Angel Food Ministries
I have had many people ask me about Angel Food Ministries and I have never personally used it. Well, Jenny of Mommin' It Up mentioned she was getting a box and I asked her to share her experience. If you aren't reading Mommin' It Up, please stop by. Jenny and her cousin, Emily, co-author the blog and are HI-Larious!! Seriously, check how how Emily describes Jenny's love for a deal.
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Perhaps you've heard of Angel Food Ministries, and thought it sounded too good to be true. Perhaps you've not heard of them at all. Either way, I'm here to tell you that I've purchased food from them and I think it's a great program. Here's what it's all about:
- Angel Food is a way to purchase high-quality food at a discount price.
- Each month there is a different menu to choose from
- If you purchase the regular monthly box of food at $30, you may also purchase one or more of the different monthly “specials” they offer (usually around $22 or so)
- Local churches are the host distribution sites for Angel Food. So, to purchase, you go to the Angel Food website, find a church in your area that is part of the program, and order the food directly from the church. Many host sites offer online ordering as well (this is what I do! It's so convenient!)
- Pick up your order at your local host site on the designated day and enjoy!
I don't purchase Angel Food every month, but I like to purchase it every so often to get the great deals on red meat that they offer. Because I am a couponer and a *little* cheap, I rarely buy anything but chicken at the grocery store. But Angel Food makes it possible for me to work some other options into our budget and meal plan. I also *love* the fresh fruit & veggie box they offer as a special. It is a great price for a bunch of yummy produce that I otherwise probably wouldn't purchase! Here's the November menu. Take a look at all you can get for just $30!
And here's this month's fruit & veggie special, for $22 (there are also some great meat specials this month!)
Angel Food is available to anyone who wants to purchase. You don't have to qualify or do anything special. It's just a great way to get a great price on food.
If you're like me, and you love coupons, you'll be happy to know that Angel Food often has coupon codes for online orders! I verified that these three are valid through November 30, 2009: TURKEY5 to get $1.50 off a regular monthly menu box, 1OFFORDER to get a dollar off of any box (regular or special), and NOVSP2 for $1.10 off a November special #2 box.
I encourage you to give Angel Food a try if you're looking for an inexpensive way to add variety to your menu. Enjoy!
Jenny Rapson is the editor of Blissful Style and a SAHM of two great kids. She loves fashion, is a makeup junkie, and can be found blogging about all her other various addictions and life as a mom over at Mommin' It Up! Follow her on twitter – she's @jennyitup.
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Have you purchased Angel Food before? What has been your experience with the quality of the food?
We purchase the Angel Food boxes every month. We save out $20 each week from our food budget and then when the time comes to purchase the angel box we have $80.00. So, we normally get the signature box and 2 of the special boxes of meats (that’s the most expensive thing to buy at the store, so that’s why we do this). This month is great because you can get 10 lbs of BONELESS SKINLESS chicken breast for $21. You can’t find that at the store anymore….chicken at walmart now I think is almost $9 for 3 lbs. It’s great and the meats last us at least the entire month (we don’t eat out). Angel Food is a great ministry.
It is a great ministry, and I don’t want to dis their work, but for serious couponers, you can do better on your own.. My wife and I ordered a couple of times and the menu is generally VERY high in fat and not exactly healthy and the quality can be disappointing. Just giving my two cents.
Just to be fair though, you do get your money’s worth out of the regular “packs” however the extra packs are where they really make their money and I feel they are over priced. What we did was buy one or two weekly packs and use that to supplement our regular meals so most of the meals would be healthy and have some higher fat content (kid favorites) meals mixed in for variety.
I never comment, but I don’t want your readers to be lead astray. I am not a food snob, I shop at Aldi. I tried Angel Food ministries and I found the food to be as far from “high quality” as possible. I felt as if I completely wasted my limited food budget. Plus, if you google “Angel Food Ministries” you will see that there is quite a bit of controversy about the owners. All I can say is – Buyer Beware!
Lighten up: here is from their website
“Who qualifies?
Everyone, there are no applications or qualifications to order Angel Food. There are no qualifications, minimums, income restrictions, or applications.
Everyone is encouraged to participate. Some churches even encourage participants to apply the money they saved to help someone else in need.”
It was started as a way to ‚Äúprovide food for friends and neighbors who were STRUGGLING FINANCIALLY‚Äù but it became a multi million dollar profit a year! don’t fool yourself.
*edited by MommySnacks @ 4:22p – I simply removed the nasty commenters name Bob – hope that’s OK since I removed her comment.*
In addition, each church that runs it gets a “cut” of each meal purchased, so it helps everyone. . .it’s NOT like raiding the food pantry or soup kitchen
Jody, my church does this and we encourage as many people as possible to buy the boxes, no matter if they can afford full price groceries or not. For every so many boxes we sell, we get a free box to give to a needy family. So the people that can afford to pay for the boxes are helping out those who can’t.
