Thanks Veryblue2! I will have another look at their website now.
Thanks Veryblue2! I will have another look at their website now.
After much deliberating I spoke to the very nice lady at Eden Farms and ordered my first organic veggie box!
It arrives tomorrow morning (being delivered to work, which is in their catchment area, unlike my house which isn't).
I did check how the veg boxes are packaged - I had a vision of an overflowing crate being dumped with reception but it's ok, it's all packed in a cardboard box.
There's a chance I got a bit carried away though. I've ordered a family box which is 10 different veg and 4 different fruits, weighing between 7-8 kgs so I'll be eating a LOT of veg over the next week! I'll update with a photo when it arrives.
where's that photo est?
it's a shame that river nene (riverford.co.uk) have now introduced meat and cheese into their schemes.
quote:
"Dust off the BBQ ...
The meat is already going down very well and we’re selling all sorts of meat boxes and extras, from BBQ packs, different kinds of bacon, sausages and burgers to the more obscure chorizo and black pudding (a personal favourite of mine – must get my order in!). Next up, after a deluge of requests we’ve added cheese: a truckle of Godminster Vintage Cheddar, Bath Soft, Cropwell Bishop Stilton and Greens of Glastonbury Cheddar."unquote.
ew
Oops I forgot the photo
I'm now working from home most days so have had to cancel my order, but they were really good so I would still recommend them to anyone in that area.
There's a stand at a local car boot where you can make up a veggie box (not organic) for a fiver so my mate's doing that for me some weeks.
Shame about River Nene. Ew indeed!
Just to say that it is getting increasingly difficult to get hold of organic veg at the moment. Our scheme is becoming increasingly expensive for our current organiser - Jacqui- and - therefore- for the "customers", some of whom cannot afford to pay much more. Some things such as onions are very difficult indeed. I actually think that soon only really big operators will be able to run these schemes because of the huge increase in costs (fuel as well as veg)- its a pity but I don't think a little local scheme such as the one I subscribe to will be able to keep going
Oh dear, I hope ours are OK. I noticed that they've been putting sort of giant spring onions in instead of actual onions, but everything else seems pretty much as usual.
That's only because of the time of year. If you look in the supermarkets, all the organic onions are from places like Argentina at the moment.
OIC. The mega spring onion ones are OK anyway but we could do with a few more of them!
I've read that fruit and veg haven't gone up in price much compared with other foods, but I can see that fuel could be a problem for these services.
I'm jumping in very late, but I live in Staffordshire and there is a local box scheme there called "The Organic Box Company" and they are fantastic. I have a large veg box every week and I am loving it. At the moment their parsnips are cheaper than Tesco's non-organic ones! Same goes for some of the other stuff too.
They let you pick stuff you don't like and suggest favourites for them to include more of. Very personal, lovely service Don't know if they also do stuff like meat, as I only look at the veg stuff.
Hello btw! I used to be here about 2 years ago, but then life became hectic and I'm just getting back to forums and things again
Hello Bunny! Glad you've got a good scheme.
Would still recommend Woodfield Organics to anyone in SW London incidentally - they have done a great job of maintaining quality and prices through difficult times.
Hi Harpy
I have heard generally good reports about Abel and Cole, but they do tend to be more expensive than local schemes.
I like the idea of the smaller, more local ones, better as with any luck the stuff isn't trucked around the country as much. (Of course local agriculture in London is a bit limited but you know what I mean )
We are in Cornwall and use Cusgarne http://www.cusgarne.org/ though I didn't realise they did beef too until I looked at the website. But then, so do supermarkets.
The food is mostly local and obviously seasonal, usually very fresh (odd duff order) - you can tell its been picked that day or the day before. The veg is mostly from their own farm, some of the fruit comes from local orchards etc. The do import fruit (mango, banana, orange, avocado. I think the kiwis are local - is that possible?). It is very wholesome because of the emphasis on seasonality. I couldn't stand it any more last weekend and went to the supermarket to buy imported (probably sweated labour, produced with precious water in a spanish polytunnel and a pile of pesticide)lettuce, tomato, peppers and cucumber! But on the whole, it is very good and not bad value. They are nice people (despite the beef), the food miles are pretty low, the food is good quality - we'd recommend
I LOVE my fruit and veg box. Getting it is the highlight of my Friday evenings For anyone in Warwickshire, it's from Wild and Free. It's the best I've ever had in terms of quality, and the owner is really friendly and flexible. Their shop is really good too, and you can get things from the shop delivered with the veggie box, which is handy. You can get deliveries on three different days where I am.
The only downside, like Verencemos's, is that they do some organic meat as well
I had my first veg box this week, I didn't get it delivered since the vegan bakery on my street has a scheme that comes from a couple of local farms and is really good value for money, so I had to drag myself out of bed to collect it on Saturday morning. I'm really impressed. I believe it was from Trinity Farms originally.
It's probably about the same in price as it would be from my local (non-organic) greengrocers, way cheaper and better quality than you would get in a supermarket. The quality is really good - and it's a bit of fun playing guess the vegetable, followed by a round of guess what to do with it for the winner.
I got a whole load of potatoes, parsnips, carrots, a huge red cabbage, some onions and kohlrabi (sp?). I think I'm gonna be making it a regular order on the strength of this box. The plan is that if there is anything left over at the end of the week, to throw it all in a curry, or a casserole with some sausages (I can't get enough of the RealEat ones - even if the amount of oil that comes out of them is a bit offputting), ready for next week's box.
Wow, that is a great idea. I want to start that at my university. I don't have money for it personally, but most of the students here are pretty well-to-do and might be interested.
"To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana." - Buddha
I became inspired yesterday to start getting a veggie box delivered from this thread. It came today! I am pleased! I got Broccoli, Cauliflower, carrots, red chard, romaine lettuce, potatoes, garlic, peppers, pears, apples and an onion!
Nice one.
Red chard rules.
..but what would they do with all the cows?..
You know, ive never had red chards before. I'm excited to try them.
Me and Hemlock have just started using Riverford. £14 a fortnight for their medium box. They deliver on Tuesdays. We've found by the weekend before the next delivery that we've still not used everything up so Hemlock makes them into soups!
These have then been stuck in the freezer and they're gorgeous.
Last week, we got wild garlic in one of the bags!
Born to Lose - Live to Win!
I get a veg box every 2 weeks, so it just about lasts me (as I get canned beans, or dried beans ect too).
There's nothing like really fresh pruple sprouted brocolli
Just in case anyone's in Lancashire - well Rossendale really- and would like a box - our little local box scheme is still going (against all the odds)- Nature's Garden - really great! one of the best things is the fruit - which is odd because apparently its supermarket rejects! But it just tastes so much better (not chilled to death I expect). In case anyone wants to look Jacqui up - she has a web site (called Nature's Garden)!
This is an old thread
Just started using Abel & Cole last few months and I have to say they are brilliant. They deliver and leave the stuff exactly where I asked them to whilst i'm at work so it's so easy to just bring in indoors when i get home from work.. No shopping trolleys and car parking - have totally given up my regular supermarket (you have to be in when they deliver). If Abel don't sell it then I don't eat it so my diet quality has greatly improved. even tho the food is more expensive I find I spend less cause there's no rubbish that I can chuck in my trolley that i didn't want, i just buy what I wanted without any temptations so my bill comes to less and I only eat good stuff. Very pleased.
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