I’m a details person, and since ordering from Azure Standard is a little different (but awesome!). I wanted to give you all the details of how it works and what to expect. Plus, share my favorite things to order! I’ve been buying from them for 10+ years, so I have some good insider tips!
I’m always happy to answer questions if you have any.
The best place to reach me is over on my Instagram page— just send me a message.
(CHEESE LOVERS! If you’re here for my review of the cheese brands that Azure sells, you’ll find that at the bottom of this post!)
OVERVIEW OF AZURE
Azure sells natural, organic, and bulk goods ranging from dry pantry staples like flour and spices, to frozen meats, fresh dairy, beautiful produce, and even chicken feed. They have EVERYTHING! There is NO membership fee, and NO frequency of order requirements. –> Order whatever you want, whenever you want with no commitment.
DO THIS FIRST!
CLICK HERE! Go to the Azure website through this link. (My affiliate link– thank you!)
- First, click on “GET STARTED FOR FREE” to sign up for an account.
This will allow you to see if there’s a drop site in your area and browse the goods! - Check for a drop site in your area by clicking “WHERE WE DELIVER.”
Type in your zip code to find the nearest drop. Click “JOIN THIS DROP” to add it to your account. - Click the drop down menu in the upper left corner and choose “SHOP” to browse the entire catalog of goods!
From there it is similar to shopping on any other online store.
HOW TO ORDER
Most areas get 1 delivery per month. Each drop site will have an “order cutoff date,” which is when you need to have your order placed by. You can find your ordering cut off date and estimated delivery date by going to “MY ACCOUNT —> DROPS.” (You’ll have to have joined/added a drop site first, of course… but I’m sure you did that because you followed the 3 steps above!)
Go shopping! Add items to your cart. I keep a running cart going at all times as I think of what I need (don’t worry, they won’t dump your cart like some other online stores do). Don’t forget to checkout before your cutoff. To be safe, checkout as soon as you’ve added the bulk of what you need. After you’ve checked out, you can continue to add more items to your order until your cutoff time.
PRO-TIP: Buying multiple of an item will often get you a discount. For example you can buy 1 box of crackers, but if you toggle over to buying a 3-pack of those crackers, you’ll get a discount.
If you live on the west coast there is no/low shipping fee. For most other places a shipping/trucking fee of 8% of your total is added. They don’t charge sales tax though, so it washes out a bit.
A day or two after your order cutoff, they will pack your order and load the truck. This is when they charge you and plan the drop route, telling you the drop time for your drop site. The drop day and time are generally the same every month, at least mine is. Once in a while it gets shifted around if they add a bunch of new drops.
WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR DROP
Each drop site is run by a local coordinator, so each drop may be a little different… though I’ve picked up from 3 different drops over the years and they were all pretty much the same.
PRO-TIP: Check to see if your drop site has a Facebook page— if so, it’s a great place to get updates and be reminded about order cutoff dates looming, etc!
A drop is usually in a store parking lot or public place. The drop site listing tells you the exact address and any details you need to know (like where in the parking lot, if it’s a big parking lot). You are usually asked to be at the drop 10 to 15 minutes before the truck is scheduled to arrive.
The truck pulls in and everyone works quickly to unload it. Though if it’s your first time or you are physically unable to help, don’t feel bad about just watching… there’s usually plenty of people to help!
All of your stuff will be packed into boxes (or as they call them “cases “) and grouped together by type, for example all the frozen stuff will be together in a box. Each case has a sticker on it with your name. How it works at my drop site is that someone in the truck hands the boxes down, and the people on the ground take them. We make little piles behind the truck with everyone’s stuff. This goes really quickly… anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. After the truck is unloaded, I yell goodbye to the drop coordinator, take my stuff, and leave. That’s it!
The trucks are refrigerated and there is also a freezer portion, so no need to worry about things melting or perishables spoiling on the journey. Everything has always arrived in great condition to me.
MY FAVORITE THINGS TO GET
Azure has an INCREDIBLE selection of products, and you are bound to find your own favorites. But if you need some inspiration, here are mine! These are the things I find myself ordering over and over.
Click on any link below to see the exact thing I get!
DAIRY: CHEESE
*Rumiano Mild White Cheddar
*Rumiano Monterey Jack Cheese
*Rumiano Pepper Jack Cheese
*Graziers Raw Medium Cheddar
*Organic Valley Feta
*Rumiano Queso
I love both the Graziers and Rumiano brands of cheese. Both are similar quality, being mostly from pasture-raised cows. Rumiano is organic, but Graziers is “raw” (heated to 135° so not truly raw). Rumiano cheese tends to be more firm with a slight bounce (my preference), and Graziers cheese is generally slightly creamier and softer. There are other great brands too.
