A month ago I told you all that Angel Food Ministries was coming to my area. I ordered a signature box and a produce box, and I promised to let you know what I thought. I picked up my boxes a couple of weeks ago, and now that I’ve tried the food, I’m ready to give you my opinion.
Ordering from Angel Food Ministries
There are three ways to order from Angel Food Ministries. You can order directly from their website, though you will incur a $2.00 processing fee. You can also call the host church to place your order. And the third way to order is to give the pickup site next month’s order when you pick up your box.
I chose to order from the website, since I couldn’t seem to remember to call during church office hours. The process was straightforward, and I even got some money off by using a coupon code from retailmenot! If you order off the internet, though, make sure to print off your receipt. You may need it at pick up.
Picking Up Your Angel Food Box
My original pickup was scheduled for 8-11 am on a Saturday morning. A day or two before pickup, I received an email and a phone call from the pickup site (Table Rock Christian Fellowship, for you locals) to let me know that the time had changed to 6:30-8 pm. Apparently the truck would be arriving later than they thought. That was no problem for me, but I imagine others might have been inconvenienced. After all, if you don’t pick up your box during the allotted time, it gets donated. I don’t think the time change will be a problem from here on out, though. I believe 6:30-8 is the new permanent time.
I was a little concerned that I’d have to wait in line for a while to pick up my box, especially since they’d gone from a 3 hour pickup window to a 1.5 hour time slot. But I was wrong.
I arrived at 6:30, and a large team of very organized workers was there to meet me. They cheerfully checked me in and told me where to pick up my food. For my signature box food, I took an empty box down an assembly line of workers, and as each worker put one or two items in my box, they’d check them off a list. The list was handed to me at the end, so I knew I had everything I needed.
To get my produce box, I had to go to another table, and I was handed an already-prepared box of produce. Throughout pickup, cheery workers asked me if I needed assistance with directions or with the boxes. After I picked up my boxes, I had to “check out,” which was basically signing a form, saying I’d received what I was supposed to receive. It was really pleasant and easy.
The Food
I haven’t tasted all the food yet, but I’ve had a fairly good sampling of it. The produce was really fresh, and most of it is still good a week and a half later. I did receive one bad radish out of the whole box, but that happens in the grocery store, too, so I’m not going to complain. The tomatoes were a little under-ripe, too. The salad dressing and croutons were top-notch!
As far as the signature box goes, the food I’ve tasted so far has been pretty good. We’ve eaten the lasagna, the breaded fish, and the steaks. I wouldn’t say it’s the best food I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t gross, either. It was pretty middle-of-the-road. We also ate the pumpkin pie, which tasted good, even after I cooked it wrong. A word of warning about the pies. The package says to refrigerate, but they’re frozen pies! So my pumpkin pie filling turned to liquid in the refrigerator before I opened the box and figured out it was supposed to go straight from the freezer to the oven. I had to look up baking directions online. But it still tasted great!
Angel Food Ministries – The Verdict
While I won’t be ordering the signature box every month, I think it’s a helpful ministry and a good value for families who don’t have a lot of money, don’t have time or skills to cook from scratch, and don’t mind eating a bit of processed food. I will probably order again, as a way to stock my freezer with quick foods for busy school nights. I don’t mind using the Angel Food Signature Box to supplement my grocery shopping, but I wouldn’t want to eat strictly what’s offered in the box.
I thought the produce box was a great value! We received a LOT of produce for the money, and it was all pretty fresh (except for the one radish). This month they’re offering fresh pineapple as part of the produce box, so I think I’ll order one!
Photo: Picture of almost all the contents of the two boxes I ordered. Missing were some sausage and some frozen zucchini.
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We have this ministry at my church and let me tell you, it has helped me out so much. With this economy my hours were drastically cut & money has been tight. The produce is great and the price is right! I’m not a meat eater so I can’t speak to any other items.
We have used this service for years now. I take the menu they give out and plan my meals before I even pick up the boxes. Then I just fill in with special from the grocery store. There has only been a couple of times when the produce was bad. One time the onion were frozen and when they thawed they were mush and that happened to the potatoes also. But all in all it has worked out great for us.
Thank you for reviewing this service! Turns out there are tons of locations in my area, so I will be trying the Signature package this month :)
WE HAVE THIS SERVICE IN A TOWN ABOUT 25 MILES AWAY. IT REALLY DOES HELP OUT. SOME FOOD IS GOOD SOME NOT BUT DOES HELP OUT IN A PINCH. YOU ARE HELPING YOURSELF AND THE CHURCH I BELIEVE THE CHURCH GETS $1.00 FOR EACH BOX SO ITS A GOOD SERVICE.
I’m so glad to see a review of this. DH and I have been considering ordering for a while now, but always chicken out thinking the food won’t be very good.
I’m glad you pointed out they now offer produce-only and other varieties of packages! That’s really helpful.
I might consider ordering a box or several when I have a newborn in the house. Cuz who wants to even think about menu planning or grocery shopping then?
And surely even the processed stuff would taste better than McDonald’s :)
I have been told if you receive any bad items (fruit that is not fresh or squashed) to let them know they seem very eager to please and fix order. I pass their site out often and think its a great thing
I purchased food from Angel Food for the first time a week ago. I was highly impressed with the organization of the program. I was on a time crunch and when I pulled into the large church parking lot and I saw all the cars, I thought….uh oh. No worries. There are so many wonderful and helpful “runners” to help you and walk you everywhere you need to go. I got to the church at 9 and by 9:15 I was back into my vehicle and a friendly young man was loading it for me! The food is great. I purchased a “Bountiful Blessings” box and one “Bit o’ Blessing” box and everything has been great. There was one casserole dish that was a bit plain for my taste but I chopped up some onion and added a bit of salt and it was good to go. I have every intention of purchasing even more in January. This is not an income based program, it is a cooperative program that wants more people to buy so they can buy more food at even lower prices. I have read that some people, when they go to pick up a box, might be asked to join a prayer circle. That was not the case where I picked up in Minnesota. I did receive a flyer inviting me to come to Christmas services and I did overhear a volunteer inviting someone to church but there was absolutely no hard sell at all.
If you are a person who loves to cook a lot from scratch or might be a picker eater, then this may not be the program for you. But if you are a meat and potatoes or casserole kinda family, give it a try. Between this program and Aldi’s I have saved a significant amount of money on food.
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