• Cooks Co~op
  • Posts
  • Meetup Orders Open + *CALL OUT FOR WEEKLY HELPERS*

Meetup Orders Open + *CALL OUT FOR WEEKLY HELPERS*

Author

Angela Hirst
March 13, 2026

COOKS CO~OP

9 Dorf’s precious eggs in slightly short supply (their chickens are moulting)

HELLO! MEMBERS AND YET-TO-BES…

Hello our dearest community — we miss you! Feels like life has been so busy for everyone, and people have been away, and I don't know, can't things just slow down a little? Looking forward to catching up with some of you at the Meetup, and… who knows… weekly?? If you're up for helping us out weekly, we'd certainly take some assistance. More on that below…

Some of our weekly helpers

ORDERING IS OPEN FOR: 19th or 21st March Meetup

Early close for coffee : Sunday 15th March 11am.

Everything else closes Tuesday 17th March 11am.

The soft herb medley

The Report

HOW’S THE CO-OP DOING?

Here’s a report out on some Co-op facts. The coverage morphs depending on what’s on top around here. Interested in knowing something in particular? Post suggestions in our #systems slack channel.

GROWING PLEASURE (& PAIN)

We’ve continued to increase our membership - 39 households (including trial-ers) - so that’s up 3 in this last month.

We spoke last Newsletter about drafting a proposal to get more work contributions from Members. Along with this, we're also exploring formalising the co-op — both structurally, and in terms of having a proper physical premises (not just under Ange's house).

Is it time to get legit? We’re still discussing it and getting advice, but Ange’s gut is saying, yes, it is. What do you all think?

We’ve started an engaging conversation with Sam Byrne from The Co-op Federation to help guide us. Looking forward to reporting back on this next Newsletter.

Loving the Elephant Garlic

SOME OTHER NUMBERS FOR THE NERDS

Over 1200 products are currently active in our list · We have $27k of stock · Number of households ordering in Sept 2024 was 16, with an average monthly spend of $307 · Number of households ordering in Feb 2026 was 30, with an average monthly spend of $578.

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR CO-OP?

We’re open to new members and it’s simpler than ever to join.

Reply to this Newsletter if you’re interested in trying us out. We can even get you set up by next week if you’re super eager!

The produce stall at a Saturday meet-up in action.

Co-op News…

CALLING FOR MORE WEEKLY HELP

The Core Team collectively did around 250 hours of work last month. Ange in particular needs a reprieve — she basically needs to bring her load down to about 20 hours a week (it's currently averaging 35). Billy is doing about the hours she's comfortable with (around 20 a week), but if we had a bit more weekly help, we'd both be able to work on some of the bigger-picture stuff the Co-op currently needs from us.

And speaking of people contributing in various behind the scenes ways — a huge thank you to Cat and Lissy, who are doing the United Organics pickup for us every week; Josh, who is doing the PE Foods pickup for us every week, to Chelsea, who's trying to show up Thursdays with the kids to fold down boxes, and keeping our social media ticking; and to Sato, who's packing Thursday boxes with us most weeks, while both she and Take also help out at Meetups.

The shape and capacity of our co-op emerges from the energy and effort we put in collectively. So if anyone has an inkling to lean in; to get a little more involved in the weekly operations, we are ready for you, and could really use the extra hands.

H-E-L-P

These are some of the tasks we'd love to share around straight away (with more to follow):

  1. Packing groceries Tues/Wed/Thurs

  2. Pre-bagging bulk goods Tues/Wed/Thurs

  3. Putting away goods Tues/Wed/Thurs

  4. General tidying: sweeping, collapsing boxes, organising, creating a system to deal with the incoming wax produce boxes.

  5. Picking up and dropping off frozen goods to our offsite storage in Lytton. Sporadic, but we can make it more predictable if needed.

Team lunch.

If you have about 1.5 (or more) hours to spare between 6am–1pm Tues/Wed/Thurs, we can use your help. If you need to bring the kids, we can make that work — heck, we can make that fun. Billy is very handy on a Wednesday morning even though she has her two littlies in tow. Yes there many trips to the toilet, but they make beds for their toys, paving stones out of egg crates, and decorative improvements to our masking tape. What’s not to love?

If you’d like to get more involved but these tasks/times don’t work for you, please still reach out.

Add it up and you'll see we're asking for a fair bit more input than the minimum 3 hours per household we currently require of Working Members. Two years into this wonderful co-op building adventure and this is where we find ourselves: growing steadily, settling into operational rhythms, enjoying our newly-more-relaxed Saturday meet-ups, and hoping that some of you might have the yin and the space to adopt a little more freesponsibility.

Please reply to this Newsletter if you're up for looping into this adventure with us.

The List

SO MUCH NEW, SOME OLD FRIENDS BACK, AND… WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Please grab some of these in your shop this month and join in on Slack to help shape our stocking decisions:

NEW Thank You Body Washes · Chief Iron + C Tablets · Gluten Free Breadcrumbs and Burger Buns · Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns — and they are really good · Felafel Mix from Mt Zero · Coconut Kefir in 2L bottles at a much better price than the small bottles · New Symons cheese option - haloumi · Vivani peppermint chocolate — to die for · Mochi! · Condiments and dips from Hafla · Ume Furikake by Wadaman · Bunjie baby shampoo · Teas: Celestial Seasonings (Red Zinger, Tension Tamer) and Kintra (Gentle Digest, Clarity, Morning Bloom) · New Green Olive Medley from Parafield · Rice Malt Syrup · Coconut Tooth Floss · Biodegradable Toothbrushes · a range of Manuka Honey lozenges · two new Apostle Hot Sauces from NZ · a Pistachio Nut Bar · Spicy Sesame Dan Dan Noodles.

GONE FOR A WHILE BUT NOW BACK Vanilla Coconut Kefir is back and it's a great batch again (finally - we’d given up on it for awhile!) · Sommerlad Chickens are back in stock, along with their hearts and livers · Barramundi from 9 Dorf should be back this week (fingers crossed) · Tony's Dark Chocolate is back, finally! · Lupin pea and linseed tempeh from Gwen Tempeh — welcome back!

WHAT DO YOU THINK? A new Sourdough Pizza Base — a bit cheaper than the Farro one. Should we keep stocking both? · We're starting a little dive into Pana's frozen desserts range, kicking off with Peanut and Chocolate — keen to hear your thoughts · Salmon: we’re busy looking into sustainable options, both wild and organic aquaculture. What do you want? Will you be a regular orderer if we can get them at a good price?

All these conversations are best had in Slack - but we need you there to have them so join up and weigh in!


ENOUGH FROM US, TIME TO SHOP

Hope to see you Saturday 21st March at our Meetup, or the Thursday before for a quick box pickup. Up to you!

Members: please alert us to if you’re picking up Thursday or Saturday by picking the option in the Produce List.

Non-members: we would still love to know if you’re interested in joining in 2026. Reply to this email and we’ll prioritise you for a trial next week even.

xx your Co-op crew.