Going Organic - I've done it :-)

I used to get our box from limited resources too but gave up for the same reasons. The fruit was ok but I got sick of having to swap things each week & we ended up wasting loads so dh made me cancel it. They never sent stuff we actually eat & the apples were always floury so nobody would eat them.

My friend switched to A&C & loves them!

For about 5 weeks in a row we got celeriac - I mean, I don't have anything particularly against celeriac but every week The Abel and Cole website is really good so I can already see what is coming next week and tick if I don't want something which for me is so convenient.

I really want to do this again but last time we ordered from our local veg box scheme thing we ended up buying so much extra and it just worked out more than we could afford... It was £16 for the large veg box, I would have to top that up with more potatoes/onions/mushrooms etc and then buy a fruit/salad box to that was £17 so i paid them £33 and then spent another£6 or so in tesco...way too much for me to spend on fruit, veg and salad per week

Might look at able and cole...maybe they will be cheaper...

This is why there no way I could do a veg/fruit box. We go through a big bag of spuds, a big bag of carrots, couple of broccoli heads and another random veg plus mushrooms, onions, cucumber, toms, celery and in summer a lot more salad (maybe less veg though). At least 8 bananas, same with apples and some grapes. I think its because we don't eat a great deal of rice and pasta so potato and veg goes with a lot of our meals.

It would just be far too expensive for us to buy fruit and veg this way

Annette that sounds really good.
I got a salad and a fruit box, £8 each and got 6 tomatoes, an avacado, watercress, a red pepper and some odd looking bean sprouts in the salad box. In the fruit box I got 6 apples, 2 oranges, 3 bananas, 1 lemon and a grapfruit. TBH I'm much more impressed by yours Annette, though this week I've ordered veg and fruit so hoping for things like potatoes, parsnips and onions which is what I need. I just had lots of those already when I ordered last week. Can't remember what I've paid this week for it. I think I'll see what I get and then have another think about Abel & Cole. Their delivery day is Tuesday which would be better than Friday for me too.
Viki I think it's worth having a look at what is available. I'm fairly sure organic boxes are a fair bit cheaper than they were when I first started looking at them a few years ago. I'm in a really awkward place where I've had a real struggle finding somewhere that delivers

Wow that is sooo expensive, ours is no where near that price!

With Abel and Cole you can effectively design your own box too...

We like certain things every week (usually) like onions, broccoli, carrots... We gave up because we weren't getting through it but might start up again trouble is they usually deliver when I'm at work

I really want to do this again but last time we ordered from our local veg box scheme thing we ended up buying so much extra and it just worked out more than we could afford... It was £16 for the large veg box, I would have to top that up with more potatoes/onions/mushrooms etc and then buy a fruit/salad box to that was £17 so i paid them £33 and then spent another£6 or so in tesco...way too much for me to spend on fruit, veg and salad per week

Might look at able and cole...maybe they will be cheaper...

This is why there no way I could do a veg/fruit box. We go through a big bag of spuds, a big bag of carrots, couple of broccoli heads and another random veg plus mushrooms, onions, cucumber, toms, celery and in summer a lot more salad (maybe less veg though). At least 8 bananas, same with apples and some grapes. I think its because we don't eat a great deal of rice and pasta so potato and veg goes with a lot of our meals.

It would just be far too expensive for us to buy fruit and veg this way

yes we are the same Jules, we get through tonnes of fruit and veg per week, then it becomes a choice between less fruit and veg but organic or free amounts of fruit and veg but not organic *sigh*

they delivered to us before 6.30am! But i told them they could leave it round the back - glad they didn't wake us up.
Could you give them a porch key? They say on the website you can do that - or send them round the back?

this is plenty for us, although may add a few potatoes, but we eat lots of rice, pasta, noodles, couscous and bulgar wheat too. We have lots of frozen veg too - convenient and as nutritious as fresh.

Davina, just wondering how you were getting on with this? have you stuck with it? im just attempting the change and have ordered my first lot of fruit and veg (seperatly though not a box) from a local veg box company here... I need to top up in tesco and will be aiming to get everything organic possible on a budget...

:wave: Davina, just wondering how you were getting on with this? have you stuck with it? im just attempting the change and have ordered my first lot of fruit and veg (seperatly though not a box) from a local veg box company here... I need to top up in tesco and will be aiming to get everything organic possible on a budget...

I knew I should have replied when I saw this last night, but I was just off to bed

Very quickly yes we do still buy about 90% organic, but I gave up on the veg box as I just wasn't using half of what was in it and can get most things at a reasonable price in Tesco. The most expensive thing to buy is probably chicken, most other things aren't that much more than non-organic, so I don't fuss over the extra pence, I'd rather we had the organic for the few pence more, IYSWIM. I keep spending down because it discourages me from buying non-organic rubbish like cakes, crisps and bisciuits. The only non-organic things we get regularly are bread, though I'm going start making my own in the new year and cereal, I need my crunchy nut cornflakes

I am going to check out veg boxes in Bradford though when we get there to see if there's any that will suit us, but the garden at the bungalow has grown potatoes, onions and carrots in the past so I'm going to look into a bit of growing my own stuff too