%%% Wisteria %%% (or anyone else who gets organic veg boxes...)

[gibberish]

Hi!

Noticed on another thread that you get an organic box of veg which costs less than the veg at Tesco Could it really be so? I spend a fortune on fruit and veg so the thought of changing to organic, although I've wanted to do so for ages, seems out of the question cost-wise.

So, where do you get yours? Stupid question but, can you choose what you want or is there only a limited selection?

Thanks

I am with riverford

They are bascially very good, the only thing I would avoid with them is the berries which I find routinely utterly crap and in stingy quantities.

You can choose different sizes of box, and thusly avoid things you really hate. You can also get extras.

The ONLY problem we have had is that, until recently, we had a very small fridge and some of their stuff just doesn't really keep for a whole week unless it is refrigerated. But now we have a normal sized fridge and it is ok.

At work we use a Organic Box delivery company based near Guildford - at £10.50 a box, not sure it is cheaper than Tesco though. Generally we don't get much say in what comes in the box, though can state a preference for things - so that disliked items can be substituted. The supplier will make up orders based on specific items (can be mix of fruit and veg), with prices per kilo, subject to a minimum £10 order value - I suspect this would work out to be a slightly higher cost than having a Box.

Excellent thanks! Had a VERY quick look at the riverford one fillyjonk. How many are the boxes meant to feed? I see that they do different sizes but there are 6 in our family so wondering how long the large box would last us...

Off to inspect nannynicks box now

Ooer that sounded rather distasteful..

Both look great. Have googled some local suppliers here in Scotland. Not an awful lot of info on the sites but I suppose I will only know what quantities will be like if I buy! Not bad prices tho - £13 per large bag made up of 10 types of veg. Definitely a possibility.

Do you manage to use it all? Or do you struggle to find recipes that will use it all up?

Oooh me, on a thread - how exciting

Here's the thing IMO anyway;

the reason it is cheaper is that you don't get a choice (if you go for the seasonal boxes as I do), effectively you are eating food that is in season all the time so it is cheaper anyway. Unless you are particularly knowledgeable, you tend to go into your supermarket and pick up 'what you fancy' or the same stuff every week as opposed to what is in season.

I was spending about £35 a week on fruit and veg at Tesco (non-organic), after transferring to River Nene box scheme (part of Riverford) it works out at £22 a week for the large veg and large fruit box. We are 4 most of the time but fluctuate between 2 and 8 some weeks, and it is enough for us

I don't struggle with recipes because if in doubt I google or ask MNetters! I love the fact that you don't always know what something is and are forced to try new things; it may be a bit sad, I know but I really look forward to Wednesdays!

Ethically it is better because your food is not travelling as far to get to you, less of a carbon footprint etc, I find the produce lasts longer personally, esp carrots and potatoes but would agree that this year the berries have been a bit rubbish. Nothing goes to waste though as they get used up immediately or 'smoothied'!

I have found the customer service wonderful and if you do have a complaint about anything and let your rep know then you get lovely surprises for free in your next weekly box

oh but also the riverford site has a bunch of recipes which are good, and don't usually involve a pinch of prosciutto or similar

gibberish, there are 4 of us and we get through about 1 large box and 1 small box a week, plus potatoes, fruit, etc. We are big veg eaters though.

rofl Wisteria. Glad I've made you happy Yep, what you say makes sense. I will just need to adapt the way I plan meals I guess.

Fillyjonk thanks very much - very helpful. I hate those kind of recipes where you can't get one weird ingredient - searched everywhere for lime juice of all things today and finally lumped for lemon juice

domesticgoddess, thanks so much! Off to check that link now

Thanks everyone for your advice - really appreciate it

domesticgoddess - perfect. Will order from them when I get back from holiday. Many thanks.

gibberish - where are you roughly? I get mine from This place. Their website is undergoing some work just now so might not have all the info

Excellent, thanks mawbroon, they would deliver to me. What are their prices like and sizes of bags if you don't mind me asking?

We get the family sized fruit and veg box once a week. It's £24 and says it does a family of 4. We are two adults and a toddler and it's about right for us but we do eat loads of fruit and veg.

Let me see if I can remember what we got this week:

tatties (enough for 4 portions)
small cauliflower
4 onions
3 big carrots
bulb garlic
large sweet potato
8 bananas
4 oranges
5 pears
6 apples
large courgette
2 big bags of swiss chard
one lettuce
two small green peppers
6 or so vine toms
large cucmber

I think that's all, have eaten some already and have still got some left from last week as we were away so not sure exactly what came in the most recent box!

They just charge my switch card every week and if I'm not in then they leave the box outside the front door. And it really does taste much better than the supermarket stuff.

HTH

Yep that does help. I'll probably go for just the veg to start with then add the fruit once I've worked out if the veg is enough for us all. Thanks again