Veg Box-Any recommendations?

[buttercupSE11]

Thinking of ordering a veg box. Can anyone recommend a particular company and is it actually fresh, tasty and worth it?

[Mariamadeit]

We use Abel and Cole, they deliver around here on Mondays. You can tailor your box to avoid things you don't like and they do some fab meat boxes and other groceries too. They often have great offers on too, worth calling and asking!

Also if you have children at school, they do a fab veg bag fundraising scheme, I run it at our school, check out farmers choice for info.

[dmhawk]

We use Local Greens. You can select the right size for you and change accordingly. We collect from the plough each Thursday. We've been happy with the selection.

[buttercupSE11]

Ok. Thanks for the suggestions. Sounds good.

[canela]

local greens is cheapest but we found too many root veg - which my other half doesn't know how to cook with (and he does the cooking during the week!) and only I will eat. so have switched to Riverford, which do a "less roots" box. tho tbh the roots issue only affects the winter.

[Fragolina]

We've used Riverford for many years now & are very happy with the choice they offer & their ethos!

[Inkmaiden]

I've also used Riverford for years- always good quality and very fresh. The variety of boxes on offer is great- I tend to chop and change quite a bit depending on the contents, which you can see on their website a few days before delivery. I also order their milk and eggs regularly, which are excellent.

[nikki73]

I had terrible experience with riverford.perhaps a one off but felt threatened and cheated.

[bawdy-nan]

threatened and cheated? heck, that sounds awful. I;ve been using them for a few years now and find them great - I have a regular order and change it sometimes or cancel it for a week when we're backed up. I've always found them to be very helpful if there have been any problems.

[kd15]

More info :

http://adf.ly/UqlO2

[Undiscovered]

Another vote for Riverford, they've recently started meal boxes which we get about 50% of the time in addition to the fruit and veg (and milk, cheese, porridge, oils - actually most things!) and would really recommend them, they give you all the ingredients you need for each meal on the right proportions, and means you make healthy, balanced, delicious meals without having to think too much (which for me is always the hard bit!!)

[PeckhamRyeAnne]

We use Fresh Southeast. Janette, who runs this is amazing. She lives locally (Nunhead) and chooses most of the veg herself and I think that all the veg is very fresh (I know several people who have changed from other copmanies and prefer the quality of her veg/fruit. Delivers to your door on Thursdays. http://freshsoutheast.co.uk

[akc74]

Another option on the scene now is Farmdrop (let me be transparent immediately - I work there!) I used to work at A&C so am very familiar with both options.

At Farmdrop, we do sell fruit and veg bundles from some of our suppliers, but you can also just choose the fruit and veg that you really want so there's no risk of unwanted things. Then we sell meat, fish, dairy and amazing bread also - and all chilled goods are put in special chill bags with ice packs (A&C use woolcool boxes which do the same job).

We do free home delivery in 2-hr slots in the evenings (Wed-Fri, and Sunday). Most box schemes deliver at unspecific times and on set days of the week, so it's a little less flexible and you need to be happy having it left outside somewhere.

At Farmdrop we also have a few pick up points so people can pick up on the way home from work (round here the Actress, the Rye....)

We try and source as locally as possible - we have a good number of suppliers in London. As we grow, we plan to open new hubs each with their local suppliers so we'll always continue to support the smaller farmers.

There's an offer for EDF users if you search in the trades section - I know this isn't really the place for it...!