Iowa Food Cooperative

09/12/2026

The cart is open until 11:59pm Sunday!

This cabbage is Beeea-utiful! Our fall brassica crops have not been happy with all the rain, but cabbage is strong and is rocking it.
You need some. You need lots- it keeps so well in the fridge!
Three ways to get it:
At the farm- open Friday till 5, or use the online order form.
At the Iowa Food Cooperative
At the Ames Main Street Farmers' Market
We appreciate you! And are proud to be your farmer!

09/12/2026

PRODUCER HIGHLIGHT:

We just have one question: How do they do it all? Pleasant Grove Homestead has one of the most varied businesses of all our farmers. Their beautiful product photos have definitely caught your eye if you've ever shopped with us.

Ashley and Zachary Wenke started PGH in 2017 in Montezuma, Iowa. Eggs, honey, and fruit trees were the beginning of their food journey. 9 years later, the operation has expanded massively. Vegetables and meats joined their catalog, all grown without chemicals or antibiotics.

A new location in Fremont has grown their footprint from 6.5 acres to 37! We're excited to see what comes next for these farmers.

Produce, eggs, chicken, and pork are currently listed online. Shop Pleasant Grove Homestead before the cart closes on Sunday!

09/11/2026

Yum! This class is next weekend 🙌

Our September Harvest cooking class is coming up next week! We are going to be learning how to make the most of this season's harvest 🍅🫑🌶️ Taking inspiration from both French and African cuisines, Natalie will be demonstrating how to make a baked ratatouille with a flavorful oil and dressing. This dish highlights tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and lenga lenga, all of which can be found across Iowa.

You'll learn how to best prepare, cook, and dress local produce to make it your own! After the class we will enjoy the meal together.

Register through the link in our bio, pay what you can! 🎟

Saturday, September 19th | 5:00-6:30 PM
Hosted at the

09/09/2026

Ready for soup season? If you haven't been saving your veggie scraps to make stock, start now! Local veggies from the Co-op (or your home garden) are too precious to waste. You can easily repurpose them for soup or cooking grains like rice by making stock.

Keep scraps in the freezer until you have enough for a batch of stock. Most veggies work great, but avoid strong flavors like bitter greens.

When you're ready to make stock, the frozen vegetables will release their flavor quickly. They only need about 15 minutes in the water! If you're using meat or bones, simmer those first.

The cart is open this week! Make a plan to use all of the veggies, even their scraps 💚

09/07/2026

We will labor on Labor Day. Many of our members need to pick up their orders a little late and we hate to waste beautiful food! Open from 1-6 pm today so please stop in!

09/06/2026

Members, did you catch our email yesterday? The annual membership renewal fee is increasing from $10 to $30 next month.

Member and shopping fees are how we pay our bills, from rent to website hosting. We needed to make this change - our member fees have been the same since 2008! That's 18 years with no fee inflation; now we're trying to catch up.

If you're due for renewal, shop in September to get the $10 rate. Even if you haven't shopped since 2022, your account still exists and can be renewed for just $10.

If the new $30 fee is a barrier to you, please reach out. And remember that EBT card holders have access to a fee-free membership! Bring your active EBT card to your next pickup to have your account switched over.

p.s. The cart is open now for online shopping!

09/04/2026

It’s Friday!!

That means go time for us at the bakery!! We have custom orders to decorate and of course fresh bread and snack drops at multiple locations!! Today we dropped fresh items at:

✔️ Eleven101 Collective, fresh focaccia minis in Cheddar, Asiago and Garlic Parmesan 🤤
✔️ Iowa Food Cooperative, too many to mention but plenty of breads, crackers, snacks and mini pies! 🥧
✔️ West Forty Market, focaccia minis, biscuits and English muffins!!
✔️ Uptown Dairy, fresh mini cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip banana muffins!!

Get out and enjoy your Friday, don’t forget to shop local!!

09/04/2026

Why does produce from the Co-op come in bags?

We aim to connect our members directly to the producers they buy from, giving much-needed transparency in food.

We are accountable to our producers. We pay farmers and makers reliably, every 2 weeks, for all of the product sold in the previous cycle.

Therefore, we need to track exactly what was sold AND who it came from. Some farmers sell by weight, others by the piece, and others by the pint or quart. Barcode stickers help us make transactions quickly and accurately, even with multiple options for peppers in store.

Bags are our solution for:

1. Grouping produce into units for sale
2. Applying barcode stickers for irregular shapes
3. Keeping things fresh, without a fancy produce mister

If you look closely, you'll notice that many bags are actually compostable! You can use commercial service Compost Ninja through the Co-op. Buy the compost refill kit ($5.75 for 2 liner bags) and take your compostable waste to our bin behind the building.

💚 TL;DR
The bags serve a purpose, and some producers use compostable options. We’re still your low-waste local grocery source!

Stop in store this weekend for super fresh veggies:
Friday 12-6pm
Saturday 10am-2pm

09/03/2026

Friday’s Mini Market vendor!

HEYYYYYYYYYY This Friday at the Iowa Food Cooperative

09/02/2026

You can get award-winning cheese curds through the Co-op 🤩 Online only, the cart opens on Sunday!

🏆 Another one for the trophy case!

Our White Cheddar Cheese Curds came home winners at the World Dairy Expo this past week.

We’re pretty excited for this one. From the cows to the creamery, a lot of work goes into making cheese we’re proud to put our name on.

This award season has been good to us, time to make room for another trophy!