Organic delivery from farmaround.

jennet1

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

I have to say that I am completely swayed by the utter scrumptiousness of the fruit and veg and have decided to live with the packaging for now. The big bags it was delivered in are clearly reused. The punnets ARE recycled and reused first. (She phoned me back and was very keen to stress that they are trying to work out a means of getting the suppliers to deliver in cardboard punnets.) I have packed up the bags and punnets to give to the driver next week.

We have scoffed a whole tub of fresh cherries between the 3 of us today already. We had mixed salad and cherry tomatoes on home cooked bread with mozzarella, followed by apricots. And I can't wait to tuck in to the rest.

I have never tasted such fresh food since my grandpa kept a vegetable patch in his garden and we'd just pull it up and eat it there and then.

Edited to add: Sorry, I just needed to enthuse a little bit more. Pasta with tomato and herbs and a selection of today's veg for dinner. Even my toddler, who is not so good at mealtimes at the moment, scoffed the lot.

we have farmaround too, and i have also scoffed all the cherries, all by myself!!! absolutely scrummy:j

Gingham_Ribbon

Oh, yum. I'm going to make that soon.

I still feel completely spoilt rotten!

Tondella

This thread has inspired me to order with farmaround too, previously i had visited my local street market, but it wasn't always convenient (saturday morning is the only time i could go) and the range can often be limited, plus I'm pretty sure alot of it is imported.

I've ordered the singler person's veg and fruit boxes, my first order is on the 21st, so I'll post and let people know what you get for your money. I also thought I'd try the eggs out too. I really like that farmaround post a lot of recipes to help you get creative with your veg!

gingerdad

I have used http://www.howbarroworganic.co.uk/ as near me, very very good, they deliver in Cumbria Lancashire

GD

Gingham_Ribbon

Still thrilled to bits with it. I've been eating scrummy salads this week. Perfect in this heat. I'm a total convert. Also, had delicious butternut squash soup:

1 large butternut squash, diced and
1 tbsp mild curry paste - lightly fry
Add 1 litre of veggie stock and almost half a block of coconut
Simmer until the squash is soft.
Add a drained tin of chickpeas and blend.

I made this just before a friend came round. She had 2 portions and asked for the recipe.:j

competitionscafe

This is another good butternut squash recipe, although it's more of a winter dish, although I am not usually a big sage fan it was really nice and got lots of compliments :
Roasted butternut squash and sage risotto with pinenuts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/roastedbutternutsqua_67878.shtml


This one also sounds good although I haven't tried it.
Baked butternut squash and Camembert with chargrilled leeks
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bakedbutternutandcam_82589.shtml

Penelope_Penguin

Where I live (small town in East Riding flatlands), a gorgeous deli opened at the end of last year. They were keen to bring organic fruit and veg to our pretty-rural town, and hooked up with Farmaround. We paid the deli, who sent a bulk order to Farmaround who then delivered all bags to the deli, whose owners delivered to the individual customers. I took their bags for some time, and found it to be good quality, and lasted far longer than that from Tesco.

However, Farmaround became very unrelaible, delivered late, and then 2 weeks running failed to deliver at all. The deli, reluctantly, stopped using them, as they were getting hassle from customers. Farmaround's reason was that they were distant from us, and it wasn't worth their while delivering to such a remote location. We now see Farmaround advertising in the parish magazine. I've rung them and they're quite happy to deliver here.

My friends who run the deli believe that they've been used by Farmaround to build up a customer base here, but have now been frozen out, and Farmaround will no longer have to pay the deli their (small) cut, and Farmaround will take it for themselves.

I won't be using them again.

Penny. x

Crispy_Ambulance

competitionscafe wrote:

I would guess the cherries etc (yum, my favourite!) are from Italy, France or perhaps Spain and that it is the suppliers there using that packaging (perhaps for easier transportation??). So hopefully the message will get through to them about more environmentally friendly alternatives and they will respond (and take action).

Amazing how good even simple food can taste when the ingredients are top notch. Last week I made pasta with fresh tomatoes (Italian ones as the UK ones have no flavour yet) capers, fresh garlic and basil (all chopped and 'marinated' in olive oil with salt & pepper for an hour) and then just stirred into some decent cooked pasta (De Cecco) - took 10 or 15 minutes to make (plus an hour to marinade, but that bits not essential) and it tasted fantastic. Bit of freshly grated parmesan on top and a feast fit for a king.

I was on my own for tea last night and was inspired by your recipe - it was delicious! Thank you!

Gingham_Ribbon

Competitionscafe, I made your pasta dish for dinner tonight. It was so tasty and a doddle too. DS and I had it with flaked parmesan and DH fried up some kind of spicy sausage to add to his. Thanks. It's bound to become a regular here. It's all ingredients we always have in and it's so quick.

competitionscafe

Thanks - although the recipe is not mine, it's from this book (which is highly recommended): http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1740453646/

It was one of the easiest recipes in the book, so one of the first I made from it - had it again last night by coincedence, think it will become one of my regulars too. The quality of the tomatoes is the secret - the better they are the better the dish will be (and good olive oil too). Amazing how something so simple can taste so good when the ingredients are top quality. The sausage is a good idea for a carnivore version - I guess you could add any complimentary ingredient and adapt the basic recipe to use whatever you fancied or had in stock..