Local Baskit Marketplace, located at 10 Ferry St., off North Main Street, is the new storefront and business headquarters for Local Baskit, a New Hampshire-focused subscription meal kit service that launched in June 2016. The Marketplace serves as a meal kit pickup location for subscribers and as a retail shop, open to the public, with single meal kits, local beer and wine, fresh ingredients from local farms and artisan food items. 

“It’s really like a farmers market, except it’s open all day, almost every day of the week, and you can pick up some local beer or wine for your meal while you’re there,” Local Baskit owner Beth Richards said. “Our focus is on making it as convenient as possible for people to be loyal to local.” 

Just like the subscription meal kits, single meal kits called “Cook Tonight Baskits” contain fresh, local ingredients, pre-measured for easy meal preparation, and a recipe card with step-by-step cooking instructions. They’re offered in two- and four-person servings and change week to week based on what’s available from partnering farms. The recipes are pulled from the same archive of recipes used for the subscription meals — things like spaghetti with warm bacon mushroom sauce, veggies and lentils in peanut sauce and green onion honey chicken thighs. Each week’s Cook Tonight Baskits are posted on the Local Baskit website, where they can be purchased and reserved for pickup, or you can just walk in and choose from what’s on the shelf.  

“It’s the same concept for those people who are looking to cook a meal instead of pick up a prepared one,” Richards said, “but because we’re in a space now that allows us to be flexible, we can offer that option of the Cook Tonight meals for people if the subscription didn’t fit their lifestyle or if it’s easier to just stop in after work and grab something.” 

You can also pair your dinner with a bottle of local wine or a pack of beer from a New Hampshire brewery such as Henniker Brewing Co., Rockingham Brewing Co., and Concord’s new downtown brewery Concord Craft Brewing Co. Complete the meal with a locally made dessert like cannolis from Modern Pastry or a pie from Tarte Bakery. You can even pick up some local milk, eggs and bacon for the next morning’s breakfast. 

Additionally, Local Baskit Marketplace hosts beer and wine tastings and pairings every Friday, plus wellness and nutrition programs and food craft activities for families, and will add more events in the future like knife skill classes and local farm showcases. 

“We’re really working to create a community that’s loyal to local, so we created this community gathering space where we can celebrate local food,” Richards said. “The farm-to-table movement continues and we are one part of that.”