I get the large 5-pound blocks, cut them into smaller pieces, and freeze them.
The Organic Valley Feta is the best feta ever!! I don’t freeze this, but it keeps months in the fridge so I always stock up and keep plenty on hand. And the Rumiano queso is excellent and also has a very generous shelf life in the fridge!
DAIRY: BUTTER & Milk
*Rumiano Organic Salted Butter
*A2/A2 Whole Milk Powder
I try to keep 20 pounds of good butter stocked in my freezer at all times— and Rumiano is my favorite. It’s a beautiful yellow color because it’s pasture-raised, it tastes delicious, and its a good price. You get the best price when you get the bigger box. We throw the whole box into the freezer.
The milk powder is a favorite for homemade hot cocoa mix! My recipe is here on my website– click here for it. This is an incredibly high quality dried milk from organic, pastured cows. The milk is low temp pasteurized before being dried.
DAIRY: YOGURT
*Alexandre A2 Organic Plain Whole Milk Extra Cream Top Yogurt
*Alexandre A2 Organic Full Fat Seasonal Plain Yogurt
*Graziers Whole Milk Plain Yogurt Cups
There are a lot of great yogurts at Azure! The wonderful thing about yogurt is that it has a fantastic shelf life in the fridge, so I always have it on hand. Get the Alexandre full fat seasonal yogurt if you see it!
MEAT & SEAFOOD
*Thousand Hills Beef n’ Cheddar Smoked Sausage
*Safecatch Tuna
*Think Pink Wild Salmon (big can)
The smoked cheddar sausages are soo good, and the ingredient are super clean! Love keeping these on hand for quick lunches. It may be the Wisconsinite in me, I but I love a cheddarwurst!
Safe Catch products are sourced and processed with the utmost care. Not only are they delicious, but the omega-3 fats are left in tact, and each fish is tested for mercury. I love making tuna salad for an easy, protein-filled lunch.
Think Pink salmon in the big can (yes with bones and skin– those are where the most nutrients are and you can’t even tell they are there!) is my go-to for making salmon patties.
BAKING
*Milk Chocolate Chips, Organic
*Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Organic
*Dark Chocolate Chips, Organic
*If You Care Large Baking Cups
*If You Care Small Baking Cups
Azure has THE BEST chocolate chips! The three I’ve linked above are my favorites/staples. I always get the big 5-pound bag. Chocolate chips have an amazing shelf life in the panty, at least a couple years. I store them in glass mason jars.
The baking cups are unbleached parchment and your muffins and cupcakes will come cleanly out of them! I always keep these stocked in my pantry– I use the large for muffins, and the small for making candies like my Fluffernutter Chocolate Peanut Clusters.
NUTS, SEEDS & DRIED FRUIT
*Raw Pumpkin Seeds, Organic
*Lark Ellen Farm Sprouted Walnuts
*Zante Currant Raisins, Organic
Azure has an incredible selection of nuts and seeds– these are the ones I buy most often.
The “currant” raisins are not the fruit currants, they are raisins (from grapes) that are just small. They are small raisins– which I love. I use them for trail mix, baking, granola, and even my favorite curry chicken salad.
SNACKS
*Mary’s Gone Crackers Super Seed Everything Crackers
*Lundberg Red Rice & Quinoa Thin Stacker Rice Cakes
*Mediterranean Organics Stuffed Green Olives
*Jeff’s Garden Castelvetrano Pitted Olives
*De Casa Tortilla Chips
Mary’s makes my favorite crackers– they have a lot of great flavors but these are the best. They go great with summer sausage and cheese or tuna salad for lunch. And as far as the rice cakes, I like that these ones are thinner than regular rice cakes. They’re a great vehicle for peanut butter!
I always keep a good supply of olives, and these two are my favorites. If you haven’t tried Castelvetrano olives before, they are the most buttery amazing olives.
The De Casa Tortilla Chips are thin but not too thin that they break easily, they have a lovely shattery crunch, and I think they are flame-kissed so they have little bits of char on them. So good!
SWEETS
*Theo Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
*Taza Dark Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts
*Taza Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds
*Sunridge Farm Dark Chocolate Coconut Chews
Milk chocolate peanut butter cups… need I say more.
If you haven’t tried Taza chocolate before, it has a slightly gritty texture to it because they stone ground the chocolate, which I love. The chocolate-covered hazelnuts and almonds are such a great treat!
