Fruit and veg boxes - are they good value for money?

tandraig

Its just a thought - but at one time one of our local charities offered a fruit and veg co-op , it wasnt organic but it was mostly local produce or at least british (for the veg). It cost I believe about about £2 per carrier bag. The scheme was government funded to allow people to buy their fruit and veg at reasonable cost and to eat foods in season. the problem was that it was run on a volunteer basis - the local council had a rep you could go to to sort out probs with suppliers etc. but it was fantastic value for money and with the right supplier the veg and fruit was very fresh. It may be worth looking for a similar scheme in your area (I dont know where you are - the scheme may have been a welsh initiative!).

newleaf

Ballerinacaz wrote: »

New leaf - your delivery lady sounds fab! If only there was something like that in my area... x

Yes, she is a gem! :j She even managed to deliver my box on Xmas eve, in her wellies, during appalling blizzard conditions.

Ballerinacaz

newleaf wrote: »

Yes, she is a gem! :j She even managed to deliver my box on Xmas eve, in her wellies, during appalling blizzard conditions.

:O
Urgggh, you're making me so jealous!
She doesn't happen to have a friend who does the same thing in north yorkshire does she? :P xx

Natty68

I've been having Riverford deliver our fruit and veg and I can honestly say their veg is far superior to any supermarket. I haven't had any troubles with the veg not lasting, at one point I had some carrots that were about 3 weeks old in one of the boxes out in the porch, and apart from them being a bit bendy they were perfectly fine when cooked. I will also say that since we have been having the deliveries I haven't needed to buy any fruit and veg now, well apart from cooking apples at my local farm.

With regard to the variety of fruit take into account that winter is always a slow time for fruit, you normally end up with just the staple fruit - apples/pears/bananas/grapes and oranges.

I even had a delivery during the horrible snow, my poor delivery driver got stuck but the local rep for my area came out in her 4x4 and delivered the boxes needed.

We do tend to spend up to £20.00 a week, possibly £25.00 if I am feeling frivolous but that is because I have added apple juice onto the order, with a few extras.

stef240377

Natty68 wrote: »

I've been having Riverford deliver our fruit and veg and I can honestly say their veg is far superior to any supermarket. I haven't had any troubles with the veg not lasting, at one point I had some carrots that were about 3 weeks old in one of the boxes out in the porch, and apart from them being a bit bendy they were perfectly fine when cooked. I will also say that since we have been having the deliveries I haven't needed to buy any fruit and veg now, well apart from cooking apples at my local farm.

With regard to the variety of fruit take into account that winter is always a slow time for fruit, you normally end up with just the staple fruit - apples/pears/bananas/grapes and oranges.

I even had a delivery during the horrible snow, my poor delivery driver got stuck but the local rep for my area came out in her 4x4 and delivered the boxes needed.

We do tend to spend up to £20.00 a week, possibly £25.00 if I am feeling frivolous but that is because I have added apple juice onto the order, with a few extras.

I have been considering Riverford as they deliver to my area. Can you say what they are like quantity size wise as we are a family of 5 and get through a lot of fruit and veg a week, we can quite easily go through a bag of apples, 2 nets of clems, bag of grapes, 2 hands of bananas in a few days. And veg wise i use a whole head of celery, a prepacked bag of onions and god knows how much other veg as i try to pack in as much as poss in every meal.

Dont think i can justify spending £20-£25 a week if its not going to last more than a few days and i end up having to buy more.

Ballerinacaz

Ok, So I've done a bit more googling and have found these two
http://farmaround.co.uk/
and
http://www.goosemoor.info/

Goosemoor seems better value though, and I compared two boxes of similar price and this is what I've found

Farmaround standard veg bag - £12.25
Potatoes, Orla
Carrots
Onions
Parsnips
Spinach
Kale,Green
Broccoli
Tomatoes,Sicilian
Butternut Squash

Goosemoor large veg bag - £10
POTATO Cara 1kg
CARROTS 0.5kg
ONION Yellow 0.5kg
ARTICHOKE Jerusalem 0.3kg
SQUASH Spaghetti 1#
SWEDE 1#
SWEET POTATO 1#
AUBERGINE 1#
GARLIC dried 1#
MUSHROOM brown button 0.2kg
PEPPER Red 1#
LETTUCE Green Batavia 1#
TOMATO Cherry 250g 1#

So farmaround has 9 varieties, but doesn't tell you any quantaties for £12.25 and goosemoor has 13 varieties with quantaties listed (and country that each thing is from, but I haven't copied that) for £10

Seems similar with the fruit too and also farmarounds smallest bags are £8.60 each where's at goosemoor you can get £3 £5 £10 (and I think some larger) veg bags and £3 £6 £9 £12 fruit bags

Both also do other groceries eg eggs milk cooking sauces herbs, and various veggie ready meal-type things like tofu and falafel etc are available at goosemoor

Hope this is useful to others aswell? xx

Gingham_Ribbon

I used to use Farmaround, but switched to Abel and Cole. I preferred Abel and Cole but both were very good.

Local suppliers can be excellent too.

Alison_Funnell

I have just quit Abel and Cole for a local supplier as the local one is cheaper, has better quality veg, I get more for my money and it is locally produced. I found A&C to be variable in the amount that I'd get in each large box.

carolinosourus

If you are concerned re the ecological impacts of shipping and want to buy more locally produced food to support local farmers and the local eco-system I would suggest using Farmaround, as looking at the Goosemoor list, I would suggest that around 50% of the produce on that list will be imported- not very eco-friendly.

Also I feel that Farmaround has more variety despite having a smaller list, on the Goosemoor list you've got potatoes, jerusalem artichoke (basically potatoes), sweet potato and swede, which really may as well just be listed as one item (in my personal opinion).

Ballerinacaz

carolinosourus wrote: »

looking at the Goosemoor list, I would suggest that around 50% of the produce on that list will be imported- not very eco-friendly.

Hmm yep, just had a look at the list and you're right, the sweet potato, aubergine, garlic and red pepper all come from spain, the lettuce is from france and the tomatoes are from italy...

carolinosourus wrote: »

I feel that Farmaround has more variety despite having a smaller list, on the Goosemoor list you've got potatoes, jerusalem artichoke (basically potatoes), sweet potato and swede, which really may as well just be listed as one item (in my personal opinion).

Ok thanks for pointing this out (I didn't know what a jerusalem artichoke was!) but then again on top of that looking at the prices goosemoor does seem better value for money Looks like I'll have to do a bit more looking into this :P
Thanks for the advice xx