Vegetable box schemes

Does anyone use one of these?

I mentioned in another thread wanting to join one but not having found one in my area but I did some searching around online this evening and found this site:  http://www.vegboxschemes.co.uk/

And through that found a box scheme in our area!!! 

I am just curious as to what people think of these, if they are any good. I am a little wary of not being able to choose which fruit & veg you get, worryingly the box pictured on their website had a bag of brussel sprouts sitting on top, which no-one in our house would eat. Do you find you still buy much other stuff from the shops if you run short of some things? Do you end up chucking out the stuff that you wouldn't normally buy? Is it value for money?

i LOVE my box scheme.  there's just two of us.  we get a basic box (potatoes, onion, carrots, 3 veggies or so) and a bag of non-local fruit.  we get it every other week.

it's great b/c i never have to worry about having veg in the house.  and it forces me to eat things i wouldn't normally buy (say jersulam artichokes).  i do occasionaly have to buy recipie specific things- say peppers in march.  but only every few weeks. 

occasionally, we do compost or give some away to a neighbor that has a few bunnies.  they eat anything. 

i really just love supporting my local farm and learning to eat what's in season.

i saw your post on the tesco thread- so glad you found something in your area.  my suggestion would be to give it a go for 2 months-

This sounds like such a great way to get veg from local farmers. I checked and it's available in the area we'll be moving to. I wish we had something like this in the states for this summer.

I wish we had something like this in the states for this summer.

You probably do.  They're called CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) in the States, and they exist everywhere.  We belonged to one for a few years, and loved it.  When our financial situation bounces back, I plan to rejoin.

Try www.localharvest.org to find one in your area.

Thanks for the link! I can't believe I hadn't heard of this here before. There are a few farms that are in our area we're going to check them out.

I used one for a while and found it too expensive for what we got. I had one in SF that I absolutely loved, but I've yet to find one that I like as much.... I think what I don't like is that sometimes you get 1 or 2 of something and an absolute load of something else - it makes it difficult to plan menus. I'd rather go to a farm shop and pick stuff out myself....

I am a little wary of not being able to choose which fruit & veg you get, worryingly the box pictured on their website had a bag of brussel sprouts sitting on top, which no-one in our house would eat.

I've looked into doing a veg box scheme, but think I'll wait until Guy and I move in together. Doing it for one person living alone wouldn't really work. Anyway, the schemes I've looked at allow you to specify which veg you absolutely don't want, so you can guarantee not to get brussels sprouts, for instance.

I'm defintiley going to do this when Dan and I move in..there's not much point now.  Great news you can so no to some vegetables, as I hate parsnips and anything vaguely resembling them.

As for sprouts...not my fave veg at all, but I successfully hid them in a curry after Christmas and they were quite tasty.

Vicky

we tried a box scheme...and although the quality was fantastic....the portions didn't fit the way we eat. (2 oranges, small amount of potatoes, etc). we buy our fruit and veg at a local market (walthamstow) and for about the same price as the box scheme, we get as much fruit and veg as we can carry. it lasts us for about 3 weeks and we eat a lot of fruit/veg. we're also growing our own on the rooftop out our bathroom window!

I've looked into doing a veg box scheme, but think I'll wait until Guy and I move in together. Doing it for one person living alone wouldn't really work. Anyway, the schemes I've looked at allow you to specify which veg you absolutely don't want, so you can guarantee not to get brussels sprouts, for instance.

I know there are some schemes that let you do that but it doesn't look like this one does so we may just have to take pot luck. 

I have thought about trying one of these schemes, but Steve talks me out of it.  He prefers to support our local green grocer & markets, but I know not everyone has these nearby so the box scheme would be more obviously appealing in that instance.  And if you're wanting to buy local via box scheme - make sure it's really a locally picked & distributed service, because I've seen some advertising lately that I mentioned to DH, and he said it wasn't really local, but rather shipped out of a central distribution point (in the whole of Britain).

We get a fruit and veg box, too. Personally, I'd prefer a supermarket, because the decay is rapid with what we get (which seems kind of random), and it's not always in the best condition to begin with. On the other hand, I think the EU restrictions on fruit and vegetables are ridiculous.

worryingly the box pictured on their website had a bag of brussel sprouts sitting on top, which no-one in our house would eat.

you've maybe already tried this and still didnt like sprouts, but i've found that if you thinly slice them and then pan-fry them in butter or garlic infused olive oil instead of boiling them, they taste different and much better!  (Stu's bit could have crispy bacon in... that the way we like them!)

I haven't tried that but if they still smell the same I don't think it will help me!

i hear you on the smell... but i got my very stubborn foodwise boyfriend to eat them by roasting them... and then mixing them with raisins & bacon & red onion.  everything tastes better with bacon in his opinion.