i am interested in the veg/meat boxes some people have mentioned,

[lucysmam]

could someone tell me where to start looking for something local (doncaster, south yorks) and how much they pay/what they get and how often so i could work out if it would work for me. Hope that makes sense, tia

riven, we just got an allotment - any good at growing veg?

They always seem much more expensive then the supermarkets

We use another of the riverford ones- Nene. They're pretty reasonable good quality and make us be inventive with our cooking

whitefield road

what sort of stuff do you get in them?

how much do you pay ish and how often do you get them?

I don't drive so atm get taxi from asda which costs us £7 on top of shopping costs unless mil is going at same time.

do you find it makes life easier or do you get random stuff you've never heard of?

sorry about all the q's just trying to decide whether to give it a go

another vote for Riverford (Nene). Think it works out cheaper to buy from them then lets say Tescos plus the quality is much better. We used to order the large one (2 adults 2 DC) but then we eat a lot of veg.

Now we order just a fruit box and extra apples as have lots of vegetables in garden plus I won a weekly veg box for a year from another company and the quality is very poor!

another question sorry, how long between box deliveries? weekly/fortnightly? or longer?

pickie, do you grow your own veg?? i wanted to give it a go but the only stuff i could find had to be planted around march, is there anything i could try over winter?

have a look at realseeds' website they have most information you need for growing your own www.realseed.co.uk. Just my first year of growing vegatables so not really much help!

We normally order weekly but you can order when you need really, all done online.

Forgot to mention we also ordered the meat box from Riverford and it is very good quality meat and good value as well compared to organic in the shop but still expensive IYSWIM

cheers pickie, will sit and have a look at that site tomorrow. hoping to get some planters/bits in the sales to give some bits a go

We used Riverford (in Somerset) and they were dreadful. We complained that a chicken and a mince pack had gone off after 2 days, and they tried to give us a bag of apples in return

We then refused to accept this as a reasonable substitution and held back a small amount of money to balance this, they are now threatening to take us to court for the outstanding balance

Oh, and on a previous delivery, 3 items of the veg box were mouldy, they also refused to sort this out too

lucysmam- try freecycle as well for free seedlings/plants as I got some off there plus gave away lots.

I get a box from the riverford (hampshire) and supplement it where I need to. I find the veg keeps so much better than the same from tesco, and is about the same only more convienent. The chap is usually happy for me to swap an item if needs be.

I get my fruit from the local market weekly, much cheaper

Riven (or anyone) can you tell me what to do with chard? I've had it a couple of times in my veg bag and have little idea what to do with it?

Otherwise, I love my veg delivery, there is always something different in there I wouldn't have thought of buying myself. And I actually quite like the challenge of making sure I use all the different things up by the time the next delivery turns up.

We use a very local organic scheme, run from a nursery 2 miles away.

riven, have been trying to do a link to the allotment via bristol city council web site, but have failed totally.

bratnav, thats a bit off putting. but have had a look at their site and apparently they don't deliver in my area so finding one that does is on my google list for tomorrow.

pickie, good idea, there's always loads on my local freecycle, i've only just decided over the past few weeks to give it a go so have never looked properly though!

Abel & Cole are very good and you can indicate things you really don't like so they don't send it. They delivery weekly and the stuff is good quality. I used to use a local one but the quality wasn't too good.

Abel & Cole are national, but are supposed to be an excellent company to work for and ethical in all they do.

we have just started getting an abel and cole box once a fortnight. We don't eat much veg and although DS1&2 eat fruit, i don't so its a great way to make sure i actually eat properly! We get the baby box for now so we aren't wasting any and i also get eggs in my delivery.

No complaints so far

I think its because I don't normally buy organic that I find them expensive.

If there was a box scheme which wasn't exclusively organic I would be interested.
But then would that be against the whole point of box deliveries?