Affordable produce stand now offering both walk-in and shuttle service

Arvada Press | Rylee Dunn | June 10, 2024

n a move aimed at making locally sourced produce more accessible for everyone, the Arvada Veggie Van has opened a brick-and-mortar store in Vance Street Flats, an affordable housing complex near Olde Town.

The Veggie Van was started in 2017 as an idea to foster the availability of local agriculture in areas determined to be food deserts. The project began as a mobile farm stand that focused primarily on neighborhoods around the Gold Line corridor, according to Shelley Cook, CDOT’s District 2 Commissioner and the organizer of the Veggie Van.

While the Veggie Van moved into its permanent home in April, it still utilizes a customized extra-long golf cart to bring produce to folks who can’t easily get down to the Flats. The mobile farm stand’s schedule can be found on ArvadaVeggieVan.com.

Cook said that the average price of produce sold at the Veggie Van is 53 cents per pound. SNAP cards are accepted at the Van, which cuts the price in half.

The Veggie Van disperses meal kits as opposed to simply hawking produce by itself, which Cook says empowers people to incorporate the veggies into their meals.

“We put together recipe kits,” Cook said. “So, everything you need to make a particular recipe is included. We kind of took a cue from (companies like Blue Apron), and also from research that said that one of the hurdles was knowing what to do with a particular veggie and having access to the added ingredients; the oils or spices or other vegetables that you need to make it.

“We hope to lower that hurdle to eating really well, by putting together the kits and then we price really aggressively,” Cook continued.

Read the full article here