£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'??

I love my Inept & Diamond veg box. But then it's just for me usually, so the smallish portions of everything is fine. If you're trying to cook larger quantities of the same dishes for 6 people at a time then small quantities of loads of different veg is a bit useless.

I'll tell ya what Abby if they'd have knocked on my door at 4am and delivered this lot their driver would probably have been facing a 'latex glove moment' shortly thereafter!!

Have now done Lidl via school run simply for convenience and have living salad x 2 at 49p each, baby spuds 2kg 78p, pointy cabbage 38p each, carrots with the green on still at 40p a bunch (10 goodsize ones per bunch that smell fab), a pack of 3 mixed peppers at 99p, 4 corn on the cob at 24p each and 4 figs for £1.

Now that's more like it

In my veg box this week I got:

1.5kg potatoes
bunch of 8 carrots
1 cabbage
broccoli
16 runner beans
2 corn on the cobs
3 onions
2 courgettes
2 pears
4 apples
2 beetroot
6 massive leaves of something, not sure what! Spring greens in Autumn?

That costs £9 from a local farm - I tried it because I was really unimpressed by the veg in my supermarket, and the veg box veg is a much better quality.

Is Lidl any good?

They are trying to buy a site near us and we don't have any cut price supermarkets at the moment. I imagine there may be some local opposition.

Personally I quite like Lidl (or Liddels as DH pronounces it) it's certainly cheap on the fruit and veg front and although it's not as long lasting as farm bought it's certainly comparable to the other big chains. I pop in for £1 milk, nice butter and odd German things that other chains don't do. If you like the greener veg, advocados, figs and other, mainly seasonal stuff and are happy to have a recyclable bag on hand then you'd probably be a convert.

TBH I'm as tight as a tick when it comes to all types of shopping (barr children's shoes)...it's a standing joke amongst friends that I know the kg price of everything and the cheapest place for it within a few miles!

Thanks LaBag and Peachy, will check em out.

I want youuuuuur box kouklamoo!

Another very happy Riverford customer here. Box £12 last week there were 3 florets of broccoli in addition to the other 6 types of veg.

Just FYI

head of broccoli

floret of broccli
Iif you are getting florets not heads then YADDDDDDDDDNBU

I used to dread the arrival of my fruit and veg box. Mud from the 3 potatoes would drop all over the carpet. I like my veg nice and clean, from M&S ideally . I used to get loads of purple sprouting broccoli, which tastes much the same as the normal stuff to me (urgh). Was particularly spectacular when I cooked it and then found a maggot in it. Haven't been able to stomach it since.

I think you should name and shame OP. That measly amount is not enough to feed a family for a week and shouldn't be sold as such, and certainly not for that amount of money.

There are a fair few farms here, I don't know if all of it comes from local farms though. I think they have an allotment which some of it comes from. Obviously things like bananas and pineapples are imported, but they send a cheerful little letter every week in the bag saying where things have come from as well which is nice. My childminder volunteers for it so I can pick it up at her house when I drop DS off

Peachy yup...floret(apparently that's not the norm). Customer service guy has credited account and has told me a manager will supervise a box for next week which I may or may not be charged for (dependent on my feedback ).
Will keep you posted

4am!!!! Well I never that's so stupid!

a floret as in a single bite of broccoli?

Hope you are getting a refund!

Blimey! So glad I opened this thread now! We had a leaflet through the post from a+c tonight and was considering using them.. Maybe not now!

You've been had!

I have used Riverford but have switched to Lidl fruit and veg, for economic reasons! Lidl fruit and veg is cheap and ace.

The Riverford meat box though is brilliant. The quality of the meat is just incomparable to the tasteless water-logged disgusting stuff they sell at all the major supermarkets. Forget the veg box and go meat box, personally I care more about animal welfare than eating organic anyway.

I've given up on Abel & Cole because it is so damn expensive and is really poor value. Really annoying that when you ask to skip something and they apparently replace it with more of something else, there is NO WAY you get an extra portion of something else as the quantities are still titchy. Really annoying too that all the delicious seasonal things they put on the website never make it into your weekly vegbox, and if you want them you have to buy them at extra cost...

I spent £8 at the market today.

broccoli
bag of spinach
2 butternut squash
cucumber
2 red peppers
8 large carrots
9 bananas
large bag of apples
fresh ginger
2 sweet potatoes

Sorry LaBag they sound awful, the coompany I mean.

I just looked at the Riverford Meat

£10.95 for 2 rump steaks!

Fivegomadindorset what on earth do you mean? The company I use are Farmaround Organics and they are great. Read about their ethics with regards farming vegetables and also the animals they have saved over the years.

The owner is a vegetarian and has strong views on animal welfare.