I have been part of other food coops in Brooklyn. Yup, that one that is often mocked in the NYT. ( You can mock it but they built a multimillion dollar business so mock it all you want the hippies built a sustainable model for a grocery store with lots of good organic options.) Thirty years ago people thought we all joined a cult in these food coops. Yup that's right. Usually you join a food coop group with a work commitment to keep the project going, then you get a box of veggies or groceries weekly or so. Fast forward to the present many things food related are a club of sorts. Turns out its not so crazy to join a group and get special food needs met and its also not so crazy to work a bit for it. Anyways Purple Dragon is a food coop, like a buying club, not so much a CSA or community supported agriculture. Although i could be wrong... correct me please. I have been on and off part of this group for 5 years. When i am part of it, I like the affordable box of veggies. There is a good amount of fruit, salad items and veggies to cook. When i come off the subscription its mainly when I cook less in the summer or when i go out of town. The cons. They often include this crazy handout that is crammed with info which i dont read. My eyes are pretty bad. Sometimes you get rutabaga... not my favorite. Also ground cherries are weird. You only get what they give you. This could be a con or a pro. I dont mind being assigned my veggies and fruit but sometimes i do want to buy asian veggies. The pros. Great lettuce. Great organic produce. Often it was boston bib. And often its organic romaine. Great tomatoes and organic bananas that taste amazing. They have it in many towns in the central NJ area like South Orange snd Maplewood. read more

Purple Dragon is essentially a coordinated bulk buying group for organic fruits and vegetables. There are groups (15 people) in many locations in NJ and NY, and you pick up a mixed box of organic fruit and vegetables every other week - the day depends on the group you're in. Just about everything you get will be cheaper and much fresher (and last longer) than your local Whole Foods or supermarket. Because the group prioritizes local organic produce but is not a farm CSA, the mix of produce you get is more varied and useful (you'll get some fair-trade bananas and Florida grapefruit along with those local apples and squash). The people (in my group at least) are consistently nice. Couldn't recommend this group more to anybody looking to make a healthy lifestyle easy and enjoyable. http://www.purpledragon.com/ read more

We have a joke in our family about "Riding the Dragon!" -- we love Purple Dragon and are so happy to have joined a few years ago. The produce and veggies are always delicious, but we've never had an issue with quality, aside from one tomato, one time, and one peach another time -- but even those maybe could have been saved. The quality is above Whole Foods, and you are paying way under WF prices; it is a deal, and a delicious one at that :) We recruit our friends and family to join because it is that awesome -- special ordering isn't the easiest thing to do, and it would be great if this were improved. But again, the quality is excellent and it is so much fun to find out what is in your share and discover new recipes as you come across some things you might not have ever cooked with before. Give it a shot! You can do a guest share, where you try it out for a few months before signing up to become part of a pod; this was a great way to dip our toes into the PD world, and fair warning, is also how we fell in love with it! read more

This is a joke. Got ripped off and paid a $52 "share" for $20 worth of fruit and vegetables, which included wilted herbs and lettuce. This place is a farce. Stay away. As other reviewers noted, office is rude, obnoxious and non helpful. You have been warned. read more

Love, love, LOVE, Purple Dragon! My wife and I have been members for about 3 years now (in Hudson County) and absolutely love it! For less than $2/lb we get a huge basket of ultra-fresh, mostly organic and local veggies & fruits from small family farmers that taste amazing. No kidding, we give them to family & friends to eat and they are blown away saying they taste nothing like the tasteless veggies from the supermarket. Not always as pretty, but SO much tastier. Incredible deal! One complete share is the perfect amount for the two of us, but it took us about 6 months before we changed our habits a bit so that the food didn't go bad before we had a chance to eat it. This means that we cook a bit more (including packing lunch more often), we front-load salads early after pickup since leafy greens don't last as long as the other fruits & veggies, and we learn to use veggies we've never eaten before. In fact, since we are getting so many fresh veggies in our diet, our tastes have changed a bit and a meal doesn't seem complete anymore without fresh vegetables; we find ourselves adding veggies to take-out in order to enjoy it more! One of the best things about it for us (and this may not be for everyone) is that, like a CSA, we don't choose the veggies. We get what is in season and/or what the office is able to get through connections with family farmers. What this means for us is that we get to try and experiment with veggies that we never would have tried before (and sometimes never even heard of!). A bit of an adventure and we see it as ensuring a varied, healthy diet. We also love meeting our neighbors at the local pickup point (though I only really run into people every couple of months, it is nice when I do). I have only gotten a bruised vegetable twice in the 3 years, and they made up for it the next time. Logistics: You call/email the main office and they snail mail you a detailed brochure. (If you are referred by a friend, you each get $20 credit for special orders). You send the office your info and they let you know if there is space in any "pods" near you. "Pods" are local groups of about 15 members who administer the co-op for your town/area. Once you join a group, you pickup a large basket of veggies & fruits every two weeks from a neighbor's house in your community. You can also place special orders from a long list of items available through the main office (wide variety of specialty foods, non-perishables and bulk items). I haven't placed many special orders, and they can be a bit pricey (maybe not when you consider the source/quality, but just compared to regular, non-organic supermarket items). That said, the stuff that we have special ordered (cheese and eggs) have been incredible quality. Bottom line: It may take some minor adjustment in your lifestyle to start eating more greens (and yellows and red and purples), but at less than $2/lb, you can't beat it; cheaper than the grocery store and a great investment in your health! read more