However, I actually did a comparison with the Meijer ad last month and I could buy pretty much the same kind of menu for $30 without any coupons at all. The Angel Food deals are good but not IMO spectacular.
I purchased a regular box a few months ago. It was a good deal but not as good as it seems at first. I also did not find the food to be “high” quality. Just average.
I have a friend who orders 2 boxes for her family of 8 each month and it works great for her. chooses to invest her energy in other things besides cooking from scratch and couponing to help and serve her family. They really enjoy the boxes.
I did not feel that it was “worth it” to me and my family because the bulk of the box is meat which I don’t cook with as much. For $30 I can get more food at the grocery store with coupons and sales that we normally eat than what comes in the box. I have also calculated the fruit and veggie box several times and don’t find that it saves that much money. Last, it doesn’t work for me because you have to pay several weeks in advance which messed up my grocery budget for the month.
As I said in the post, I don’t order Angel Food every month. Because you CAN do better if you are a serious couponer, and I often do. However, I always look at the menus, because some of the monthly menus are more appealing than others, and as I said, I like to use Angel Food to add a little variety to my family’s meals while still staying within our budget. And, I’ve always found the quality of the meat to be very good, and was very impressed with the fruit & veggie box which I ordered last time.
Lastly, I will maintain that Angel Food is a GREAT option for those who don’t want to or don’t have time to coupon. And, since my host site offers online ordering, you can order and pay less than a week in advance, not “weeks” in advance. Ordering and paying varies by host site. If you’re interested, try it once, you don’t have a lot to lose, and there’s no commitment to re-order.
I have a few friends that ordered it. There were not so happy. But if you are one to not carry about quality, fat content, perservities and junk in your food. Then this is for you. If you are this is not for you. The produce she got was bruised and wilted too…Everyone has an opinion good or bad….I am not a fan for me only b/c I can get stuff cheaper plus Iam a label reader and don’t allow junk in my home.
Well, I plan to try it out next month. This will be terribly handy for me since baby #4 is due then! It’s nice that this option is out there for times when a person is just not able to coupon to their full power. ;)
I can’t understand why so many were unhappy. I heard about this last month and gave it a try.
1st you DO NOT have to buy the signature box to get other boxes
2nd The meat was great quality.
We bought the breaded chicken box and the grilling meat box paid $44 we got a lot of meat for $44 and when you look at ribeye (something I never buy) It cost $10 a pound on sale! You get like 1 1/2 pounds plus more meat! We absolutely loved the breaded chicken box. And will buy it when it is available again! If a family of four only bought from Angel Food they would spend about $120 a month for food. That is really good. I know some bloggers say they do it for that much now but I haven’t mastered that I am around $300 for 5 and the childcare I run out of my home. I think that Angel Food is a wonderful thing for everyone! Yes when I went in I felt like these people need it more than me but it is there for everyone!
We purchased a box sometime earlier this year. It was cheap, we thought we were getting a good deal but when it came down to eating it, it was not as good as we were expecting, and it had more fat on the meat than store bought. We won’t be purchasing it again.
I’m with some of the other commenters. We gave Angel Food a try. Overall we were not impressed with the quality of the food. In fact, we threw away most of the remaining meat we’d gotten. And working out prices we found that by shopping with sales and coupons, we would get better quality things locally for the same price or cheaper.
I’m so disappointed seeing so many negative comments about Angel Food Ministries. I thought for sure I would see more positive comments in favor of the ministry.
The grocery stores in my area are very overpriced, and it’s not always easy to get a good deal. I supplement my family of 4’s grocery needs by purchasing 1 regular and 1 fruit/veggie box from Angel Food each month, as I have for over a year now. I don’t always have time to go couponing and deal hunting. Buying from AFM gives me a little break. I’ve always had a good experience. The meat is as good and often better than the grocery store, and the fruit & veggies are always fresh and ripe.
You can now and pay order online at the AFM website for most host churches, so you don’t have to pay in advance. And you no longer have to order one of the signature boxes in order to get one of the specials. I do not order the meat special boxes because they are expensive. But the meat in the regular signature box is a great deal.
There has been a month or two that the menu in the regular box just wasn’t too appealing for my family, in which case I did not order the regular box. I still ordered a fruit & veggie box as they have always been good.
A few months ago I won a signature box from AFM. I got 10 frozen meals and each was delicious and filling. Lots of variety and most of the meals were low in fat and calories and contained at least 2 vegetables. It wasnt something I’d buy all the time but I might buy it occasionally for the convenience and to eat something different than the grocery store frozen meals I usually buy.
