Veg Delivery Boxes

sharloid

Quite a few people on this forum seem to have fruit and veg boxes delivered from Riverford, Abel & Cole etc but I wonder if anyone has actually worked out how much more expensive they are compared to if you were to buy like for like from a supermarket?

The sites all say how many people they should feed but none have weights or good pictures!

I understand it'll be more expensive but I'd like to know exactly what I'm paying for before I go ahead and try one.

Does anyone that has a box delivered know the weights of what you get, or pictures of their delivery?

Also if they do work out a lot more expensive, why do people on here that are trying to save money go for them?

Thanks
Charlotte

SoniaJM

I think they're quite an expensive option, personally. I had one a few years ago and stopped. However I do like the quality / flavour of the veg - they're so much better than the supermarket.

What I do now instead is go to a local farm shop for veg - cheaper than the supermarket (or in some cases the same price - never more though), the money goes direct to the producer and you get the quality as well.

Top tip though if you're doing this - find one that's slightly 'off the beaten track'. In my experience farm shops are quite trendy and the ones that have fancy shops tend to put their prices up accordingly. I go to ones that are ramshackle huts by the side of the road.

Owl

It may work out more expensive, but the quality is second to none!! the veg from my riverford box lasts far longer than ANYTHING (inc organic) that I can get in the supermarket. It also tastes far better - and my DH, who would do anything to not eat a vegetable!!), will happily eat from riverford (well, only select bits.... but he is a fussy beggar!!). On the odd occasion I have had a "manky" thing (twice to my memory), I rang up and either got a replacement or a substitution the next week..... Try it and see. By the way a mini box from riverford does me (who eats most of it) and DH for about 7 - 10 days.

Hope this helps

Owl x

mmmsnow

My local organic shop were doing a veg box so I decided to give it a go and was very disappointed. In fact, I was so annoyed I took the box to the shop and demanded my money back. Actually, I blogged my disappointment so I can tell you exactly what I got

2 small stems of dried out broccoli
5 bruised, over-ripe bananas
2 courgettes
a handful of cherries
5 small, dirt encrusted potatoes of unknown genus
6 nectarines (two of which were badly bruised, one had a gash in it and one was mouldy)
5 mouldy carrots
something long and green that I'm not too sure about
a browning head of lettuce

Only the courgettes, cherries and 2 of the nectarines were edible, the rest was mouldy, bruised or looked as if it had been hanging around for weeks.

I showed the guy in the shop and he didn't argue or even look particularly surprised - he said that it's the way it comes from the farmer's co-op. Given that the organic shop make money from it, they should check the quality. I was LIVID when I looked in the box. It was stuff you wouldn't buy as a last reduction in a supermarket.

Here's the Asda price:

broccoli = 78p
carrots (1kg) = 78p
bananas = £1
cherries = 77p
courgettes = £1
nectarines = £1
lettuce = £1.49
potatoes (assuming new and the same amount) = 50p

So, £7.32 for the >= amount of fruit and veg from Asda and I can pick the ones that aren't bashed, bruised, mouldy and old. The veg box was £11.50.

I'm a thrifty person usually but I was tempted by the promise of fresh, seasonal produce and the fact that it would encourage me and my DH to try new things. Unfortunately, it was a complete let down and they were the only company providing this service in our area.

In the end, it's cheaper and nicer to go to your local market and pick your own veg from the farmer's stall. I recently got two big carrier bags of fruit and veg for under a tenner from a market and the quality was much, much higher!

morganlefay

We have a fabulous PYO which I use in the summer - they do everything, all the veg and fruit you could want. I DK if it's cheaper because you overpick and end up with a glut, but at least you know how (very) fresh it is and where it came from. But when its delights aren't in season I have a fortnightly Riverford box - I go online and choose, and usually but not always have a mini vegbox which does two of us for just under 2 weeks. They are great if you have a complaint (I've only ever had one in several years) and the veg are interesting, delicious and fresh and come with recipes too. You can also make up your own boxes online and get just what you want. Their avocadoes ( an occasional treat for us) are the best I've ever eaten, I am sometimes tempted to order just a big box of avos !

zippychick

as this is shopping and groceries related ive moved it to the shopping forum for you

This thread may also be useful

Zip

Puddleglum

We get a medium veg box delivered every week from RF. There are four of us and we work hard to get through everything. I think that it does save us money as the veg forms a large part of lunches (salady) and some breakfast (mushroom, tomatoes,spinach) as well as our evening meals so I don't have to buy in much more. For the past year we have stuck to £30 pw inc box plus a shop from AF once a month. Shopping has had to become a bit of a military opperation but we all seem quite healthy on the regime.

sharloid

Thanks for all the replies. I was interested to know how much of everything you get as the OH and I both have big appetites!

I was thinking that ordering from http://www.rosspa.co.uk/ might be a good idea as their fruit and veg is cheap. Their delivery is £5.50 though, so maybe fortnightly. Does fruit and veg last a fortnight?!

frugal_shopper_2

sharloid wrote: »

I was thinking that ordering from http://www.rosspa.co.uk/ might be a good idea as their fruit and veg is cheap. Their delivery is £5.50 though, so maybe fortnightly. Does fruit and veg last a fortnight?!

Not all soft fruit & salad veg will last a fortnight although you can extend the shelf life of some things, for example if you allow a lettuce to stand in a bowl or jug of water for a short time each day it will absorb the water it needs to stop it wilting.
Most other fruit & veg will easily last a fortnight, root veg, apples, pears etc... can last months if stored correctly.

The stuff from rosspa has a slight advantage over supermarket produce as it wont of been handled as much as they get it direct from the farmer/wholesaler pack it up & send it to you whereas supermarket produce tends to be picked up, examined & squeezed by numerous customers who then put it back on the shelves. Excessive handling often causes bruising which causes the produce to go off faster. The improper storage many supermarkets use doesn't help much either.

You can add a comment to your order with rosspa so you could always specify you want some of the fruit/veg ripe & the rest slightly underipe that way by the time you had used the ripe produce the underipe stuff should be just about ready to use which should help limit the amount of things that spoil.

The high delivery costs will be due to the packing they use, insulated boxes & multiple gel ice packs in every order that includes fresh produce is going to add quite a bit to their packaging costs but chances are they will have some other items you want/need at discounted prices so you should be able to recoup some of the delivery cost through savings on other products.