I came here for a workshop about growing veggies in the city. It was very informative and interesting, and the people who ran it were more than happy to answer my silly questions during and after the workshop. What I liked the most was the fact that they really understood the challenges of the climate and city we live in, and were able to give great advice for everyone, from home owners to tiny condo dwellers alike.
Though the workshop was mostly aimed for newbies, I still learned some really great pieces of info. It’s definitely worth checking out if you want to get started on gardening in the city, and avoid the whole trial by error thing.