£19.49 inc. delivery for Veg box at least Dick Turpin wore a mask..

[anklebitersmum]

I have just received my first large box of veg from, well, let's call them 'Inept and Diamond'. Billed by their rep as a huge veg box, all organic & freshly harvested, which would not only see my family of 6 through the week in vegetablicious style but potentially see me with leftovers I was looking forward to cooking up a storm this evening.
Imagine my disappointment when the following arrived (and I jest not):

1 lettuce (leafy not iceberg)
1 chinese lettuce
1 red pepper
3 corn on the cob
2 small sweet potatoes
3 portabello mushrooms
4 small onions
8 weedy looking carrots
1 small bag of spinach
1 floret of brocolli
14 broad beans and wait for it...
5 medium potatoes

am I really being unreasonable in thinking 'rip off'??

LaWeasel I have 4 children who all eat veg like it's about to be prohibited. I couldn't do tea for them with the veg that goes together in that box!

Lesson learned and others warned :o

I confess there is only 2 of us and a toddler so my veg calculations are probably off... but apart from being a bit useless ingredients wise in terms of what meals you could actually make it's probably a bit less than the volume we would have for a whole week, and I would've thought we'd only need a small box from their adverts!

Very unimpressed.

I gave up on Abel and Cole recently and will never look back, not sure new one is much better value but the farmer delivers in person and I quite would with him. Never fancied the A&C driver at all.

thanks for the heads up, looking to get a veg box

I used Abel & Cole for a short time and I was quite happy with the amount - however, they delivered to me at 4 IN THE MORNING!! I was very angry. When I called them after 9am to complain, they gave me some old toss about it being more ethically viable to deliver at that time because there was no traffic, therefore used less petrol....

Never again. In case you missed it - 4 IN THE MORNING!!

I'm changing from A & C too. Used to have Rod and Bens, they are wonderful but pricey for delivery too. Am also going local next.

''Never again. In case you missed it - 4 IN THE MORNING!!''

Madness!

Did they ring your doorbell at 4am?! I was under the impression they just left the box on your doorstep?

We have a food co-op near here, run through the children's centres. Large bag £4, small bag £2.50. For this (small bag) I get around 7 potatoes, 3-4 onions, 1 or 2 types of fruit and 2-3 types of veg. And I can use healthy start vouchers to pay for it.

That's a great idea Bertie - are there lots of farms around or do they co-ordinate with market traders?

We used A&C for a few months pre-DC but gave it up in the end as not worth the money.

We got about 5 million onions...

strictlovingmum, I'm being pedantic but organic doesn't work like that sadly, as the chemicals used permeate the entire veg.

MitchiestInge I like your reasoning

I was going to do this food box thing but am quite put off. Are there any companies around Lundun people would recc, or shall I stick to Ocado?

We used to get one where we lived before (can't remember who it was through but not A&C) and you had to pick it up from someones house.

We gave up after running out of ideas of how to use beetroot and celeriac as some weeks the box was mainly those two veg.

CaptainMartinCrieff, no, they knocked on my door like they were bailiffs

The first couple of weeks it wasn't too bad, it was about half 6, but I was up anyway getting ready for work. But 4am? I think not.

4am 4AM Fuck I'd be pissed off

I used [http://www.riverford.co.uk/veg_fruit_meat_boxes Riverford Organics]] when I lived in London. They were great. Very reasonable prices too.

www.riverford.co.uk/veg_fruit_meat_boxes

Sorry, that is rubbish...don't know why I wrote that. I USED Farmaround organics and loved them.

Our local grovers would be about same price.

Which is why we don't shop there either, and why we are one of the few lcoals quite happy that we might finally get a supermarket. Us and the huge number of older people / lower income famillies living on the estates behind the hill, no doubt, but who may well like us be too scared to actively out themselves knowing what the vilalge gossip machine is like.

Oha nd sorry

YADNBU (though sweetcorn is expensive, even when on offer as it is in Tesco ATM)

Organic doesn't mean no pesticides, it means just pesticides from an approved list. If you want no pesticides you have to grow your own.

I gave up on Abel & Cole, partly because of the terrible value, and partly because their driver left me a really rude note complaning that I didn't fold down last week's box when left outside for delivery, which made his life 'difficult'.

(and YY that Riverford better than the others IME if you like the idea but not the contents- family of six and we never ran out)

I used Abel & Cole for a good while but gave up due to the poor value & delivery costs. They started out as such a lovely business too.....