Riverford/Abel and cole fruit and veg boxes?

Was pretty good for the first 8 months or so but got very repetitive and the quality of the veg was getting really poor. We found if it wasn't used within a day or two, it was fit only for the bin.

It was a lot more expensive than the local farm shop too (which has only just opened or I wouldn't have ever bothered with Rivernene in the firat place).

I cancelled my order with Rivernene after about 18 months with them but that was a good year ago now so things may have improved.

Used to use A&C, now use Riverford. I found A&C better from the PoV of having really interesting stuff and allowing you to exclude stuff you didn't want, also they did fish, which was fab. However Riverford offers much better value for money and the stuff is fresher.

We've been with Riverford for a year now and are really pleased with the service and quality of the food. We get a different box most weeks and can adjust our order accordingly. It can get a bit root vegetable-tastic in winder but we managed.

For those of you who order veg boxes, do you find you still end up buying some veg from supermarket too? <sorry to highjack>

No, I can't remember the last time I bought fruit or veg. We have a rough meal plan which involves the things which need to be eaten quickly forming meals earlier in the week; by Saturday, we're on soup or risotto or a pasta dish that can be made with anything, and on Sunday we have a roast dinner with everything left.

We tried A&C for a bit but i found it disappointing and expensive for what it was. plus the veg was never super fresh either. our local farm shop is much cheaper.

Hmm, sounds good. I wasn't sure whether they included fruit and sald stuff as well.

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I do buy the occasional thing from the veg shop/farmers market/corner shop, yes. Like onions for instance - we go through shedloads and they're v expensive through Riverford.

Ours is River Nene, so might be a bit different to River*ford* (same company, different area). On the whole it's fine, but because we get delivered to on a Friday it can be pretty hard to do any advance planning - eg if the list they email round on Monday says "this week's box will contain a squash", but they've run out and end up replacing it with beetroot instead, there goes the plan to cook with a squash.

The quality has generally been ok, though root veg tends to come not just with a gently dusting of mud but so much that I give things a scrub out the kitchen door before bringing them in. Quite a lot of caterpillars and bugs as well, so as long as you're happy to wash thoroughly that's fine! I generally end up buying a few bits from the market in town to top up, or replace 'replaced' things, but much less than before.

We've actually been thinking of switching to A&C so it's interesting to hear people's opinions on them!

I think if you've got a good local farm shop (and a car, and can shop during the day) they probably don't come out of the comparison all that well. For me they're really very good.

I have used Organic Pantry (Yorkshire based) and then switched to Abel and Cole. I used boxes for a couple of years but now go to a farm shop. I found I missed choosing my veg and instead prefer to plan a meal around what catches my eye in the shop rather than what I had been delivered. Quality of them both has been fine though and the A&C soda bread is lovely!

WSS. I depends what your situation is. I had a Riverford box when I lived in London and will definitely do it again when I return- the quality is fabulous and the price is much lower than the supermarket. I used to buy lots of extras (esp the huge sacks of potatoes)- last for ages and excellent value.

Has anyone tried the meat boxes? I have a great local butcher in london but it's expensive.

I'd agree. We used riverford when we lived in the UK, but they wouldn't deliver to Switzerland ?. I'd definitely go back to using them again if we don't move back to somewhere with a handy farm shop.

I really want to try the meat boxes but tbh we have a brilliant butcher (all hail Natural Meats in Virginia Water and Staines, if anyone near me needs recommendations) - the thing with a butcher is you can get him to do all sorts of exotic stuff that Riverford can't eg we quite often have salt beef as it's a cheap cut but needs a week#s warning to get the meat salted.

What Sophie said really... if you live near a farm shop or market and have time to shop then they are probably expensive however if you work 12 hours a day and like not having to think bugger there is no food in the fridge then its ace. A&C went through a very dodgy stage when they had expanded too quickly but they seem to have sorted that out. I have used them for years and unless we have people coming over I buy nothing else really. I do a big shop about once a month and then A&C deliver all our weekly shopping.

I have an A&C box every week and it's pretty good. I work full time and have busy weekends generally so it saves me going to the local farm shop, although I do still buy mushrooms as they're expensive through A&C and never very fresh. I find that I have to put it all in the fridge on the same day as it goes off faster than supermarket non-organic stuff. It makes me meal plan and it also makes me eat much more fruit than I used to- I always have a full fruit bowl at home and work. At the moment there seem to be tons of apples and oranges in the boxes- in fact I'm making apple chutney at the moment to use up apples which have been sitting there for 2 weeks. I eat at least 2 apples a day so I don't know how I've managed to build up such an apple mountain!

I've used A&C and I wasn't impressed with the quality or value to be honest, I pulled them up on this all I got excuses.

I've used Riverford in the Southampton area and now in Twickenham and I think the stuff is great and the meat boxes are good too.

I haven't tried the Riverford meat boxes, mainly because they are horrendously expensive compared to the butcher we use in Tooting, which does great value meat packs, and a bit dull compared to the one in Balham, which is great for game etc.