THE LOVE OF FOOD

Food is at the center of our cooperative life. We buy food together, we cook together, and we eat together.

Each house allocates money to various parts of a monthly food budget.

BCL members are expected to attend household and organizational meetings.

HOUSEHOLD MEETINGS

Are typically on Sundays once a week after the house dinner. Dates and times may vary by house.

COMMITTEES

Participating in committees is a great way to get involved and meet other members. There are committees at both the house and organizational levels.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

This is our BCL meeting where we make decisions and are, typically, held on the second Sunday of every month at 7:30 pm.

BULK

Houses collectively buy bulk goods. Items include dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, rice, nondairy milk, dried fruit, coffee, teas, nuts, etc.

CSAs

Additionally, we purchase CSA's (Consumer Supported Agriculture) from local farms through places such as the Farmer's Market or directly from our area farms.

PRODUCE & FRESH GOODS

Houses buy produce and other fresh goods through Piazza. Foods in this category include fresh veggies, fruits, spices and even bread.

THE GROCERY

This part of the food budget goes toward foods that are perishable or for whatever reason are not feasible to get through bulk, CSAs or Piazza. Foods in this category may include milk, butter, herbs, berries and cereals.

Because BCL kitchens contain a wide variety of ingredients, they can be dangerous for those with severe allergies. If you are severely allergic to something food items, your house will not purchase it, limit it to certain areas or meals or both. If you are more mildly allergic to something, your housemates can simply label any leftovers that are free of those ingredients.

Just in case, you should keep an EpiPen easily accessible to you and your housemates. Also, housemates should be made well aware of your allergies, and not just to food-based allergies.

Regarding non-allergen dietary restrictions, like vegan and vegetarian diets, houses prepare meals so that everyone in the house may eat them. For example, if someone makes a dish of scrambled eggs, they typically prepare other accessible food for those members who don't consume other prepared item(s). Each house determines how it spends food money and on what dietary ingredients are bought.

Each house has several common fridges with at least one personal fridge for individuals to store their own food. All food that is purchased or prepared collectively goes in the house fridges. Any personal items go in a personal fridge (cheese, restaurant leftovers, ice cream, etc.).

Beware the "no name fair game" rule of thumb... if you don't write your name on something, a BCL vulture may eat it up. Also, all fridges are purged of food items regularly. So, it's a good idea to put a date on all house prepared foods and personal items.

Members are expected to contribute about 5 hours a week in labor.

COOKING SHIFT(S)

2 to 3 hours weekly

Complete a dinner cooking and/or cleaning shift. Typically, you cook from 5 to 7 pm, serve and eat from 7 to 7:30 pm. Cleanup is between 7:30 and 8:30 pm.

MEETINGS

1 to 3 hours weekly

Weekly house & committee meetings and prospective member interviews also account for a part of your chore responsibilities. We try to keep all meetings to around one hour each.

OTHER CHORES

2 to 3 hours weekly

Chores may incliding cleaning a bathroom, trash & recycling coordination, composting, gardening, sweeping & vacuuming, general cleaning of common spaces, food & supply shopping and administrative tasks.