Yes, it's been done before, possibly even by me, but what the heck - FRUIT/VEG BOX DELIVERIES

[hunkermunker]

Anyone have one?

I mean, I know you do.

So tell me about it.

Which company delivers it?

Which are box-friendly fruits/veggies?

Which are less good?

Anything to avoid utterly?

And is there a meat/cheese/eggs/milk option as well?

Do you feel it offers value for money and do you eat things you wouldn't normally buy now, because you have to, because it's In Your Kitchen?

TIA

Message withdrawn

Abel & cole are brilliant plus there is an offer on mumsnet atm to get a free babybox with your first order .

You can get loads inc eggs and meat plus wines and lagers

Abel & Cole here too, I really recommend them. They also do milk, yoghurt, meat, fish, bread, pantry staples (tinned tomatoes, lentils, pasta etc), and lots more.

I get a local one.
They grow quite a bit on our local allotments.

We get all sorts in ours.

Yes, I can phone and ask them to add anything else that they sell in the shop in to my order and I settle up when I go in (it's an independant health food shop and deli - can get milk, cheese, eggs, vegi stuff, cakes, Ecover, that sort of thing).

Have not come across anything box-unfriendly. It's carefully packed with lettuce on the top etc.

Yes, I think it's value for money.

Yes, we end up eating stuff that we wouldn't normally or we don't like much because it's there (cf the two red cabbages and yet another bloody celeriac languishing in my kitchen).

I'd love an allotment.

Maybe in another life...!

Thanks, all. Was looking at A&C and also Riverford - Riverford seem a bit cheaper?

You do get an extra delicious layer of smug on veggies grown on your local allotment.

try to get a local one, hunker
a lot of those big companies, the veg is still being driven all over the country - up to the distributor, and then back again to you

if you are going to have muddy veg that you don't know what it is then it might as well be muddy veg that you don't know what it is from just up the road

I feel really sad about how the small schemes are getting swallowed up by the big schemes - food should be LOCAL, that is the point of box schemes aaaaargh

(sorry for rant, my lovely local box scheme just got tooken over by River Nene)

Doubt there's a local one near me, Franny. It's more MFI and Homebase and Sainsbury's round here. Oh and storage units for some reason. The world has gone mental, hasn't it?

Will look for one though.

there will be one localer than Riverford though, I bet

Do River Nene get stuff from all over then? Have just been looking at them.

I have only dipped my toe into the veg box delivery world as yet - I will investigate more fully before making decision

(How are you, Franny, shall I hijack this thread and ask about bumpage and delightful DS and all things Franny?)

all the big schemes do AFAIK drama

look at this page. They pack the stuff in Peterborough, and deliver it to the Midlands and East Anglia. We're in NE Essex and I know they get some stuff from a farm near us. So the stuff would be going from Essex (and lots of other places) to Peterborough, and back again. That's about 200 miles I think (my geography is crap however)

I know this is local compared to what it could be, but it isn't actually LOCAL, is it?

oh I am fine hunker but as people are no doubt sick of me saying, I am still waiting for the fabled burst of energy

hurrah for dp or I would be living in a shit hole eating oven chips

Indeed. Darn. I would like to get stuff more locally - well, with less trucking about - than that ideally.

We have a local chap and we live near Wolverhampton so don't give up.
We eat all sorts of things we wouldn't do normally. I have to top up with mushrooms, peppers, cucumber and tomatoes and sometimes potatoes and most fruit but I love it. It costs us £11 and we get:
Bananas
Citrus (blood oranges or satsumas etc) or kiwi
Apples
Pears
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
And four 'other' things could be
Kohlrabi, celeriac, fennel, kale, tomatoes, brocolli, cabbage, purple sprouting brocolli, greens, turnips, parsnip, beetroot, celery, red pepper, mange tout, runner beans, sugar snap peas, asparagus, pod peas etc etc. Oh and lettuce in the summer.
We were in a real brocolli and carrots rut before.
I love that it is all seasonal. It is what I feel like eating at the time. And I get a feeling from supporting our local chap. He does eggs and various breads too but I don't bother with those. I am not organised enough to order it by the deadline....

Oh, I know that feeling, Franny. Mind you, I thought it was meant to stop after you'd given birth and mine's lingered till, well, now. Although I felt amazing when I had a week off work when DS1 started school, so I think I just try to jam too much into my life and then wonder why I want to curl up and die by the end of the week. It's no way to live, no it ain't. Must become a wealthy heiress somehow

Have found Farmaround who deliver on the only day that works for me.

