Organic food boxes - are they worth it?

[mateychops]

A new deli near me has started this scheme, and I'm interested in getting a box a week. What should I expect, oh wise MNers?

bumping

I love my organic veg box - it is like a sort of vegetable-orientated Christmas stocking every week. Ok, I wouldn't voluntarily choose to buy kale EVERY week, but I quite enjoy the culinary challenge of how to use it.

Price: I think it's comparable to the same lot from the supermarket except it's organic

Convenience: well it's delivered every week which is damn convenient, but you can't choose what you get so I do have to supplement it with other necessaries.

Quality: well can't speak for all providers but mine is superb, and it lasts for ages, I am not sure whether it's because the produce is fresher or just because they don't wash the stuff which helps, but fruit and veg regularly lasts upwards of a fortnight and still looks pristine. In a supermarket it would probably take a fortnight before it even got to the shelves.

I used to get one from able and cole but I found that the fruit was rotten within a couple of days. Things may have improved but it did put me off.

We have a Riverford med veg box and a fruit box both brilliant. If you are committed to eating organically go for it as costwise it's slightly cheaper to get the boxes. I regularly price check my boxes(sad I know but we're broke) and they always come out a couple of ££s cheaper. My 3 tiny children get through masses of fruit (the whole box vanishes) which I just couldn't afford to buy organically from the supermarket. The only thing I would say is as regards the veg you may have to change your lifestle a bit as it takes a bit of work to get the most out of it (but it's worth it). Riverford post the box contents on Friday on their website which helps me to plan the week. They have a great recipe bank, you'll need to build up a few favourites for certain veg eg we've just had a run on spinach so I've made a lot of spinach & feta pasties, canneloni etc for the kids. Seem to have loads of carrots too so eaten masses of carrot soup, carrot cake to liven things up a bit. You'll also need a few good recipes that use up odds and ends like veggie lasagna, sheperds pie etc. Taste wise Riverford is fantastic, can't speak for the others. We keep it all out in the garage or fridge and it lasts for ages. Also don't know how old your kids are but there will be certain things I can guarantee they won't eat eg kale and artichokes. I don't even attempt to make my lot eat kale stir fry which we love so they have fish fingers those nights. Hope this helps.

I received my first Riverford box today I also bought the fruit box and I am really impressed with the amount I got and the quality of it. You don't get a choice over what is in the box but it's meant several things have arived that I would never have chosen myself (anyone got any recipes for sweet mama squash?). Riverford let you buy a one off box so theres no commitment and you can change which size box you'd like weekly to suit your needs. I would say definately try it as the value for money seems great.

it depends on what kind of person you are and how you cook. I could never settle for the veg box thing as I like to decide something to make and then make it rather than work round ingredients (my sis is the opposite and loves this aspect of it).

I also have children who love carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot but do not like parsnips, spinach and kale. I found that I was buying extra fruit and veg as well as the veg box so I had stuff the children would eat and then I started to thinkt here was no point ot he veg box for me if I am buying extra stuff.

Try it and see, it is only a click of a mouse to cancel!

tutu 100 - riverford have loads of recipes and you can do a recipe search too - my sister loves this!

I've no experience of them.

Have you got a farmer's market near you?

We've been getting one as one of our New Year's Resolutions - only disaster so far was an enormous quantity of beetroot despite choosing it as one of our three 'no thanks' items. No one in the family likes beetroot - they certainly don't after my crap attempt at 'beetroot with cumin in (soya)yoghurt sauce' from worthy, brown rice obsessed '80s vegetarian cookbook...

But I'm actually really keen on that 'what the &%$£ is a one of THOSE?' moment every Thursday - it's got us out of a pasta & veggie sauce/veg chilli/veg curry rut, put it that way.

Expect not a huge amount for your £s if you're used to supermarket veg, lots of mud & to have to plan what you'll be eating this week on the day it arrives.

So far my default option is curry using Patak's paste - kohlrabi & cabbage works really well! - or risotto - spinach &/or unidentifiable squash thingy.

Tomorrow I've to come up with something using lots of salsify (at least, I think it's salsify, according to pics in worthy veggie cookbook).

It's definitely worth giving it a go, but I'd say only if you've time to cook (even if a once a week cook for the freezer) as boxes this time of year tend to be heavy on stuff like root veg - you can't just fling a stir fry together in 10 minutes

Shucks, ladies, thanks for your help. I think I'll go for it.

Expat, the only accesible farmers market is Lomond Shores, and it's very expensive and quite touristy rather than a proper farmers market. The next nearest is held on a weekday when I work, so that's no use.

This one seems to be based on a co-op of local farmers along with other links to organic fruit and veg, which also appeals to my sense of supporting local businesses.

Dunno about the kale, though...I might be posting more recipe requests on here...

love getting a box.

Encourages us to eat things we wouldn't normally.

we get a small mixed organic box and it is fab - the food tastes amazing and the selection is good - conventional stuff like potatoes and apples but also chard, blood oranges and all yummy stuff. Also as a PP said it makes you try other stuff - also seems to keep well ... we were originally getting the box every other week but we were eating everything so we have changed to a weekly delivery

Definitely. Tastes great, better value than supermarket organic and makes us try things we never would have bought - last week was jerusalem artichokes. We can add items to our box as well so we can either come up with recipes to use what we get or order something specific if we've got a particular meal in mind. We use River Nene.

We get a medium riverford veg box, a fruit box and a fruit bag (around £25 for the lot)

Veg wise it's a little more than we eat (2 adults a toddler and a baby) so we're pureeing and freezing excess for weaning.

We easily go through the fruit have to buy tons more to supplement but that's just cos we eat a lot of fruit!

The only complaint I have is the bananas don't last. Ours go bad within around 4 days. I'd rather have something from the UK that lasted longer.

On the subject of squash and beetroot. I make the Squash & Orange cake (Riverford recipe bank) bit healthy for me but the kids love it and also the Riverford roast squash and chilli recipe. There should be loads more recipes on there not logged on for a while. The beetroot- I chop up small, steam and then we have it in cheese sandwiches with salad cream. Or I do roasted root veg(think it was a Rose Eliot recipe) with roasted chicken drum sticks(only organic chicken we can afford) would be quite nice with a whole roast chicken or couscous. Think I have loads of those 80s veggie cookery books kicking about, know just the type you're refering to.