By Sarah Christensen, General Manager, Co-op Owner
October is my anniversary month for working at the Co-op. This year I celebrated 15 years! Crazy, right? Especially since I’m only 29! Fifteen years ago (2003) I moved to Mt. Pleasant to attend CMU and be closer to my sister. My son, Mason, was just over a year old. We first came to GreenTree on a visit to Mt. P. Then, when I moved to town, I asked about working here. I had been working at Whole Foods in West Bloomfield. I was told that in order to be considered for a job, I had to volunteer first. So I did.
Every Tuesday I’d bring Mason and load up my car with GreenTree’s recyclables and take them to the MRF. On Thursdays I’d come in and bag and label bulk items, handwritten of course. I also helped label newsletters. Eventually, I was hired and the rest is history.
Because October always has me thinking about my anniversary and reflecting on my time here, I started to think about my favorite products and wanted to share them with you, but I also wanted to be scientific about it. So, I searched through my sales data to see what products I actually bought the most of this year.
So here it is, my unfiltered Top 15:
#1 Florida’s Natural Orange Juice: This is a whole family favorite in my house. But if I’m being honest, it’s my youngest son, Owen, that drinks it the most. You’re never guaranteed a glass of OJ when he’s home. We like Florida’s Natural because it tastes good, always, (not from concentrate) and Florida’s Natural is a growers cooperative.
#2 Meadowlark Eggs (Another family favorite): There are mornings that we go through almost a whole dozen eggs for breakfast. Meadowlark is a local, Amish farm. Their chickens are free-range and non-GMO. When we first started getting eggs from them, I used to drive out and pick them up every week. I can tell you that the chickens were absolutely free-range—they were literally running around everywhere.
#3 Unreal Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups: These delicious, little individually wrapped peanut butter cups never make it to my house. I’m guilty of eating one almost every day at lunch. I love how the peanut butter has a little bit of salt and a little bit of crunch.
#4 Rudi’s Multi Grain Oat Bread: It’s not white, like the kids would like, but it passes the taste test and has organic whole grains.
#5 Bananas: We are a house of smoothie drinkers so that is where most of our bananas end up. Here’s our family recipe:
- ½ cup Brown Cow Maple Yogurt
- ½ cup Florida’s Natural OJ
- ½ frozen banana
- ¼ cup frozen blueberries
- ¼ cup frozen strawberries
#6 Navel Oranges: Yum!
#7 Curry Chicken Salad: This is the deli item I buy the most. I bring a salad for lunch most days and sometimes I add the Curry Chicken to my green salad for extra flavor and protein.
#8 Applegate Farms Sliced Turkey: With 3 teenagers in the house, there are days when 5 turkey sandwiches head out the door every morning.
#9 Lemons: Lemon water is an early morning detoxifying way to put pep in your step!
#10 Kiwi: One of my greatest accomplishments as a parent is that one of my children will eat the skin on the kiwi, so they make an easy to pack lunch snack.
#11 Brown Cow Whole Milk Maple Yogurt: See also smoothie recipe.
#12 GreenTree Deli Soup, 12oz: Every Wednesday I get the world famous GreenTree Laksa soup. It’s my favorite! I also really like the Blushing Cauliflower (Mondays) and the New England Clam Chowder (Fridays).
#13 Luna Bar Nutz over Chocolate: I was surprised that these made the list because I don’t think of them as a personal or family favorite, but I definitely stock up when they’re 5 for $5.
#14 Grapes: Red-Grapes are delicious. ☺
#15 Applegate Farms Chicken and Maple Sausage: My son loves these so much that we used to have a tradition on his birthday that for whatever age he was turning he could have that number of sausages for breakfast. We stopped when he turned 10 because there are 10 in the box. I like them because they’re delicious and they don’t have pork casing.
Thanks for listening! Thanks for your patronage and support all these years! GreenTree really is a place made by the community and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. ☺