Vegetable boxes versus Supermarket Vegetables

I've bought one or two on the past, but not this season.
Always seemed good value at the time.

Organic vegetable boxes every week for us. Many aspects of supermarket produce I find annoying. Acres of plastic. Some items available in packs only. But overwhelmingly, everything is produced for appearance. Flavour has largely faded to nil. Apples would be my prime example. I only buy Russets from my local greengrocer now.

I find that even the single person boxes contain too much for me.. I prefer to buy what I need from my local organic stall which visits once a week.. very similar produce ie seasonal

I buy my fruit and veg from a local greengrocer. Always fresh and you can buy as little and as much as you want. I don't want a big bag of spuds when I only want a few. There's only two of us. I don't like supermarket meat either. I got a turkey from one of the big supermarkets a couple of years ago and I had to throw it away. It was disgusting. I use a lovely butcher next door to the greengrocer and I have a lovely turkey crown already dressed with bacon rashers. I know it will be delicious.

Yes we also have our fruit and veg delivered by our lovely local greengrocer. We can buy items individually to suit our needs. Deliveries are always fresh, tasty and on time. We rarely buy such items from supermarkets anymore. It is good to support local businesses.

We are fortunate to have a weekly market so fresh veg and fruit come from there whenever I can.
I was glad to take advantage of the 15p offers in Tesco's this week as I am feeding a lot of people at different times over the next week or so.

I did used to have a vegbox delivered every other week from a local enterprise. However much of the produce wasn't locally produced so I stopped and just have a box every now and then. It's a balance between supporting a local enterprise and finding local produce.

We eat very little meat and most of that comes from a high-quality butcher in town. They allow me to buy one chop, a couple of sausages and four rashers of bacon for example, so there's no waste.

I started to buy Oddbox last year the small one once a fortnight. Found veg I hadn't tried before but liked them . Had to stop as I needed the money to go towards heating. I buy my veg from Sainsbury's or Aldi . Always makes me laugh when they call them wonky as that how veg was when I was growing up. We had a bag just for potatoes as it stopped other bags from getting dirty.

We had fruit and veg box deliveries during the first lockdown - found a co. that usually delivered to restaurants, so was trying to keep going.

Couldn’t choose what to have, and it was often a bit too much for me and dh, but we always used it all. Well, except for fennel - the only vegetable I really dislike, so I’m afraid that went in the food waste bin.

Whiff, thanks for reminding me about Oddbox, I’ve meant to give them a go, but had forgotten.

Welcome to the forum! It's great to have you here. Regarding vegetable boxes versus supermarket vegetables, it really depends on your priorities. Vegetable boxes often offer fresh, locally sourced produce, supporting local farmers and promoting sustainability.

We had an organic grower doing veg boxes closeby a few years ago, nice guy but couldn’t make a living and gave up. Now we have one local commercial grower who has a stall at the local garden centre and also does a couple of farmers markets too, not organic but mostly home grown.

Does it have to be “either/or”
I like to pick and max from what is available and not flown in depending n the time of year.

Hello Cynthia and welcome.
I volunteer in a community store which sells organic fruit and veg, loose or in boxes, delivered or collected. I don't get through enough to merit getting a box myself but I am glad to see many do.
I buy as and when mostly. It's great to support local suppliers and if I have a glut of anything I donate it.
This year it was apples and rhubarb.

Trouble is I get spoiled and cannot bring myself to buy cheaper things from supermarkets which have no taste.

I find that even the single person boxes contain too much for me.

Yes, I found that ... and there might be a lot of a veg like chard which would go limp before I could eat it all up. I do eat a lot of veg but living on my own I don't get through enough to merit getting a box myself and I found I was giving stuff away.

Forgot to say Welcome Cynthia

I ve never bought them, they seem very pricy to me, and a lot don’t deliver in my area
I grow some of my own spring, summer, autumn and what I haven’t got I buy from local supermarkets as we ve not got a fruit and veg shop in our town any more

The decision between vegetable boxes and buying in a supermarket (or market, another source of vegetables) is more to do with the principles lying behind the vegetable boxes than the contents themselves.

Vegetable boxes are often organic and will almost entirely have been grown locally. your vegetables therefore are environmentally more responsible, the grower has also got the full value of their price unlike supermarkets where buyers will have screwed the suppliers of the fruit and veg and many make a loss. They will also be fresher as the time between cropping and delivering will be shorter.

But at the end of the day it is a essentially a question of principle rather than anything else.

I agree with M0nica and go for organic and as local and seasonal as possible for those principles.
However I also support our local community fridge which is there to prevent food waste. Shops such as M&S and Costco meet their carbon limiting targets by donating food that's still within date but only just
I have picked up some amazing things including truffle paste.

Not just better for our health but for the planet.
Just off to polish my halo

For many it’s a matter of price, what they can afford and that can also mean time for preparation and the cost of cooking.

We used to have them but I found they made my cooking rather prescriptive. I don't plan so far ahead and having veg 'nagging' at me was quite stressful. I use a veg stall when I can.

There is a chain of fruit, veg and other fresh foods called Grand Frais in France, The nearest one to me is about an hour's drive away. The problem for me is the choice which can be overwhelming. So I come away with more than I need and sometimes have to throw away. The local supermarkets are hit and miss.

We loved Grand Frais when we lived there Dinhamo you could get some of the more exotic veg and herbs there.

At the moment I'm buying Bergamots and Cedrats for marmalade as well as the more well known fruits. Until recently we could get proper smoked haddock but now we're getting the dyed stuff. My DH makes a mean kedgeree.