organic fruit and veg boxen

[ewt]

I'm really feeling the need to eat more fresh fruit and veg. Some of this is down to making sure I do good pre-preparation work, so that I can throw together a salad in 5 minutes without actually having to chop anything. Some of it is also down to actually getting the fresh fruit and veg home. The selection at the corner shop is less than great, and fruit and veg are actually rather heavy.

Organic box delivery is the obvious solution. Last time we tried that it resulted in lots of things going off before we ate them, but I think that's because we just ordered too much food; I'd like to try again.

Recommendations, with reasoning, please?

Comments

[lineoutrecords.livejournal.com]

I love Abel and Cole. I think they are slightly pricier than others but the online interface bit where you can specify your likes and dislikes and suspend swap about certain items for a delivery is fantastic as between myself and Lady K we are quite picky.

http://www.abel-cole.co.uk/

[juliet]

We use http://www.organicdelivery.co.uk - they have the advantage of also delivering lots of other stuff so we can get tins & other heavy/bulky things from them.

The 1-2 person veg box is *plenty* for 2 people for a week (esp given that we don't always both eat at home for every meal). You can also have a delivery per fortnight which might be better to start off with.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

I could be tempted to try delivery again.

[daneres.livejournal.com]

We have used both Abel and Cole and Riverford www.riverford.co.uk (although not sure if they go into London). Definitely prefer A&C as the produce lasts longer and as mentioned in a previous comment, you can specify likes and dislikes, so you don't end up with lots of things you aren't going to use.
The repeat order set up makes us more disciplined about getting the box regularly (and thus eating more veg) and they have varieties and products that are hard (or impossible) to get in the supermarket and we have become more adventurous as a result!

[jaq.livejournal.com]

We had a delivery from Riverford once, at which point they told us they didn't like to deliver to flats. It didn't stop them sending us regular emails and letters asking us to come back though. Weird.

[velvetpurrs.livejournal.com]

I have one - with abel & cole. The box itself is usually superb - I have the small mixed box, 10 quid. It easily feeds me, and I have to work hard to use it all. It won't feed 2 for a week, though.

Overall, I really like a&c. The website is great, they do all sorts of other stuff that is really good/useful. Some stuff is quite expensive (organic meat) but a lot of the rest is comparable with prices in supermarkets for equivalent quality stuff. And I really love being able to say 'no oranges in the box this week, I've had them for the last 3 weeks and have the EU orange mountain in my fruitbowl' with just a couple of clicks on the website.

I have had the occasional below-par item turn up, and ongoing training of their driver (I think this is a problem with him, rather than the company) but they are always very good about it, refund for the item, apologise and offer Free Stuff to make up for the bigger oopses.

You do have to be able to be quite creative sometimes though - cos even though they list the box contents, sometimes last minute changes are made due to lack of whatever veg/fruit, so you might not always get what you expected. Adds to the fun, I think, and I like to think it is just like harvesting from the wilds yourself - you never know if those mushrooms are going to be ready, or whether the birds have made off with all your peas ;)