Gingernutbizkit's quest to find a menu plan that eases her conscience!!

gingernutbizkit

Morning folks,

Chest freezer has been ordered and gets delivered next friday :j.

I'm taking the kids to London tomorrow for a day trip so decided to buy some food and drink for the journey and for lunch as we are eating out in the evening and i don't want to have to fork out for two lots of food at capital prices! I went to Sainsbury's as my online reading this week suggests that they are a much more ethical choice than Tesco's??? bought some FT banana's, organic apples and geobars to try.

I have now updated post 2 with some of the changes we are adopting as a family and comparing the price difference which so far is not that much different .

Ging x

anguk

I've just had a look at the Riverfood website as I fancy trying a box scheme. However I was quite surprised when I looked at the box contents, in the small veg box for example only the potatoes, carrots & beetroot were from the UK, everything else was from Spain, Italy, France or the Netherlands. The fruitbag doesn't even have one UK item.

I thought the fruit & veg was supposed to come from "your local farm" as it says on their website? Am I missing something?

greenbee

anguk wrote: »

I've just had a look at the Riverfood website as I fancy trying a box scheme. However I was quite surprised when I looked at the box contents, in the small veg box for example only the potatoes, carrots & beetroot were from the UK, everything else was from Spain, Italy, France or the Netherlands. The fruitbag doesn't even have one UK item.

I thought the fruit & veg was supposed to come from "your local farm" as it says on their website? Am I missing something?

I think they provide local stuff in season, and supplement at this time of year with foreign items where they can't source locally. As it's the end of the apple/pear season I can see why they wouldn't have UK fruit, although I'm surprise there isn't cabbage, cauliflower etc in the veg box.

I've just checked my local box, and UK-sourced contents include potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, leeks, kale, mushrooms, cauliflower, parsnips, beetroot, watercress and apples...

patchwork_cat

My local Aldi sell free range chickens for £4.50 ish.

anguk

greenbee wrote: »

I think they provide local stuff in season, and supplement at this time of year with foreign items where they can't source locally. As it's the end of the apple/pear season I can see why they wouldn't have UK fruit, although I'm surprise there isn't cabbage, cauliflower etc in the veg box.

I've just checked my local box, and UK-sourced contents include potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, leeks, kale, mushrooms, cauliflower, parsnips, beetroot, watercress and apples...

I thought it was something to do with seasonal food but like you I'm surprised there's no UK cauli or cabbage. The onions are from the Netherlands and the cauliflower is Italian. Next weeks box does have parsnips & leeks from the UK.

JayJay14

anguk wrote: »

I've just had a look at the Riverfood website as I fancy trying a box scheme. However I was quite surprised when I looked at the box contents, in the small veg box for example only the potatoes, carrots & beetroot were from the UK, everything else was from Spain, Italy, France or the Netherlands. The fruitbag doesn't even have one UK item.

I thought the fruit & veg was supposed to come from "your local farm" as it says on their website? Am I missing something?

I just got my first one of these yesterday - I picked the seasons box purely because it was the one which was almost entirely UK (except the aubergine) We had curly kale, cabbage, parsnips, swede, onions, mushroooms, leeks and the two aubergines. We've only had the kale and mushrooms so far. We have had two meals out of the kale and there is still some left (two of us in the house) The mushroom were amazing, really full of flavour.

I think that the main problem with these boxes is that we are so used to getting a large variety of produce out of season that they have to offer the out of season selections to keep their customers.

I've always hesitated to buy anything like this before, but I have the feeling I may have been converted. I also think that I'll probably eat more veg this way cos I can't bare to waste food:rotfl:

gingernutbizkit

Afternoon all,

My veg box arrived on friday but this has been the first chance i have had to do a comparison. As expected the family size at £12.50 will not be enough for us as I need enough f+v to meet our five a day. Anyway, this is my comparison with Sainsbury's organic range......

1kg potatoes (£1.66)
1x cauliflower (£1.69)
0.4kg carrots (50p)
0.4kg onions (53p)
0.5kg parsnips (£1.60)
800g swede (66p)
1x spring cabbage (£1.45)
2x apples (40p)
1x grapefruit (49p) - no organic available for comparison
2x pears (80p)
2x clementines (48p)
2x flat mushrooms (96p)

So, total for Sainsbury's would be £11.22 and therefore less than my £12.50 box. HOWEVER.... 9/12 of the products were from the UK and I'm not sure that Sainsbury's could match this at this time of the year (need confused smilie!).

Ging x

gingernutbizkit

Hmm... box delivery not going so well after all. Seems their service really isn't that reliable.... no box at all last week and so far nothing today (suppose to deliver an hour ago).
Haven't been to the supermarket in ages.... looks like that might change
Ging x

greenbee

gingernutbizkit wrote: »

Hmm... box delivery not going so well after all. Seems their service really isn't that reliable.... no box at all last week and so far nothing today (suppose to deliver an hour ago).
Haven't been to the supermarket in ages.... looks like that might change
Ging x

That's a huge pity. Have they managed an explanation? And is there an alternative box scheme/farm shop/local greengrocer you can try?

gingernutbizkit

greenbee wrote: »

That's a huge pity. Have they managed an explanation? And is there an alternative box scheme/farm shop/local greengrocer you can try?

No explanation other than we were forgotten last week... and this week :mad:. There's no other local box schemes, only the big companies (A&B, rivernene etc). In a dilemma now.... I pass a village greengrocers everyday when taking/collecting kids from school. It's not organic or local produce BUT it did close down a year ago and the guy who ran the butchers next door bought it to keep a greengrocers in the village. It's his shop that i have started buying some of my meat from. I do believe in supporting local businesses and surely it's better than the supermarket.... but am I compromising again for the sake of convenience???

Confused, Ging x