Thinking of getting a weekly veg box - please tell me about pros and cons

[FeelingLucky]

It will cost £9.50 a week. or I can get one which will include fruit for £15.50

I'm in Scotland so use a local organic box scheme based in Fife - we opted to get a box every other week so we could still buy/plan to cook with other veggies eg aubergines etc from time to time. The scheme I'm in is happy to exclude items if not wanted - we asked for fewer potatoes and no beetroot. Sometimes the veg are not the best quality (eg green potatoes) and you have to plan what to eat based on what will go off first; but I love the excitement of not knowing what to expect!

Oh - and sometimes you may be clueless as to what vegetable you've actually been sent (I was thrown by Jerusalem artichokes, round yellow courgettes and red kohlrabi). The earthshare website is useful for pics of veg and what you can cook with them.

I would recommend Riverford - cheaper than Abel & Cole and really good quality. Riverford came top of a poll of online veg by Good Housekeeping magazine. We've been using them for 2 years and on one occasion the tomatoes were tasteless. I mentioned this - in passing - to the supplier - and he gave us a couple of things free of charge.

Pros are that it is cheaper than buying in a supermarket; you get produce in the box than is really expensive in the supermarket which you might not splash out on like Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Leeks; it's quite exciting (at the beginning) to see what's in the box; you feel bad to eat out or to get a takeaway as you think you should use the food you have so forces you to be more economical and healthy; the food tastes great.

Con - there's always one thing - fennel or kohl rabi - that you don't like or don't know what to do with.

I also think Riverford are so much better (quality, service and website) than Able and Cole. And the day works better for us as well.

pros - initial excitement and feeling that you are being all wholesome

cons - swede, radishes, more radishes, a couple more swedes and some black radishes.

oh, and serious con - we have a good local greengrocer and I think it's important to support good local shops if you have them

I really like my Riverford box. My only problem is too many onions. We definitely eat more veg now than we used to. Plus the box I get from them is pretty good, carbon-wise (very little air freight), so I get to feel all smug.

Anyone had their Riverford vanilla yet?

I'd kill for a local greengrocer. I literally couldn't tell you where the nearest one to me is - at least ten miles away, I'd guess (apart from local farm shop which is outlandishly expensive).

Riverford organic veg costs less than Waitrose non-organic equivalent!

ooh, onions, policywonk - I would have killed for onions in my radish-eating days!

wouldn't swap you for my greengrocer though...

Can I interest you in some parsnips as well?

oh, I have no problem getting all the veg I want, now I rely on my good local greengrocer instead of the local pig feed grower organic vegetable box supplier, policywonk

My riverford order is coming today and I will be deeply upset if my vanilla pod hasn't made it off the ship it was apparently trapped on!

I live in a really nice, affluent town (in a very small house with no money to my name, I hasten to add), and there is no butcher or greengrocer within walking distance. And I class walking distance as 'within an hour's brisk walk with a pram'. So box scheme is bloody brilliant for us.

DP is also slightly sick of swede.

think veg boxes are a pricey con.random selection of veg,you'd be better going chosing yourself at green grocer

another positive vote for Riverford. Best quality and quantity. also you can tell your local disti if there are veggies you dont want and they will take them out of the box and refund the difference. Same experience re extremechocolate, we got some free veg when I asked (not complained) about the reduced quality of the beansprouts.

Able and Cole are a ripe off, quality is not great plus quantities are small compared to Riverford BUT they spent the difference in marketing & sales whilst Riverford depends mostly on recommendation. Also Abel and Cole are not a cooperative like Riverford (group of farmers getting fair prices)so could be seen as a wholesaler really

Riven, celeriac is a bit celery-ish but it's really nice! You can make the French salad, remoulade, with it or use it for mash (good with potato). Also good in soups and stews - I had a recipe I really liked for celeriac and haricot bean soup, with loads of parsley, I think it might have been by Madhur Jaffrey.

ps, even swede is edible if you mash it with potatoes and lots of butter!

I get an abel and cole box every other week, so as not to overload us with stuff - just a small one and I've always found the quality to be good. But have heard some people have probs with them...

I don't understand people saying the cons are too much kohl rabi/ beetroot etc - I just told them which things I didn't like (I hate beetroot) and we never get them. Love getting my box - and we eat much better for it I think...

It might not be an issue for all box users, but I just thought I'd mention that Abel and Cole had a large chunk bought by a private equity firm last year. It is a bit of an issue for me, as part of the appeal of box schemes is the idea that they can cut out the middleman (supermarkets), and enable local farmers to get a decent profit. However, with Phoenix Equity Partners now being a co-owner, I don't see them as very different to supermarkets in this respect.

We get deliveries from Northern Harvest about once a month. It's all local produce from the north-west of England. We don't get a veg box every time as some was going to waste (you get LOADS) but we do order organic meats - especially venison

One more vote for Riverford.

Although despite my swapping boxes and other means, I can never escape the dreaded beetroot.

My box is sitting in my porch right now and I'd bet anything there's a whole bunch of the blighters lurking the bottom.

well the main thing is to keep spending really

defends own less worthy choice of abel and cole

v pleased with box, except we have already eaten most of the fruit and it only arrived 10 mins ago - timing was fab tho, had just got home myself

everything looks fresh

I did see one of this lot's vans today and might give them a whirl, but I like the yellow van more

no tarantulas tho

wouldn't you know it, I got the bloody beetroot again.

Pros - could make you more adventurous and creative; yummy organic veg; feelings of great virtue
Cons - muddy celeriac for weeks in a row - bleurgh.
We gave ours up for that reason and now buy nice veg from farm shop so we can choose.