Affordable Groceries for Los Angeles Families

World Harvest Food Bank helps families in Los Angeles stretch their food budgets.  For 35 dollars, you walk out with a shopping cart piled high with food, primarily fruits and veggies.  You get a lot of bang for your buck.

My Mother, Sister and I visited the store on a Saturday morning.  From a previous visit, I knew we would receive far more food than one person could consume so we decided to spilt it three ways.  When you arrive, you are warmly greeted by the Owner and staff.  Founder and Owner, Glen Curado, is hands on with the store.

Once you pay your fee of $35, you are assigned a shopping cart that comes preloaded with some food items.  You can take your time filling the rest of the cart up with their current selection of fruits and veggies; and all the bread you’d like.

World Harvest is the charitable outlet for several super high-end elite food purveyors. They’ve got a substantial selection of artisanal organic produce and products, and Japanese foods. Though we had no expectation, we were hoping to load up on apples, string beans and fruit for juicing and smoothies.

We were lucky to find everything on our list, and more.  My Mother was excited about the case of assorted mushrooms that was preloaded on the bottom rack of our cart.  Another score was the large jackfruit also  preloaded   in the cart.  In the chain supermarkets a jackfruit will cost you around $40.  We wanted to experiment with one but just couldn’t quite plunk down the better half of $50 for experimentation.

There is absolutely no way that you will be able to eat all the fruit and veggies you get on one trip unless you have a very large family.  I suggest before you visit, clean out your fridge and freezer; and be prepared to freeze some of your produce.  Of course, you can always share with friends and neighbors.

Need more food, you can add a second card for another 15 to 30 dollars.  They price the second cart very loosely (no hard-fast rules) and generously.

There is also have another section of the store where you can purchase personal items for the family, i.e. deordorant, toothpaste at a discounted price.

You will find that sometimes the foods are perfectly ripe, and other times a little over-ripe.   On my last trip, I was given a lot of dairy, and name brand green juices with expiration dates within one week.  I gave away a lot of milk, cream and chocolate milk to family but kept the juices as I felt they were safe to use beyond the expiration date.   Do your due diligence for items expiring soon.  Aside from these two issues, it’s a great shopping adventure.

World Harvest is a truly wonderful place. Anybody can shop there, from well-off to hard-up. Your money helps pay their rent, and spreads around help to other people.   If you’re really broke, you can work a few hours and earn your food for free.  The Staff is friendly and seem genuinely happy to be a part of such a good thing.

 World Harvest Food Bank was founded by Glen Curado and located at 3100 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.