The Great British Box Off: which veg box is best for quality and value?

Good news for organic farmers: sales of organic food are up for the fifth year in a row. Last week, the Soil Association announced that £2.09billion was spent last year on organic food, up 7.1 per cent on 2015. It’s an encouraging sign for the organic movement that sales are almost back to their 2008 high of £2.1billion, before the recession bit into our spending.  But while I hate to rain on their (biodegradable, sustainable) parade, it’s worth pointing out that it’s still only 1.5 per cent of our total food and drink sales – substantially less than Denmark, at 8.4 per cent, and the US, at 5 per cent. Even China does better at 3 per cent.

We don’t do particularly well in other global scales either. Our organic market is worth 4 per cent of the total world market, half that of France who have a similarly sized population. Nor do we figure in the top ten countries for the amount of land given over to organic production – The Falkland Islands top that particular chart, with over a third of their agricultural land certified organic.

But it does seem to be cheering for independent sellers, as, according to the Soil Association, we are buying more and more from local shops, and especially online. Internet sales are up over 10 per cent - and, while the figures aren’t calculated separately, anecdotal evidence is that veg boxes are booming.

It’s easy to see the advantage of veg boxes – advocates point out they encourage you to eat a more diverse range of vegetables, support farmers and work out cheaper than buying produce from supermarkets. The food is fresher, too, in theory anyway; companies such as Farmdrop pick their produce to order and claim that it gets to customers within hours, rather than the days that it takes supermarkets.

And, while many customers complain of being landed veg in they don’t like (the dreaded swede being top of the list), some of the schemes allow you to opt out of your vegetal bêtes noires. None of the schemes insist on a regular order – you simply put in a request when you need one.

While you might expect all the produce to be from the UK, in practice almost all veg box companies boost their ranges with imports. I was pleased to see that a number, including Riverford and  Abel and Cole, have an all-British box option (although Riverford stop theirs during the “hungry months” of April and May when British production is at its lowest).

But as a cook, I admit, it’s the quantities I find most frustrating. While the boxes are generally come in different sizes, containing 8, 10 or 12 vegetables for example, or “suitable for four people” there is little indication of how much they will actually have in them. Will there be enough beetroot for Stephen’s recipe? Or a big enough cauliflower for Diana’s? And how good is the quality really?

Time to see how they stack up. I ordered boxes from five of the big players, and compared the results, weighing and evaluating all the contents. Here it is: the Great British Box Off.  

Ocado Organic Medium Veg and Salad Box

£17.99 from Ocado 
Delivery: minimum order £40, charge varies above that  
Range: 70 per cent of the UK but not Scotland or Northern Ireland
Opt out of hated veg? No

Contents: 479g of sprightly chard (two heads); 167g bunch of spring onions; 340g small. shrink-wrapped cucumber; 725g smallish parsnips; 830g red, orange yellow carrots; over 1kg Jerusalem artichokes; 216g fresh ginger; 700g onions; 900g beetroot; 1.2kg new potatoes.

Best for: convenience – Ocado offer one-hour delivery slots. Decent but not outstanding quality, apart from the sprightly chard and huge, easy to peel Jerusalem artichokes. List of contents published in advance, which matched what I received. There were cooking tips for the chard.

But: there was no information about where the veg was from – the website just said “mixed EU and non EU produce”  

Wholegood Mega Veg Box

£14.99 from ocado.com
Delivery: minimum order £40, charge varies above that
Range: 70 per cent of the UK but not Scotland or Northern Ireland
Opt out of hated veg? No

Contents: 300g kale; a red, a yellow and an orange pepper; 470g bunch of celery; 1.25kg sweet potatoes; 700g onions; 125g mushrooms; 600g red carrots; 430g orange carrots; 1.4kg red cabbage.

Best for: Convenience, as it is delivered by Ocado, and packaging – the cardboard box, printed with tips on storage and using waste, had sections to protect the veg.

But: the quality was low – one of the peppers was rotting. The included recipe for cheesy garlicky cauliflower mash used garlic, cauliflower and chives – none of which were in the box. The contents listed online included cauliflower, courgettes, red onions, potatoes and flower sprout tops – instead it had kale, sweet potatoes, celery, kale, and yellow onions.  

Farmdrop Family Veg Bundle Box

£13, farmdrop.com
Delivery: £3-£6 depending on the time slot, free for orders over £30 
Range: currently just London, but Bristol coming later this year and Manchester next year
Opt out of hated veg? No, but you can choose a “no potatoes” bundle  

Contents: 225g flower sprouts; 730g January king cabbage; 670g large yellow onions; 630g large parsnips; 630g orange carrots; 1.6g potatoes; 630g white sprouting broccoli; 120g mixed salad leaves.

Best for: eating local without compromising much on range. All the produce was British, much of it from Purton family farm near Swindon (some boxes will include imports). Freshness: the produce is picked to order and it shows in the quality, like the gorgeous salad of unusual baby leaves.

But: there was no help with storage or cooking instructions, and there’s no list of contents online – you just take a punt on what you get. The leaflet from Purton House Organics inside, included one recipe - for spinach, and there’s none in the box.  

Riverford Original Veg Box

£13.95, riverford.co.uk 
Delivery: free
Range: Most of England the Glamorgan, Cardiff, Newport areas of Wales
Opt out of hated veg? No, but you can opt for a different box with fewer roots, for example.

Contents: 1kg potatoes; 580g broccoli (two heads); 435g beautiful chard; 495g small carrots; 2 courgettes (390g); 500g Brussels sprouts; 500g tomatoes; 520g beetroot.

Best for: great range of veg. Box includes an excellent pamphlet with storage and cooking advice for all the veg you might get in a Riverford box. A useful newsletter also has recipes for the veg in the box. Quality: the carrots in particular had a fuller flavour than any of the other boxes, and the chard was squeakily fresh. Contents of the box listed online with country of origin.

But: few downsides, but unlike Ocado and Farmdrop they don’t deliver every day.  

Abel and Cole Medium Very Veggie Box

£16.50, abelandcole.co.uk
Delivery: £1.25
Range: Most of England and parts of South Wales 
Opt out of hated veg? Yes

Contents: 120g mushrooms; 100g baby spinach; 610g carrots; 510g Brussels sprouts; 600g slender leeks; 605g beetroots; 560g onions; 1kg potatoes.

Best for: flexibility – you can check the contents of the box online and tailor the contents to your likes and dislikes. Packaging: the veg comes in compostable bags. The contents of the box is listed online.

But: there’s a free cookbook with the first order, but after that you’ll need to look on line for recipes and tips – there are none in the brochure included in the box. It’s not the most inspiring collection of veg either.  Only some of the veg has its country of origin listed online.