The Sunridge Farm Coconut Chews are very good, and yes, very much like a Mounds or Almond Joy, but with darker chocolate and less sugar. The interior is not quite as creamy as those other brands, but soft and creamy enough that they’re still great. I prefer an Almond Joy, so I eat mine with a couple almonds!
PANTRY
*Eden Foods Canned Black Beans
*Eden Foods Dark Red Kidney Beans
*CB’s Creamunchy Peanut Butter
*Rolled Oats, Organic Gluten-Free
*Lundberg Basmati Rice, Organic
*Lundberg Chicken & Herb Rice
*Spinach Dip Mix
Eden Foods makes the best beans ever– I love that they soak them before canning them. I get the black beans and kidney beans most often, but they offer other types as well.
The peanut butter I’ve linked here is the BEST EVER. So good! The only ingredient is peanuts, but they grind them in a special way so that the peanut butter doesn’t separate with a huge oil layer on top. It’s the perfect peanut butter. They also have a salted version and an organic version too.
Lundberg rice is the only brand of rice I will buy. It consistently tests the lowest of all rice for arsenic (a known problem in rice). Besides, it’s really great rice from a really great company. I get a 25-pound bag of plain basmati rice every couple years (and portion it into mylar bags). I also love their seasoned rice mixes– the chicken one hits my 90s kid rice-a-roni spot!
By the way, Azure’s Spinach Dip Mix does taste similar to the Knorr brand! It could use a little more onion powder and salt (I add some extra) but it’s very good. I mix with greek yogurt for a tasty, protein-filled veggie dip.
HOUSEHOLD
A really affordable mid-sized beeswax taper candle. The wax on these is sooo fragrant! I mostly get these to keep in case of power outages, but they’re lovely if you burn candles regularly.
GLUTEN-FREE
*Pamela’s Artisan Flour Blend
*Jovial Brown Rice Pasta
*Jovial White Cheddar Mac n Cheese
For my fellow gluten-free friends, these are some of my staples! Pamela’s flour is my favorite and the one I’ve used for YEARS! And Jovial pasta is the best gluten-free pasta you’ll ever find– the taste and texture is very similar to regular. They soak the rice before making the pasta, and they offer an amazing selection of shapes. I’ve linked the spaghetti here, but I always buy lots of different ones.
REVIEW OF AZURE STANDARD CHEESE BRANDS
Being born and raised in Wisconsin, I’m uniquely qualified for this task, haha! I’ve been a loyal Rumiano cheddar buyer for many years because it’s a high-quality brand and it tastes good. BUT, Azure has added a lot of other high-end cheese brands to its inventory the last few years, and I’ve been wondering if I’ve been missing anything by not exploring the rest of them… I buy a few big 5-pound blocks of cheddar every year and portion it into smaller amounts for the freezer. We use cheddar for slicing and eating, but also for cooking and topping dishes like salads, chili and other soups, and tacos.
The Testing:
I ordered every brand of mild/medium cheddar they had in stock to do a side by side taste comparison. Karl and Quinn helped too! (Our dog Quinn absolutely loved the cheese tasting party and enthusiastically ranked them all a 10 out of 10.)
We had a slice of each, and plain water crackers to clear our palettes in-between cheeses. Each cheese was evaluated for texture, taste, and salt level. I will order them below the same that they are ordered on the cutting board in the photo below, which is the order we tasted them.
This commentary is *mostly* on the tasting experience, not on the quality as it relates to how the cows are raised, or the values of the brand (though that is also important to me).
Organic Valley Cheddar Cheese, Raw, Mild, Organic Cheddar
I will tell you right off the bat that this ended up being my favorite. Karl gave it high marks as well, but it wasn’t his top. This cheese had a very well-balanced mild cheddar flavor, a good amount of salt, and an undeniable buttery finish. A very clean and pure tasting cheddar and not overpowering. The texture was firm but creamy.
This is the cheddar that I want to eat with crackers. I would definitely buy this cheese again.
Organic Valley Cheddar Cheese, Raw, Grassmilk, Organic Cheddar
This is the same brand as the previous, but their “Grassmilk” version, which I believe means that it comes from cows that are 100% grass fed. (The previous cheese is “pasture-raised” which means they are raised on grass but can still get some grain.)
This cheese had a good, clean, mild cheddar flavor with good salt levels, but was milder than its non-grassmilk counterpart. It was less flavorful, which I find surprising given the cows were raised solely on grass. I don’t claim to be a cheesemaker or a cheesmonger though, so I don’t know the science behind all that. This cheese also felt a little more waxy in texture than the other Organic Valley cheese. Waxy isn’t bad (I actually like a waxy cheese!) just a difference in texture.
