Abel & Cole’s organic fruit and veg box is delivered to your home each week (you can pause if you go on holiday), packed with seasonal goodies, in a returnable cardboard box. Each week, you receive 8 portions of seasonal organic vegetables and three portions of organic fruits.
A typical large box will feed 3 to 5 people (wash produce before use). Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets. Bin allium scraps (onion, garlic, leek, shallots, chives), rhubarb and citrus fruits (the acid could harm compost bin creatures).
As well as the staples (potatoes and onions), you’ll receive leafy greens and seasonal stars, depending on what is being harvested that week. You can add swaps if there’s something you don’t like, just tick the box to receive seasonal alternatives.
For each box sold, Abel & Cole will donate a portion of fresh nutritious fruit and veg to someone in need, via food charity partners. Most items are from England. For anything sourced from abroad (like oranges or bananas), they are shipped, not air-freighte.d
A typical box includes:
- Apples
- Beetroot
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Leeks
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Oranges
- Bananas
A British Organic Veg Box
Or there’s a British organic veg box, if you prefer. A typical box contains enough to feed 2 to 3 people for a week and includes:
- Brussels sprouts
- Carrots
- Chestnut mushroom
- Leeks
- Purple sprouting broccoli
- Red potatoes
- Swede
Why Choose An Organic Veg Box?
Most fruit and vegetables in supermarkets are covered in chemicals (apples are often sprayed with shellac from dead insects, to make them look waxy). Plus you often have to drive to big supermarkets, and pack fresh produce in plastic bags, if you don’t bring your own produce bags.
Even if it’s ‘local’, most supermarket produce is sent (by lorry) to central distribution houses, where it sits in chillers (which use oil), then it stays there until it’s shipped back again (by lorries) to supermarkets, where it’s sold as ‘local produce’.
Organic produce and non-organic produce in supermarkets is also sold alongside each other. So by law, the organic produce is wrapped in plastic, to avoid contamination. If you instead subscribe to an organic veg box, everything can be plastic-free.
This is a great idea if you love bananas. In supermarkets, you’ll find the organic bananas are wrapped in plastic, and the Fair Trade bananas are loose. By subscribing to this organic veg box, you can support local farmers, then also receive Fair Trade organic bananas, without plastic!
Organic produce also tastes better, and works out cheaper. Our small farmers are struggling, so let’s support them with better income and encouragement to grow organic seasonal produce that everyone wants.
Food waste is also a huge issue in supermarkets (and in the world – you could feed everyone on earth, with the amount of food thrown away). By allowing you to tick ‘dislikes’ at the site to get swaps, you won’t be throwing away a huge amount of cabbage or Brussels sprouts, if you don’t like them. Everything in the box will get eaten.
