Fruit and vegetable boxes

bladerunner73

Hi All,
I was wondering if anybody got their fruit and vegetables delivered by any of the box type companies - I was wondering if they work out as good value for money and if the produce is generally good quality. I can't get to farmers market or anything like that due to work patterns but thought this might be a viable trade off but would appreciate other peoples experiences and opinions before I commit to anything.
Thanks

honeythewitch

If it is important to you to buy organic etc then it might well be worth it, but if you are happy with ordinary produce then you will probably be able to get it much much cheaper, and have less waste.

bladerunner73

Hi honeythewitch, thanks for your reply, it's not so much the organic angle that I'm coming from but more that I live in a relatively rural area and the local supermarkets only have a limited range of everyday fruit and vegetables and I'm keen on experimenting with fruit and vegetables in smoothies and soups, so it is more a matter of convenience and variety, but I'd rather not pay unnecessarily if they are not a sensible option.

Hermia

bladerunner73 wrote: »

Hi honeythewitch, thanks for your reply, it's not so much the organic angle that I'm coming from but more that I live in a relatively rural area and the local supermarkets only have a limited range of everyday fruit and vegetables and I'm keen on experimenting with fruit and vegetables in smoothies and soups, so it is more a matter of convenience and variety, but I'd rather not pay unnecessarily if they are not a sensible option.

Do you not have any farms near you that offer boxes or have farm shops? There are a couple near me that do a weekly box, but you have to go and collect it in the evening. They are cheaper than the box companies. They don't tend to advertise though. It might be worth asking around.

Eyeore

Hi, I have had a small fruit & veg box for 2 months now and am real enjoying the variety. I can amend the order each week if it contains something we don't like and I can order other goods if I wish. I like that I am supporting british farmers however it is certainly not cheaper than the supermarkets but it saves me money in a way because it means that I don't 'pop' in to the shops for one item and then leave with 20! :rotfl:

arbrighton

We had them for a while but I found that even a small one was too much for us in terms of amounts of certain items and finding space to store it all. Plus having to find appropriate recipes for random vegetables

pigpen

arbrighton wrote: »

We had them for a while but I found that even a small one was too much for us in terms of amounts of certain items and finding space to store it all.

I found the opposite.. the biggest box available was not enough for 1 week let alone a month. Back in the olden days when I only had a few children.. when I had 8 I tried them again and ordered 2 and it was still not enough.

It also contained some really vile stuff.. kale.. really.. I have never tasted anything so bad in my life and as a former nail biter I was painted with that nail polish to stop me biting them.. which I sucked off because it wasn't really that bad and continue nail nibbling.. .. sory tangents...


I'd find a local farm shop, if you are out in ye sticks there should be a few or maybe a farmers market??

I also got distressed at 'mud' ... yes I know veggies grow in the ground.. but I had a mud/poo thing going on and had to make someone else wash the veg before it could come in the house..


I also found them very samey.. beetroot, kale :eek:, 2 or 3 potatoes.. not enough for anything!, onions, dirty carrots, a couple of apples and very little else.. I had sprouts once, a couple of pears.. all boring every day supermarket stuff tbh nothing fancy or interesting

littlegreenparrot

I like mine a lot, but it took a couple of goes before I found one I liked. I can change up to 8 items in the box, cancel a box for a week, or add extra stuff in very easily.

It's a local company, who try their best to source locally. It makes me eat more, and a greater variety of fruit and veg, improves my cooking because I have to find things to do with it, and once its there I won't be lazy and not use it by not cooking from scratch.

Its a very personal thing though, it is without doubt more effort. But I love coming home on a Thursday to a lovely box of goodies.

I agree about the kale and always take it out. Have never managed to find a recipe that makes it edible!

I'd do some research - farm shops, local schemes, companies that will deliver to you, and maybe try them for a couple of weeks to see how you get on.

Solstice_3

littlegreenparrot wrote: »

I like mine a lot, but it took a couple of goes before I found one I liked. I can change up to 8 items in the box, cancel a box for a week, or add extra stuff in very easily.

It's a local company, who try their best to source locally. It makes me eat more, and a greater variety of fruit and veg, improves my cooking because I have to find things to do with it, and once its there I won't be lazy and not use it by not cooking from scratch.

Its a very personal thing though, it is without doubt more effort. But I love coming home on a Thursday to a lovely box of goodies.

I agree about the kale and always take it out. Have never managed to find a recipe that makes it edible!

I'd do some research - farm shops, local schemes, companies that will deliver to you, and maybe try them for a couple of weeks to see how you get on.

I'm not a fan of Kale but there is a recipe in Hugh's Everyday Veg cookbook for Kale and Mushroom lasagne which actually quite nice

I get boxes from 2 companies, both organic. I like my boxes I find the quality is better and the companies I get my boxes from have enough in them to last us a week. I don't get them every week at the moment. The boxes will be the same over a period of time as they are seasonal, depending on the company you use you can substitute items, or just choose a different box - I can get with with less roots if I want but I find potatoes, onions and carrots are needed most weeks anyway (and salad in the summer). I would say the boxes you make up yourself are not as good value for money as the set boxes.

The taste is different too, in my opinion

hoglet121

This is an issue which a lot of people feel very differently about, so I can only offer my experience.

I have had one for years, both in the UK and having moved abroad, so I have a fair bit of experience.

Are they cheaper? Definitely not.

Are they better quality? In my opinion, yes.

Will they encourage you to eat more veg? Yes, for me that's been the main reason I've kept them going.

Personally I really like the challenge of the occasional random thing that requires some adventurous cooking. I'll never forget the text I got from DH to inform me that Sputnik had arrived on our doorstep. That was a kohl rabi in case you were wondering.... They're not cheaper at all, but they are delivered so there's a big convenience thing. During a major snow dump (when we were walking miles to a supermarket with a kiddie's sledge to bring home the groceries as we lived up a big hill and didn't think the car would do the trip), the veg box man got to us in his little van, with my phone number in hand 'just in case' - I thought that was wonderful service and worth paying a bit more for.

I will say that a good veg cookbook will help enormously - Hugh F-W and Nigel Slater have been worth their weight in gold.

So why do we keep on with the veg box? Partly it's to force us to eat more fruit and veg, something that I was struggling with. Partly it's because I really like a challenge, and occassionally they can be a bit challenging. And partly it's just cos I think they're a 'Good Thing' - suppporting local farmers and you know where your food is coming from.

As for the kale - cut it into bite-size portions, spray with a tiny bit of oil, salt and pepper and bake at 170 for 10-15 mins. It's delicious (I know it sounds awful). It's the only way we eat it now.

Lizling

I used to get the Abel and Cole boxes as a way of trying to get myself to experiment more with new vegetables, but I found them very samey too. Lots of potatoes, carrots, onions and apples and rarely anything interesting.

I have a lot of good local shops selling interesting fruit and veg for about a half to a third of their prices (not organic though) so nowhere near worth it for me. But if I only had a supermarket as an alternative, I'd probably go back to the boxes.

(And I really like Kale. Even just steamed with a bit of butter, it's yummy.)