I did like this cheese, but preferred the non-grassmilk version. If you’re looking for a mild cheddar raised exclusively on grass, this is a nice cheese.
Sierra Nevada Cheese Company Raw, White, Organic Cheddar
I will mention that I also bought the Sierra Nevada Graziers cheese to try in this taste test but it was recalled due to e-coli, so we didn’t try it. Bummer.
Compared to the first two cheeses, this cheese blew us away with its flavor… but not necessarily in a good way. We described this very soft and creamy cheese as “funky” and it reminded me more of a parmesan than a cheddar. I personally don’t appreciate this– if I’m buying a cheddar, I want it to taste like cheddar. I have had plenty of aged cheddars and sharp cheddars that are full-flavored, and this didn’t taste like those, this tasted like a young parmesan. This cheese didn’t taste bad or unpleasant, just very strong. It would be fine on a cheese and cracker board (though not my first choice) but I wouldn’t want this as my every day “cheddar.”
Origin Creamery A2 Mild Raw Cheddar Cheese Organic
I usually don’t like to give negative opinions; I’d rather just keep them to myself. That old “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” thing. But this was one of the worst cheeses I’ve ever had. And this was definitely NOT a “mild cheddar.” I had such high hopes for this brand because it checked EVERY SINGLE box: 100% grass-fed, regenerative, organic, raw, and even A2.
I thought this cheese smelled like feet and Karl said it smelled like “a dirty diaper.” Barnyard with a hint of swiss and parmesan. This cheese was on the very soft and creamy side. Karl likes a funky cheese, so he actually didn’t hate it, but I couldn’t even stand the smell of it. I don’t know if we got a bad batch, or if this is normal. I’ve heard other people say they like this cheese, and I see it has decent reviews… so buy this one at your own risk. I’d maybe buy a small package before committing to a big 5-pound block.
Petaluma Gold White Mild Cheddar Cheese, Raw, Grass-fed
This had the most “classic cheddar cheese” taste out of all the competitors. (And it reminded me of Tilamook mild cheddar, which I like very much.) It was an extremely soft cheese, and almost a little difficult to cut because of that. This is a criticism I’ve heard about this brand before. The salt level was only okay and I wishing it had just a little more; but I do like a salty salty cheese.
This was Karl’s top-rated cheese. This was also a very close second-place for me. While the Organic Valley is a buttery delicate cheese I want to eat on a cracker, this Petaluma is the cheese I’d choose for cooking with. This is the cheddar I want to taste on my taco salad, that isn’t overpowering but can stand up to other flavors.
Petaluma Gold is a cheese that people seem to either love or hate. While I enjoyed the taste of this one very much, the reviews and stories I’ve heard on an Azure Standard Facebook group I’m part of give me pause. Another common criticism of this cheese is that it comes very “wet” and molds quickly. I do tend to keep a piece of cheese in the fridge for a couple weeks, so this makes me hesitate. Of course, this is all here-say, so do with the info what you will.
Lulubelle’s Creamery Cheddar Cheese, Medium White, A2, Organic
This was another cheese with a clean, mild cheddar flavor and buttery finish. I would describe this one as “pleasant but not particularly memorable.” I felt it needed a touch more salt. It’s most similar to the Organic Valley, but I liked the Organic Valley a little more, possibly because of the salt level. This cheese had a nice texture that landed somewhere between creamy and waxy, and it would be a great cheddar for a charcuterie board or for everyday eating.
I did like this cheddar a lot, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again because I liked a couple of the other brands just a little better.
Rumiano Organic Medium Cheddar Cheese, Organic
The big questions I wanted to answer, was will I stick with my tried and true Rumiano cheddar, or will I find a different brand that reigns supreme?
This cheese has a good, clean, cheddar flavor, but is not as flavorful as some of the other brands. I hate to say it, but I almost would describe it as lacking in flavor. I do think this cheese needs more salt, and I wonder if that would shoot it back to the top of my list. I don’t think this should be called “medium’ cheddar. It’s maybe the mildest of all the cheeses we tried, which included many that are actually “mild” cheddars. This does make me want to try the Rumiano “sharp” cheddar… I wonder if that’s their Golidlocks cheese and would be my favorite. (I’m going to try it and report back, because I just love Rumiano so much and would prefer to keep buying from them, if I can!)
This is a good cheese, and I love eating slices of this with crackers, but I think it would have a hard time standing up to other flavors, and would disappear into the background if you used it to top, say, a bowl of chili. This is the firmest, waxiest cheese out of all of the cheeses we tried, which I actually like. I enjoy the texture of biting into a waxy cheese.
HAPPY CHEESE EATING!
