This list is meant to highlight ways to get locally-sourced (or at least regional) food without going to the farmer’s market or grocery store and without relying on ‘gig-based’ businesses. This is intended for people who have an income, want to support small businesses, and are interested in local foods (but are not at the level where they know the first names of local farmers for instance). After sharing this list with one of my labs at UC San Diego, I had requests from several people to share it more widely, so I’m posting it here for whoever finds it useful. Operations with asterisks are ones that I’ve patronized myself.
If you need help affording food, one good list of resources is maintained by Edible San Diego. Additionally, check out The Triton Food Pantry if you’re affiliated with UC San Diego.
General Grocery Delivery
- ASAP Produce*: In other times known as Pushkin Russian Restaurant, this Gaslamp restaurant was one of the first restaurants in San Diego to turn around its stock and start a grocery delivery service with an online ordering system. They’re more equitable than using a gig-based service, do same day delivery, and they have almost all typical grocery store stuff in stock plus Eastern European delicacies (their honey cake and kvas have both got the stamp of approval of my Latvian-Russian confederates). They also have facemasks, toilet paper, toothpaste, and just about anything you’d need from a typical grocer, except perhaps baby supplies. They’re constantly adding things to their list, and have changed their website a couple times, so make sure to double check that you’ve found the option to tip the delivery person!
- Market Box: This is a local collator based in El Cajon that delivers locally-sourced plant-based foods, mostly from around San Diego county. They have fresh produce, but also locally-produced tempeh, nut cheeses, gluten-free bread, and things that you would expect pair with that kind of thing. Delivery (Thursdays and Sundays) is a flat $15 anywhere in the county. Nearly every item from them contains allergens that I can’t have in my house, so I don’t have experience actually using them, but this is probably worth it for those who have the privilege of maintaining a plant-based diet and the money for delivery.
Produce and Grocery Pick-Up
- Specialty Produce*: They operate a ‘farmer’s market box’ system that doesn’t require a subscription, you sign up a week at a time and pick it up the box just inside the door to the building. The basic, large produce box is $20, with add-on options being added everyday. As of late April, you can add on everything from eggs to heritage flours to fresh squeezed juice. If you want to enter into the warehouse, they also have just about any grocery item you’d want — dairy, meat, flour — in addition to the typical produce. They’re the most hygenic public produce source I know, they required gloves to enter the building BEFORE COVID-19, had put up plexiglass shields in mid-March. Keep in mind this place isn’t built as a family grocer, so try to be in-an-out. If you are craving specific, unusual produce items, you’re in luck, because you can check their inventory online and check if it’s in stock ahead of time. The weirder produce is still in the back of the warehouse, but they’ve put up a very conveniently organized selection of ‘typical’ stuff out front so you don’t have to go looking.
Produce Delivery
A lot of our local CSA (community supported agriculture) programs have switched from farmer’s market pickup to home delivery. However…. Many of the smaller ones have waitlists, and if you’re not a CSA kind of person already, it might be harder to adjust to having the narrower options and the up-front commitment of joining a small CSA makes available to you. I definitely encourage people to find a CSA that works for them, but for many, a ‘virtual farmer’s market’ that collates produce from several farms is going to be an easier transition.
- https://www.dailyharvestexpress.com: This is one of the more polished and user-friendly options — they deliver all over the county, they get food from a range of local producers, you can cancel whenever you want. I haven’t actually used them, but they have a lot of options relative to smaller produce box operations; you can add eggs, cheese, tortillas, bread, etc. for an added fee. It’s not the cheapest way to get your groceries, but not the most pricey. Also consider that for a lot of college-kid or singleton-type lifestyles a ‘small’ or ‘medium’ box every other week is probably more than enough produce for you.
Fish Pickup
- Tuna Harbor Dockside Market*: Is still open every Saturday downtown! They are trying to implement a system where you can order online (https://www.thdocksidemarket.com/shop) and pick-up from a booth at the front of the pier. However, they only have a couple items online at a time, so you may want to walk through the market. You can always check what’s going to be available for the week by checking their website or their social media accounts. Just remember that, even if the market is outdoors, it can get windy — so give people some space!
- Catalina Offshore*: Off the 5 by Mission Bay, this fish market ships anywhere and now does curbside pick-up as well (you have to call ahead and know what you’re looking for). They use some local and some non-local fish, but is well known as a source for sushi-grade fish among other things.
Fish Delivery
- Haworth Fishing*: They recently added a website that lets you order fish for delivery as soon as the boat comes in! Probably the best deals you are ever going to get on fresh tuna ($10/pound), opah ($10/pound), caught by San Diego fishermen and fisherwomen. They are very friendly and very responsive if you message them on Facebook and can get you cuts other than the typical loin if you want (they even have opah abductor or ‘flank’ which is from a fish but is not dissimilar to beef if you’re trying to cut down on meat).
- For prawns, shellfish, squid, octopus etc., there are local fishing operations like Saraspe Seafoods that are delivering now. These items tends to be a bit more luxurious and are priced accordingly and sell-out fast, but worth it if you have a celebration coming up!
Coffee and Tea
- Cafe Moto* is my preferred local coffee — they ship a wide range of coffee with whatever grind you want. Most other big roasters are open for delivery or shipping, with the exception of Bird Rock which is going on hiatus until May. If you need have a coffee machine, consider buying one from a local shop rather than ordering from Amazon or other large online retailers! It might cost a little more, but will help out some local businesses (Better buzz* has a lot of gear, like this $20.99 French Press and vanilla powder).
