My Best Organic

I’ve had a response from the lovely people at Goodness Direct telling me that you can in fact make requests regarding your fruit/veg box contents.  You just need to write a comment in the box entitled:  Other Instructions - anything else that will help us process your order.

They also very kindly shared a further voucher code with me that is valid until the end of February 2011.  It is for £10 off if you spend £35.  The code is 32233YTV.

Looking forward to my fruit box delivery tomorrow - last week’s has almost all gone - just the mango sitting lonely on the fruit dish, with only a couple of kiwi fruit for company x

32233ZLH

Use the above code to receive 20% off orders at Goodness Direct

For those who are curious about what you actually get in various box schemes, I am embarking upon a series of reviews. I do absolutely love Goodness Direct - they have the best product range and their fruit and veg boxes are fantastic value for money. Are there any drawbacks in their scheme? Yes - you cannot ‘exclude’ any particular produce you dislike, so you just have to get creative or give away anything you can’t use. The other slight negative is that they do not always deliver the day you expect, so you need to allow a couple of days for arrival.

What was in this week’s fruit box? We received 7 bananas, 1 medium size pineapple, 1 mango, 6 oranges, 8 kiwis, 5 plums and 8 apples. The quality is generally good. So far we have tried the bananas (ripe, not too bruised), the oranges (sweet), the plums (disappointing) and the apples (quite nice as far as apples go - my sons seem to like them).

The box cost £9.99 and definitely provided enough fruit for our family for a week. It is all organic. I think this represents great value, and having had their fruit boxes many times in the past, I would say this was fairly typical. Highly recommended. Oh - and you don’t have to sign up to receive one every week - just order as and when you want.

We’re really happy to announce that Goodness Direct, who supply a fantastic range of organic foods and products, now have an affiliate scheme and we have joined it. I’ve been shopping with Goodness Direct for some time now, and have always received excellent service, and have enjoyed exploring their wide product ranges for new foods to try. They also stock a wide range of natural toiletries, among which they have Urtekram products.

Of course, one of the most appealing aspects for me is their range of chocolate - they have over 200 tempting chocolate treats. They stock Plamil (great for those with dairy allergies), Booja-Booja and Montezuma, among others. They also have an easy to use key that shows if each food is suitable for different dietary needs, which is a real time-saver.

Healthy food and healthy lifestyles for you and your planet.
We gather together everything that is good for you with fresh organic produce, fitness foods, vitamins and eco-friendly brands.
For special dietary needs you will find thousands of gluten free, wheat free, dairy free and other special diets foods all delivered directly to your door.

This post was submitted by Susannah.

We received a lovely big parcel yesterday, full of organic goodies. I was quite excited, as I had ordered a couple of new products. I did, however, feel a little guilty about having goods delivered to our door. What about the packaging? What about the environmental costs of the transportation?

I decided to have a look into the policies of a few well known eco/organic providers.

Abel and Cole are really great in that they collect all packaging from you and state that they reuse it (I even return the string). They also ‘experiment with alternative fuels for their vans’ and do not air freight. I wonder how many times a cardboard box can be reused - particularly as the vegetables are usually (and fantastically!) covered in soil. The reusable crates and ice-packs used for fridge and freezer items are a great idea.

Goodness Direct uses biodegradable or recyclable materials wherever possible, including the use of biodegradable corn chips which disintegrate on contact with moisture. I did an experiment to see if this was true, and they did need a bit of persuasion to disintegrate, but we got there in the end. Even the boxes for chilled and frozen items are 96% biodegradable.

Ethical Superstore use ‘fuel-efficient delivery organisations’ and give customers the opportunity to offset carbon emissions by donating £1.00 per order, which is used on eco-projects. I have also personally seen that their packaging is kept to a minimum and is recyclable.

These web-based businesses also don’t contribute to the issue of plastic bags, and should be more energy-efficient due to not running retail units. OK. My guilt has evaporated…particularly as I reuse all packaging myself too x

This post was submitted by Susannah.

Here are some of the best special offers currently available:

Ethical Superstore

• Suma Prepacks Organic & Fairtrade Brown Basmati Rice 500g £1.79
• Suma Organic Apple Juice Concentrate 400ML £2.88 (usually £4.10)
• Percol Fairtrade Organic Espresso Coffee 250g £2.75 (usually £3.45)
• Suma Prepacks Organic Omega Seed Mix 125g £0.89

Ecotopia

• Envirokidz Organic Koala Crisp - 325g £1.20
• Peter Rabbit Organics Peach & Apricot Fruit Puree - 80g £0.66
• Village Bakery Organic Four Fruit Bars - 45g £0.30

Goodness Direct
50% off the following

• Biona Organic Worcestershire Sauce 140ml
• Goodness Organic Sundried Tomato Halves 250g
• Kallo Organic French Onion Stock Cubes 6 x 11g
• Tartex Vegetarian Roasted Onion & Pink Peppercorn Pate