Talk to me about box schemes...

[sushistar]

I've tried abel and cole a few times but never seem to use the stuff, especially the odder inclusions.
But we eat a LOT of fruit and veg, I don't want Tesco getting all the cash! And my main concern is food miles - apples from New Zealand ffs when England produces beautiful apples for most of the year.

So...
What box scheme do you use? (I live in london)
Is the stuff local? (I don't care if it's organic if they've flownm it half way round the world!)
And how do you make sure you use it?

No one here uses box schemes?!?

People do, there was a thread before, I can't remember much about it though, sorry.

Riverford are very good, you can choose the veg you want and I think they're in London now....hang on...

[[http://www.riverford.co.uk/ here]

oops....here

Short version: I use Riverford. I love it. It takes a mental commitment to use the stuff.

Long version: I chose Riverford because they don't airlift stuff, but they do import some European stuff. Sticking with a hardcore box scheme during the 'hungry gap' in the spring is quite tough IMO, although I might move on to this later. I choose veg box only because I too focus much more on the airmiles/local commitment stuff rather than the organic side, and organic fruit seems to be imported more than veges.

Riverford also already delivers to at least one person in a local street, so I felt it was less food miles for them.

The food we have comes from Sutton Scotney, which doesn't seem too far from Oxford. However, there are definitely more local schemes I could have chosen.

Riverford email you the contents of their box each week so that you can start to plan meals (I must say I rarely do). They also include a recipe in the box, and there are lots more on the website. You have to plan your eating around the vegetables which takes more effort, but feels really worth doing.

The veges taste much better, although I am apt to buy very cheap stuff in the supermarket so not really comparable. A major plus is MUCH less packaging. We definitely eat more veg than we otherwise would.

any other qus?

Using the stuff - tackle the least appealing things early in the week when it's freshest. Look up recipes on the website so you do try them. If in doubt, use things in a stew with something you do like - e.g. sausage stew - we all love sausages and virtually anything tastes good in that form. Nothing is too hard once you have found a niche for it - e.g. kohlrabi I treat like onion - peel, chop, soften in a bit of oil, etc. Last resort - you can ask not to have specific things (we all hate celery, for example).

I used to use A&C but now use Riverford as well. They have just started to include an assessment of gCO2/kg i.e. the carbon dioxide emissions per kg - which helps you to choose a box which hasn't been transported too far.

I prefer Riverford's fruit to Abel&Cole's but I agree that when you go for a fruit box more of it seems to be imported.

I do sometimes end up with lots of onions, leeks or courgettes (as I'm the only one in the house who really likes them) but I tend to stick lots of them in the oven to roast and then freeze them to use when I'm eating on my own.

There have been some threads on here about using up the veg that tend to get left - I got a great recipe for kale from mumsnet.

I love kohlrabi sliced thinly in salad, like fennel.

Another idea - When I used A&C, if I was feeling organised enough, I would check the website early to see what was coming in the next box. If there were loads of things that I didn't think we'd use, I would cancel the box and just order veg separately. It's probably annoying for the suppliers if too many people do this. But I felt better for having fewer things languishing in the fridge or vegetable rack.

I'm based in the North and we use Riverswale which is the equivalent to Riverford and Farmaround. We alternate each week. They're both pretty good value for money and we hardly ever need to buy additional vegetables during the week. We're not keen on the packaging of Riverswale, everything seems to have their own packaging from the potatoes to the celery. They 're part of the Riverford franchise and they also seem to include a lot of literature with the boxes as well. They normally say where the food comes from so that's good.

With Farmaround, again another franchise, we find that there are more "exotic" varieties like fennel, aubergine and other mediterranean veg which suggests that not all of it is local. But they do keep their packaging to a minimum.

hmm, i'll check out riverford - i iked the idea of abel and cole but there was just too much odd stuff that we never got round to eating!

Come, come. Not 'odd stuff' but 'NEW stuff'. Like I say, you have to get your head round it - 'this is MY FOOD, i must EAT IT ALL' kind of thing.

I know, it's bad of me!