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

We used to get one and I loved it for a while.

Pros - was delivered to me so no shopping needed. Healthy food, locally grown, Organic.
Cons - ended up getting loads of the same thing week after week, potatoes, celeriac, leeks etc. Had to wash and scrub it all before using which took forever. Lots of bugs and worms to the point that some weeks I felt like David Attenbrough.

Alot depends on the supplyer and time of year. Winter time can be boring for veg boxes! Farmers markets, local farm shops better at this time of year IMO.

Surprised by all the celeriac haters. I love celeriac. And swede. Don't mind beetroot either. Am completely defeated by kohl rabi though - surely that's just water.

Thanks everyone.
We're a beetroot, swede and celeriac loving family so will go for it.
Policywonk - you can never have too many onions imho. Onion soup, onion tart are some of my favourite dishes.

Celeriac is great raw, grated and mixed with lemon juice, mayo and a bit of mustard. Sounds bizarre but makes the yummiest coleslaw-type salad. If you hate celery (which I do) try it - it's much nicer than cooking the stuff.

And yes, we have a weekly veg box from a local supplier. I order week by week, so no long term commitment, but I do have it most weeks. They do a good mix of root veg, greens, potatoes, onions and fruit.

Top tip is get into the habit of making veg soup - to use up any excess just before the next one arrives.

I do make onion tart sometimes, but I'm trying to avoid pastry atm

Onion soup is good though, I should do more of that.

We love riverford and it does cut our bills down because our meals are based on the veg we have rather than the meat we have and it does make me use it all up.

Having said that, the number of giant swedes we have are turning into a bit of a joke. I mean really, how many things can you do with a swede?

If we had a local greengrocer then I would use it.

Riverford is marvellous.

I've cut down to once a fortnight now, alternating with a big supermarket delivery.

Riven: there's a brilliant recipe for Cream of Celeriac soup in the Covent Garden Soup Cookbook.

Peel and chop the celeriac and a couple of small potatoes in a oz of butter for about 10 minutes, then crush in a garlic clove, squeeze in the juice of one lemon, and top up with veg stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Puree, season, and pour in a bit of milk. It's really delicious.

We have a local one - all grown on local farms, organic or no-sprays.

Pros - veg actually tastes of something, lasts for ages, and we eat more veg as a result, plus of course supporting local businesses and farmers.

Cons - kale

We used to have Abel & Cole and I was very disapointed with the quality. The veg didn;t last a week. LAst Christmas the box was delivered a few days before Chrostmas and the potatoes and carrots were rotten.

I now have Riverford which comes from a farm more local to me (they have a few around the country).

The quality is far, far better and the extras are to die for too!!!

Just too many onions and leeks for me at the moment.

might have a monster inside

Is excellent with a weaning baby in the house.

You can puree all the 'wtf is this strange nobbly thing that isn't a turnip?' & 'OK, I think this might be accidental hedge clippings that fell into the tractor. Pretend it's spinach & curry it? ' stuff.

We're about to try again - our previous (small, local) supplier expanded, got a bit crap.

Going to give Riverford a go this time.

We use Riverford and as we have a big freezer get all our milk from them too.

Pros - we eat more veg than we would if I was buying it in the supermarket.

plus I try out new recipes as a way of incorporating the new veg into meals.

Cons - children dislike veg that is 'too fancy' - cavolo nero...

I like the seasonality of it and the no air freight.

It stops buying too much veg at the shop. You have to use your imagination more as you cook with what you have, rather than get what you need to cook with (always too much). You save endless amounts of time picking through the shite at the veg section of a supermarket to get all the things on the list. It is usually fresher, tastes nicer, may well even work out cheaper.

However, you often get stuff you don't like, or do not know how to cook (not necessarily a bad thing as you learn), sometimes you waste some of it if you do not find a use for it that week, you have to prioritise the usage so that the stuff that goes off the quicket gets used first, and sometimes you don't get to use it all before it goes off if you are not careful. It does not always last as long as supermarket veg as it is less coated in preserving chemicals.

All in all, a good idea

I'm currently making marmalade from riverford oranges. dh eats gallons of the stuff. First time so I hope it works out.

Well my order came today so if anyone can tell me what to do with 10 beetroot I would be very appreciative. Also ended up with a dreaded celierac again.

I usually just roast beetroot and use them as you would any other roast veg (ie alongside a roast dinner).

You can make a dip out of creme fraiche and creamed horseradish to serve with the roast beetroot - works very well (esp with salmon).

Hugh Fearnley-Doodah has a recipe for brownies that uses beetroot as well, if you like cakes. here

lots of beetroot recipes here

We end up either roasting it or turning into soup.

marmalade came out lovely (apart from my muslin bag stuck to the bottom and burned totally black. I had to pour out the simmering oranges and absolutely scrub the pan forever before continuing. oops)

No problem with Riverford delivering me too many leeks - they replaced them with a the dreaded swede this week. Wondering if they had supply problems due to the weather this week as boxes definitely seemed less generous.

I have made this chocolate beetroot cake and it was surprisingly good. It's also good grated in a salad or you stick it in if you're juicing.

Abel and Cole are currently offering 25% OFF AN ORDER FOR £25 OR MORE.

beetroot and green bean salad with a smattering of walnuts aand vinagrette - yummeeee

beetroot risotto -YUMMY -really YUMMY

beetroot roasted in foil with garlic and feta (add feta 20 minutes before they are ready)

...used to get one of these, but cancelled it in the end. Why?

Swiss chard.

...you can make quite a nice risotto from swiss chard.

However, using the contents of my veg box it was possible to make three or four fing swiss chard risottos a week. Every fing week.

....it wasn't just this, there did seem to be quite a lot of waste, and (despite my requests) never enough of the stuff I wanted like carrots, potatoes, broccoli etc.

I wantitnow. I got leeks this week but I love Swede, not fair.

I might try one of the new roots and leaves boxes next week but there are still onions in .