- American House Coffee and Tea*, the shop in the park at Old Town, is open and currently shipping! Point Loma Tea is as well. I think American House has more variety for flavored teas (and sells vanilla extract!) but Point Loma might have more legit straight-ahead teas (and sells tea-making gear).
- Mad Monk Tea*, in OB, ships single source tea, grown in Taiwan. It’s maybe the most serious tea shop in town, which is great if you’re into that. For some, it may be too serious. It’s the kind of place you could imagine certain professors would hang out at, and maybe get into an argument about the embodied cognitive experience of wine tasting.
Alcohol
Be happy that San Diego, a center for craft distilling as well as brewing, is now home to many distilleries that have switched to producing hand sanitizer. Most are donating their supplies or selling in bulk to first-responders, etc.., but a couple will sell direct to the public. If you have family that work for an org or business that really needs supplies, it might be worth emailing the distilleries directly.
For drinking, there are of course lots of options, from alcohol distributors that ship, to local liquor stores, to to-go alcohol with meals, but here’s a couple highlights.
- Rich’s of San Diego: Yes, the Rich’s of gay club fame, has turned into a Drive Thru Disco Liquor Store. They also deliver. Get the same club drinks you love to convert into dancefloor sweat, but at home.
- Collins & Coupe*: The home bartending store on El Cajon St. will deliver mixers, syrups and cocktail equipment to your door. They have also partnered up with Mock It San Diego* to deliver freshly prepared craft mocktails to your door (just add alcohol to go from mocktail to cocktail)! Order by Thursday and they deliver Friday afternoon in time for Happy Hour.
Flour
- Specialty Produce* has hella flour… However, some caveats: They sell GIANT bags of flour that’d be too much for most people. They sell small bags of flour, but those aren’t stocked so well. They also sell flour in bulk from bins that you scoop out — that might be great for a lot of people, but, eg., I can’t do that for allergy cross-contamination reasons. If you get a Farmer’s Market Box, you can actually add flour (and polenta/farro/wild rice depending on the week). However, this flour is only sold in 2lb bags for $9 each, which is pricey for flour. They’re not price gauging… It’s Tehachapi Grain Project flour that is produced with drought-tolerant, heritage wheat in low quantities, so the price reflects that.
- ASAP Produce* has flour! But bear in mind: They have restaurant sized supply that they dole out into 5lb Ziploc bags manually, so if you have allergy concerns, you’re may be alright, but you won’t be able to see the label (when asked, they said they use GM flour and Monarch flour).
- Hayden Mills* of Phoenix, Ariz.; Grist and Toll* of LA; Central Milling of Petaluma are sustainable, heritage grain flour mills that ship. All have a backlog for a lot of things, so check your expectations for shipping time!
- If you want to support indigenous, Ramona Farms of Ariz. is a Akimel O’odham owned farm that ships (sort of pricy) wheat flour, corn meal, and pinole.
- Bow and Arrow, operated by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Col., makes and delivers corn meal.
Dried Beans
- Ramona Farms is known for their heirloom tepary beans and also sell garbanzos.
- Lompoc Beans* delivers reasonably priced dried beans. They aren’t as local, but I’m biased as I grew up in Lompoc, were the Lompoc Valley Seed and Milling Co. has been an institution for most of a century and where the central coast’s pinquito bean is an essential part of our culinary legacy.
- Rio del Rey Heirloom Beans, from North County San Diego, should ship things (with reasonable prices), though they don’t have social media, and their website is pretty old, so best to give them a call first…
Dried Fruits
- Traina Foods* is a family-owned producer of dried tomatoes (probably the best I’ve had) and fruits out of the Central Valley that’s been operating nearly a century. They have some of the most re-assuring allergen cross-contamination statements you will ever see. Having a hard time storing and using up fresh fruit before it goes bad? Consider the classic approach and use quality preserved alternatives!
Meats
I grew up in a family that would buy portions of a steer from a ranch and have them butcher and deliver to us occasionally, so I’m used to having frozen meat at the ready. For a lot of people, buying meat in such large quantities might seem exorbitant, but as you look at prices, etc., try to keep in mind that you can eat these over the course of months. Thankfully, places like Da-Le Ranch offer options that aren’t quite as big as a quarter of a cow
- Da-Le Ranch* of Lake Elsinore will deliver within San Diego City (if you normally go to farmers markets, these are the ladies with the huge freezers of meat). You have to get 10lbs of meat (beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, pork, lots of options), and $125 of meat might seem like a big investment, but that’s what freezers are made for (or share with your neighbor), and the price is actually pretty good considering it is quality, Calif. raised meats.
- Carrisito Ranch of Santa Ysabel offers butcher boxes of beef which average around $10/lb. They also sell pork… but you’ll have to be in the market for 200lbs+ for that.
- If you want to have set yourself up with #beefgoals for your future or really commit to meat, there’s several ranches nearby where you can buy beef by the quarter animal. Some are smaller and you’d have to cultivate a personal relationship. Sage Mountain Beef* up in Anza is an accessible operation that offers both whole cow portions, as well as beef CSAs. The CSA requires you to subscribe for at least 6 months, and every month they send 5, 10 or 15lbs of beef your way.
Cheese
- Specialty Produce* and ASAPproduce* have a decent array of reasonably-priced cheeses for everyday use!
- Local cheesemonger chain Venissimo* has specialty cheeses and delivers across San Diego for $10 delivery fee and with $30 minimum. They offer a wide range of cheese, and a range of prepared cheese and snack trays. They work with Specialty Produce’s Farmer’s Market Box program and offer a weekly cheese through them as well.