Vegetable box – is it worth it?
The main issues with vegetable boxes are:-
- value for money
- variety
- getting through it all
My box is value for money. I pay £10 a week for it, and having roughly totted up the prices of the produce I receive, it comes out about the same as getting it from the supermarket, but its fresher and delivered to my door.
Generally I have a good variety of items in my box, although perhaps not always the ones I would have chosen myself. Some of my meal planning does revolve around using up certain items. Almost every week I get potatoes of some kind, carrots, at least one green vegetable, apples, bananas, and tomatoes. I would prefer slightly less potatoes and cabbage and slightly more mushrooms and bell peppers, but overall it beats carrying it home from the supermarket myself.
Getting through it all can be a problem sometimes. Quite often I have an excess of one or two things. At the moment I haven’t been cooking as many potatoes and consequently I have a large bagful that needs eating. I also have a lots of eggs in at the moment as I’ve been getting a box every week for a while now. I will probably do some future posts on how to use up excess of items that come in the veg box. The only thing I really waste tends to be cabbage – my husband doesn’t eat it and its difficult to get through a whole cabbage yourself before the leaves wilt. I do my best, but rarely make it to the end of a cabbage.
Apart from eating it myself, other good options are finding a friend who enjoys vegetables and passing the excess on to them, or if I go away for the weekend, typically to my parents or in-laws, I present them with a bag of vegetables. Cooking and freezing the items down works sometimes, but as the box comes every week, its easy to forget to eat up the frozen produce.
Overall I think its worth it. I’ve had the box every week for about three years now, and every now and again I consider if I want to continue, but always decide in favour of it. The ease and convenience of having a variety of fruit and vegetables on your doorstep once a week, far outweighs the occasional item I don’t get round to eating, and its good to know that at least some of the produce that I get is local. I would definitely recommend giving it a go if you don’t have one already, and would also recommend talking to your neighbours first to see if they have any experience of local schemes running in your area.
August 11th, 2011 at 01:11
Your vegetable box sounds like a great resource to have, I live in the midwestern United States, and that would be a terriffic resource to have. Good luck with your blog, I lookforward to seeing updated. Elizabeth
August 11th, 2011 at 18:10
It is great to be able to have fresh veg delivered to the door! There are a lot of similar schemes all over the UK these days.
September 1st, 2011 at 17:05
good analysis! i agree that my veg box is worth it – not only for the value for money and convenience but because it’s made me a more creative cook and helped me try veg i never would’ve bought myself. i blog about ways to use up those tricky items like spinach or rhubarb, and always interested in other people’s recipe suggestions!
September 1st, 2011 at 18:13
Yes I’ve definitely had to be more creative at using items up. I always get a bit stuck when it comes to the cabbage! I’ll check out your blog.
September 2nd, 2011 at 00:55
The veg box sounds like a great idea, I must look up whether they’re available in Ireland! Have you thought of making coleslaw with your leftover cabbage? That with potato salad from your unused potatoes could nearly be a lunch in itself! I love that you have to become more creative with your cooking to use all that is given, and its also an incentive to eat more veg!
September 2nd, 2011 at 06:36
Mmm yes I should think about lunch ideas for veg, not just having it for dinner, good idea. You might find one of those national schemes delivers near you … Riverford/Abel & Cole etc.