Week 6 - My attempt

Starting at the Soil Association directory I tried to find out who my local box scheme delivery companies are. I selected my area but wasn't really blown away by the options. The ones suggested all seemed a little limited and rather expensive. I decided to widen the search and came across Abel & Cole. Their full service is only available in London, the Home Counties and parts of South England, although they do some box deliveries nationwide.

Most delivery schemes give you a choice of boxes. You can have vegetables only, fruit only or a bit of a mix. It's worth having a look around at your schemes as the prices and options seem to vary hugely. It's also worth checking in with your local health food/organic shop as they may be able to recommend a scheme for the area.

I'm so used to having the luxury of choice in the supermarket that it is quite hard to join a scheme where you don't necessarily know what you're getting. Hence my choice of Abel and Cole. They show you what is likely to be in your box each week and you can specify types of fruit and veg that you don't like. They also have a little questionnaire to help you decide which box is for you. I am part of a two person household (dog does not count) and so was recommended a small mixed box or a small deluxe box.

A small mixed box can contain apples, aubergine, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, pears, white onions and oranges. I don't know how many of each thing they provide but I will take a guess at 3 apples, pears, onions and oranges and a bag of potatoes. The entire box costs £9.80 with no delivery charge.

I want to do a price comparison though with my local supermarket, Sainsburys. I will look at their organic stuff online and compare prices.

Apples - 700g = £1.99. (This is the smallest quantity you can buy, they aren't sold loose online.)
Aubergine - 99p but not organic.
Broccoli - £3.56 per unit (wow, that's a lot!)
Cherry Tomatoes - £1.08
Potatoes - £1.69 (cheapest)
Pears - £1.99 (not loose)
White Onions - £1.29 (3 onions)
Oranges - £1.59 (4 oranges)

The total for Sainsburys comes to £14.18. Even taking into account that you might be getting more apples, pears and potatoes than in your box that's still over £4 more and the aubergine wasn't organic (although that's just bad luck probably).

Who would have thought that a fruit and vegetable box would be cheaper? And they deliver for free!

I'm converted.

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