Since they deliver on a two week schedule, you'll get a glut of produce, but it doesn't stay very fresh, and I found myself putting over half of it in the compost bin. Some of the items were good, some bad (horrible horrible green rock hard cantalope, unidentifiable greens that not even the leader did not recognize, and a lot of filler items that probably don't sell well otherwise (really didn't need or want 2 huge bags of bok choi). I would not recommend - just go to the farmers markets and pick the veggies that you want in pristine condition, or just grow your own. read more

I'm sure that the Purple Dragon Co-Op distributes great produce, as a matter of fact I have friends who have been participating in this co-op for years. However, their website states that they can help you find a share for the bi-weekly prodcue that you receive. When calling to inquire about this, since we are a family of three with a baby, and do not need bulk produce every other week, I was told in a very rude tone that they have no ability to help you find a share, and unless you know of someone willing to share, it's pretty much impossible. Hmmm...sounds like false advertising to me. Guess I will look elsewhere, where the staff are a lot more friendly! read more

This is NOT a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. I have heard many friends refer to this as such. This does not support local sustainable farms and hurts small family farms in New Jersey. It is such a wonderful thing to have growing interest in local, organic, sustainably produced food. Please, if this is what you're looking for, seek out a local FARM, where real people work every hour of every day to take care of the earth and produce great food. This is a glorified grocery store that takes money away from local family farms and even sources out of season produce from other countries. read more

I completely agree with Lauren T's review. I loved them while the going was good, but once things got rough, they showed some true and disturbing colors. I have been hesitant to post a negative review, so I gave myself some distance from my initial emotional response, but with some two weeks behind me now, I still find myself musing over how mishandled the situation was. We were being strong armed into eating food that was contaminated, we were called names and ultimately, we were prevented from expressing our opinions and concerns publicly -- which is the biggest red flag for me. No business is perfect all time. Everyone makes mistakes. It's how you handle those mistakes and move forward that matters. If you do a little digging, you will never find a negative comment about them and it's because they delete them all. I personally can't do business with people that are so dishonest.. Will never do business with them. Will never -- ever -- recommend them. read more

I was a member of this co-op for about a year. Generally the quality of the food was better than what you might find at your local supermarket. Because of the way it works, you are relegated to whatever they can get that's in season. Sometimes it means a lot of lettuce! Using this service exposed me to veggies that I might not ordinarily eat (like broccoli rabe). The reason I stopped is because the person who runs it is a rude, condescending pain in the butt. I've only had to deal with her a few times (like with special orders) but each and every time was worse than the last. Also, depending upon where you live, you get shafted with the deliveries. I tried, I really did, but if I'm spending my money on something, I just want a little courtesy and appreciation. I hope someone takes over soon (or someone starts another food coop in NJ). This woman should not be in business. read more

i have since discontinued my membership. i'd found that there's just too much of my share going to waste, either because it's gone bad, or because i don't care for certain vegetables, or the amount given in the share was too much or too little to do anything with. i really tried, i would routinely look up new recipes to make new foods out of unfamiliar produce, give away what i couldn't use to friends, but i couldn't make it a realistic way to get produce. i found every week i'd still have to go to the store shopping for vegetables, just to use the ones i got in my share. one particular problem i encountered was the argument. the central office would sometimes argue with me about a food item being spoiled or inedible. this is offensive when we're already paying so much more than we would for the same stuff otherwise, and we're willing to jump through some hoops to patronize a co op over a chain store. to have to, on top of this, have a back-and forth exchange to argue - and prove with photos - that a rotten food is indeed rotten, smells like vinegar and disintegrated in the box.... it's just too much work to overpay for produce. particularly when you can get the exact same food elsewhere, same supplier, same grower, just much much higher price. i love the idea of this, but it's failing in its execution. the few pieces of local, super fresh vegetables just don't make the high cost worth it. at least not for me. read more

Belonged for several years and was, s relatively happy, though there is "bad" produce fairly frequently. You do get a credit if you report this, in the form of additional food added to the next order. I currently live in a household with 5 adults (my husband, me and our three teenage to adult children), and have found this is not really a good deal for our family, as we generally use most of our $49 share in 3 to 4 days, so am discontinuing my membership. We got things like 1 portabello mushroom or 1 eggplant, which doesn't make any kind of meal for our size of family. I agree with the review about how disorganized and hard to navigate the special order forms are--I've never had time to go through the multiple files to actually place an order, and looking at the prices, I can often do better shopping carefully at stores like Trader Joe's and Fairway. One comment on my pod, which may be different for others--I thought it would be an opportunity to meet like minded neighbors, but my pod coordinator has never really done anything to get us together, so have not gotten to know anyone else, other than to say hello in passing. Finally, so much of the produce is not local, that I feel I would rather support local farms by shopping at farmers' markets, particularly now that there are several that operate year round. read more