I am so incredibly peed off with Riverford...all their christmassy stuff "withdrawn from sale"...

[HowTheFillyjonkStoleChristmas]

fecking week before christmas and no:

cheese
booja booja truffles
decent chutneys
xmas puddings

etc

had decided to do a riverford shop as far as possible not a tescos one but screw em, tbh. Does it not occur to them that people might want xmas puddings in the last delivery before xmas? ffs

The other night I had cooked up a massive load of Riverford veg and piled up my plate, as I was tucking in I realised that in the middle of the Kale was a cooked blue caterpillar that was TWO INCHES LONG - I tell no word of a lie - it was a MASSIVE CHUBBY GRUB - I bunged out my whole dinner, it was GRIM.

Frankly I would rather have had a glass of pesticides with my dinner and no large larvae.

Sprouts will arrive next week and will be COVERED in aphids and covered in mould within 24 hours, so I'll have to go to Asdas and buy their pesticide-ridden non-mouldy sprouts.

I'll put money on it.

MP - you are supposed to wash them thoroughly first - pesticides or not

Mind you - the very fact that a caterpillar was there is proof positive that pesticides havent been used

whats a riverford shop?

a shop where riverford produce is sold

baboom

my friend is an organic gardener and he says if there are bugs on your food that is a good sign - you can wash bugs off but pesticides go in you and stay forever.

Stuff it. Get to Tesco

sunnyfields is good
if you live in the south,they're based near southampton,quality has been great since I've been using them.

We've been using Farmaround North (who also do Farmaround in London) for a couple of months; no mouldy veg so far.

well

have big riverford box in hall

i do feel all smug now

the 3 chocolate alchemist bars (for MY stocking) are helping somewhat

did you tip your delivery man? I am quite fond of mine but think it might be a bit old fashioned!

How can Riverford be local? Doesn't it all come from Devon? And don't they get their soft fruit from abroad?

Satine... doesn't that depend where you live? Devon is 1.5 hours drive from here, not that far really!

They announced they have a farm in kent now for that side of the country.

I've just ordered a box for the first time in ages, I'd forgotten about all the bloody kale .
But I do find the Fruit&Veg box has far fewer root veg and more salady stuff if that helps anyone?

we have the fruit and veg box now, much better

After reading this thread I emailed them to make sure I was getting the cheese I ordered a couple of weeks ago. It is still coming, it is just new orders they can't take as they've sold out, can't see how we can complain about that really. If you get mouldy stuff complain they are very quick to replace stuff. I worry more about the length of time stuff from the supermarkets does last, tomatoes i'm sure shouldn't keep 6 weeks in the fridge

riverford did put a note in boxes warning about pre-ordering to not miss out on christmas stuff. i've just ordered normal (but bigger) box. ours is pretty good quality and our local supplier is lovely. we tried a couple of others before deciding on riverford and they deliver on my day off, fridays

have cheese from foxy's. much better.

i do feel peed off, i have stuck with them for a very long time, I think it quite poor that they've sold out of so much, tbh. I particularly bought from them in the summer cos they mentioned that that that was a harder time for them. just pisses me off, really.

yes we get fruit and veg box now, less kale.

anyway think I will probably go with someone more local in the new year

satine-most fruit is grown in uk I think but the bits like bananas are shipped.

no note in my box

but anyway

I want to give my support to someone smaller really, I think.

bananas,clementines etc shipped by riverford but no air-freighting. i found their veg fresher and nicer than the stuff I had from nearer farms (eg essex)

tell you what though...

those clementines are fiiiiine

aaargh...

I think it depends how close you are as to where your local 'river farm' is. My sister is in nottingham and she gets a 'river nene' box.

That's funny, there was a Riverford rep at a local farmer's market recently and he said that the soft fruit often comes from abroad. I just think that most places have local schemes which are far more envronmentally sound than Riverford.

eh?

no

they grow it

i've seen it

unless those were ornamental soft fruit bushes they had there

i tend to feel that the food miles (and we are talking a lorry up to newport, then a well planned van drive round south wales) balances well against the costs of heating a polytunnel to compensate for our colder welsh weather compared to devon, plus also that we can get so many extras that we can avoid a supermarket shop

feck me am defending them now

Message withdrawn

lol

am sooooo tempted

i had a dream last night when I went back to edinburgh

but then it turned into a nightmare where I was wandering round south clarks street and the meadows trying to find the wool shop

whats going on up there for yule?