VP, I think there's a massive case for being healthier if you eat seasonal veg - makes sense that the most nutritious food is that which is growing naturally, imo.

I know it is hard
our local one just gave over to River Nene as I say because they wanted to concentrate on growing and not delivering

we are trying another local ish (20 miles away?) one now but on first glance it appears more expensive

search online for "organic box scheme (your area)" and have a good old hunt through

you will find something better than River Nene, if you are East Anglia or Midlands, this is farming country surely!

We use Riverford and love it, very good quality&quantity for money, especially compared to Able and Cole who we used initially (and stopped becasue of poor quality) but think where the difference lies is that Able and Cole spent a lot of money on marketing hence higher prices.

Riverford also does meat now I think

We've tried them 3 times and given up each time.

Just couldn't hack all the repetitive stuff, the amount of preparation and thinking that had to go into each meal , lots of stuff went rotten really quickly (whichever scheme we tried) and in winter, we'd be left with a pile of root vegetables from about the second day onwards.

Also, we tend to eat a whole load of apples and then other fruits in bits and pieces. And with the schemes, we'd eat through all the apples/bananas/satsumas in about 2 days and then still need to buy more fruit so it ended up costing a fortune.

So no, it was never value for money for us though I do miss the variety that was on offer (e.g. I never voluntarily buy fennel unless I've planned a special meal with it).

hunker I expect you just want me to shut up now but the produce from Farmaround isn't coming from anywhere near you

look on the faq page:

Where does farmaround produce come from?
We are supplied by around fifteen small and medium sized producers from across Britain, together with a network of producers in continental Europe. Many of our delicious parsnips, potatoes, carrots , cauliflowers, leeks and brussel sprouts are from Fadmoor on the North Yorkshire Moors and from Riverford Farm in Devon. Our cherry tomatoes, spring onions and squash, plums, apples and Conference pears are from Kent, the garden of England. Many of our cabbages, kales and celery are from Strawberry Fields in Lincolnshire. Our lemons, winter tomatoes and aubergines come from Sicily. Our clementines and pink grapefruit from Corsica; with melons, oranges, avocados and mangos from Andalucia in Spain. Our peaches and apricots are from the Drome region of France, our winter salads and grapes from Provence and our shallots and globe artichokes from Brittany.

would you give me your (rough) postcode and I can try googling if you like? instead of just shooting you down every time you suggest one

We have a local one in the North East. They don't deliver but we collect from a link house. Have also been the link house when ours was on holiday - this means you get your veg for free.
Some weeks I get a bit fed up with yet another leafy green veg, but use it all up somehow. At the moment I have a glut of leeks.

Where do bananas and orange socme form at this time of the year thpugh?
It can't be local?

We have a local one too - farm shop about 5 miles away but they deliver over quite a big area.

They only supply veg & fruit grown in this county and most is organic or no sprays.

The quality of the stuff we get is impeccable, so much tastier than anything you buy in the supermarket.

Pricewise it compares to e.g. tesco organic but so much fresher, tastier, and more "real", iyswim!

The farmer who runs the scheme always includes a recipe for some of the more unusual stuff - for e.g. this week Jerusalem Artichokes - it's been a real experience for us.

A very good one.

Would definitely second local, hunker, but local ones do deliver over quite a wide area. To answer your questions:

Which company delivers it? Not that I suspect it will be any good to you (!) but Bee-Organic

Which are box-friendly fruits/veggies? The website tells you ahead of time what you'll get - here's next week's. We don't get fruit, as the farms round here don't necessarily grow fruit, so some can be imported, etc. We do have a fab soft fruit farm which has a shop quite near, so that is our alternative.

Which are less good? Most things are fine - just use them in order of most-least perishable

Anything to avoid utterly? Things you really don't like. I try to convince myself I'll eat cauliflower/sprouts, but it never happens, so I've asked for them to be off my lists (and you can take your dark looks away, Franny).

And is there a meat/cheese/eggs/milk option as well? Not in ours, but plenty of places will deliver those things, so can set it up differently.

Do you feel it offers value for money and do you eat things you wouldn't normally buy now, because you have to, because it's In Your Kitchen? Yes, absolutely. I'd recommend getting cookbooks which specialise in seasonal veg (I am really enjoying using this at the moment), but it is fun, because you can't stick to the same repertoire all the time, and have to be inventive. I'd recommend it. You can always try a couple and find the one you like best.