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

We have had a break from Abel and Cole for the last couple of years, but have decided to try it again, particularly as they have a special offer at the moment of ‘buy three boxes, get fourth free’. There’s nothing like free food to tempt us!

We decided that we needed the large box - we are two adults (one with a normal appetite, the other with a massive appetite) and two young children. The box cost £17.75 and delivery was 99p. One of things I do really love about Abel and Cole is their packaging system. You receive your box - no excessive packaging and then you unpack your stuff, store the box for a week then give it back. For those of us who hate waste, it’s a great scheme, as Abel and Cole reuse their boxes.

What did we receive this cold January morning? 2 aubergines, a punnet of mushrooms, a lettuce, a large green pepper, a large head of broccoli, winter greens, fennel, a punnet of tomatoes, 9 potatoes, 5 carrots, a cucumber and 5 onions. So far we have devoured 4 of the carrots, which were incredibly sweet, the broccoli, which was beautifully fresh, some cucumber which was good and the potatoes - which made the most delicious roasts. I’m not sure yet what we’ll do with the fennel.

One of the advantages that Abel and Cole state on their literature, is that of customers being able to exclude produce they do not like. I spent about 15 minutes on their website marking off the veg we don’t eat - you’re allowed 20 ‘dislikes’. Unfortunately, the various types of squash take up a large number of our dislikes, so we’re going to have to put up with receiving some items we don’t usually use. Maybe it’ll be good for us. Maybe we’ll have various veg rotting in the back of the fridge for a while - I’m not sure. I’ll certainly try not to waste anything.

Does this box represent good value for money? I’m honestly not sure yet. The amount of veg does not seem that much considering that it’s supposed to be for 3-5 people for a whole week. I’m certain that five onions will not last more than a few days, and the lack of garlic will need to be remedied by ordering it as a separate item. Now I should start looking up some interesting recipes for aubergines…

I’ve just been looking at the 40% off sale on Ecotopia, and found some excellent bargains - particularly the herbs and spices. For example, organic ground ginger for 59p.

This post was submitted by Susannah.

Here are a few of the special offers running currently:

Abel and Cole

Half price: Salmon trimmings

20% off: Fish Pie Mix, Lemon Sole Fillets, Beetroots, Jerusalem Artichoke, Pink Fir Potatoes

15% off: A selection of fresh soups

Goodness Direct

50% off: Organic Aubergine, Organic Fennel, Organic Green Peppers, Organic Parsley, Organic Red Peppers, Organic Yellow Peppers

40% off: Organic Green Beans, Organic Carrots

30% off: Organic Broccoli & Cauliflower 200g, Organic Cauliflower each, Organic Cherry Tomatoes 250g, Organic Green Apples 750g, Organic Ruby Red Grapefruit 2 Pack, Organic Tomatoes on the Vine 400g

NaturalGrocery.co.uk

Comvita Manuka UMF 10+ Honey Organic £16.14

Doves Farm Organic Fairtrade Butter Flapjacks £1.43

Enviroclean All Purpose Cleaner £4.79