We buy angel food every month. I cannot say i I am impressed with every box, but for the most part, it is all good. I love the shelf satble milk they have now. I can sit in your pantry, and when you don’t have any milk, for like gravy or mashed potaoes, you have milk! Yes some of it is higher in fat, but the other itmes, like the chicken and thing like that are great for my family of 4. I thin it is a great deal for your $30. I don’t want to spend that much time at the store trying to “coupon” it to match what I have, and to be able to help out the local churches…what more could you ask for!
Been there, Done that. Wasn’t impressed. Especially when the produce box I ordered had some moldy corn and a busted cantaloupe in it. The red was gristly. Too many hot dogs. I tried Great Food For All, that was a little better. But I’m back to just couponing at the grocery store.
angelfood is there for those who want or need it just like one person might swear by grocery store A and someone else says oh no only B is best — sometimes angelfood main boxes leave something to be desired and I simply don’t order those months –your local Wal-Mart stores carry the same foods as angelfood so sometimes it does work out to just great value brand your fav angelfoods — none-the-less it does no one any good to critize angelfood as bad or not that good it is option c. and sometimes the deals are great and the food worth it all and sometimes it is so so — order or don’t — but please don’t discourage others from trying it it is is a great option c —-IMO
I ordered for the first time last month and I was happy with what I got. The meat was little fatty but everything else was great!
What do you people expect for the price? Filet mignon and champagne.
The fruit was small, but FRESH. Very fresh. I would rather have fresh fruit and veggiesthat were smaller than the over priced stuff you find at the super market.
I am going to pick-up my second order next week and am happy for it!
We bought the regular box and the fruit and veggie boxes for the first time in November. I am very satisfied with what we received. Could I have done better with coupons? Maybe. But the time saved in more than worth it to me.
one more comment –this months box had some chicken pattt things in them — I got to thinking about y’all and came up with this— even though something like that isn’t 100% healthy you could bake them put them on whole grain bread and serve them with some of the angelfood veggies and you do have an accceptable meal — so even the gloomiest boxes can be made yummy and relativly nutrious for minimal dollars — just a thought for the nay sayers
My husband & I love Angel Food. For us, it’s like opening presents at Christmas every time we bring home our order.
We have been purchasing from them since August. The grocery stores in our area are high priced so we shop at Walmart but even they are high at times. I was able to find a lot of coupons on line but Wamart does not accept internet coupons so I’ve stopped printing them out.
Prior to August, we were not able to afford any meat like steaks or pork chops so we went without and that was when I was working full time! I’ve been unemployed for almost a year so our budget is tight but with Angel Food, we can eat steak or pork chops once a week if we want to!
We have never had any moldy or bad food in any of our boxes, either! We feel very blessed to have found Angel Food.
My family has been purchasing Angel Food boxes for the past 3 months. My kids love it. I have been unemployed since May. I usually order 2 boxes to supplement our food budget. I like the fact that they accept food stamps, but I would buy it even if they didn’t. I even buy an extra box every month for my mother who lives alone and have her pick it up at a church near her home. It has really helped her out. I have three teenagers who have big appetites so having Angel Food to supplement out food budget keeps the pantry reasonably stocked. It also helps with portion control because the meals are sufficient for a single meal. I remember the first time I got it my 12 year old was excited that we got to have steak and baked potatoes for dinner. That’s something we never did. I have since encouraged several of my friends to purchase it. Several people in my apt complex now get it also. Our pick up site is less than a mile from our home.
Angel Food does have a replacement guarantee for any items that are not up to par. We have replaced any fruit boxes that weren’t quite right. You also need to remember that the fruit and vegi’s are ready to use and don’t have a real long shelf life. As they have been able to expand they have been able to handle things better and have worked out kinks in the program. I agree with some of the others. In our area… it is a good option! We don’t live near any large shopping areas. Aldi’s is an hour away and the closest Walmart is almost an 1 hour away… there aren’t a lot of coupons in this area because of the limited shopping available… so it is a GREAT option around here! Just pick what suites your needs and be sure that you remember that not everyone has some of the money saving options that you have!! We are proud to be able to offer this to our community since we live in a poorer area that really needs this program!
I live in Texas and have two sons attending college in Tennessee. This is the best care package that I can give them every month. The first time they went, they were so excited saying, “Roast–awesome!!” “Ribs–Yes!” Don’t know if the vegetables get consumed but they look forward to a box each month. I even bought them the fajita package this month. It’s so easy when you can order online in Texas and have a pick up in Tennessee. I always look for the chicken breast special box. With two empty nester’s we can divide them up in food saver bags and they last us a long time.
I have order Angel food for at least three years. I have missed it maybe three times. Mostly because my freezer was to full to put an ant in it. We love it. I find that most of the food is very good. We have tried food that I would not normally buy. My kids enjoys the food also. I also like it that you can order as little or as much as you want. We are like little kids at christmas when our food comes in. I am always interested to see what we get. The deserts can be a surprise to. I try to spread the word around about Angel Food. I am sorry that some of you didn’t find the food appealing. Know there is so many more packages that is being offered.