The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: sellickbhoy on August 13, 2009, 10:45:57 pm
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you know them, someone delivers you a box of fruit and/or veg each week
anyone use them?
i'm thinking of starting up one, interested to know if any of you use them, have used them, have thought about it or just don't fancy it
cheers
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Love the idea!!!!
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:)
just to be clear, i don't plan on it being one where you just get a random assortment. no, the plan is for you to select what goes into your box each week so you can get fresh stuff delivered each week
want to get it all (when and where possible) from local growers (but of course, you can't always get what you want all year round from scottish growers, so there will be some imports!)
there will be a "seasonal" box - whats in season and cheap - and to accompany that, i intended to have some seasonal recipe ideas that you could use all the ingredients in the box for.
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I usedto buy my veg from a local market and it was MUCH better than the supermarkets. I also don't have room/time to grow veg so would love more homegrown seasonal stuff. Great idea but not sure how much money there would be in it as the supermarkets have buying power!!
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selick fantastic wish there was something similar here.
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once i'm up and running you can be my first "franchisee" ;D
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I used to have a box delivered to me on alternate weeks when I lived in London - it was just veg. It started off really well and I never had to worry about going out to the shops and heaving heavy bags home.
Then the veg got a bit poorly looking all limp and not too fresh. The guy selling it said it was the warm weather, but to be honest that was his problem not mine, so I had to stop buying.
Saying that it was great - you never knew exactly what veg you got as it was all seasonal and he provided photocopies of recipes you could use the veg in. I loved it and liked to know that it was from local smallholders who had all got together to set it up and provide the veg.
If you set it up, any chance you could deliver over here once a week ;D ;D
I could also help I have hundreds of marrows which were supposed to be courgettes, but couldn't eat them fast enough :-[
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There are a few in this area. I use one....You can choose the veg and/or fruit you want, along with the size of box. You can have a regular order, or just a one off.
Seems very popular around here. Looking forward to growing my own next year though.
Good luck with yours :)
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cheers Julie
that is my plan too
can you send me the link to their site - so i can steal their ideas ;)
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The people I use at the moment aren't on the web - they use flyers and telephone ordering.
But a site I used previously is www.riverford.co.uk. They were very good and have lots of other stuff too. Worth taking a look at their site for ideas.
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Sometimes I make an evening meal for guests, they are usulay contractors who are staying over two weeks and miss basic home cooking. Last year I cooked huge meals, non convenience foods and all fresh, even spent hours making my own HUGE steak pie, I even have photos of the men eating!!!!! BUT, I felt I could have provided good filling meals using cheap ready made stuff...shame, but I can see me loving the idea of buying a veg box every week and cooking meals again, especially if it were all local stuff...my dilemma is to either charge more for better quality stuff or buy supermarket and process foods and provide cheap meals??????..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmthe thought of a nice home cooked meal!!!
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another of my ideas was to sell a "meal in a box"
so that would be a starter, main and pudding and full instructions on how to make it - you could have a smaller meal for just 2 persons or a big family sunday roast
or just have a weeks worth of recipes to use the full box and you just cook what you fancy that day.
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This is the sort of thing that was really successful over here in Ireland last year - everyone was talking about it - bit pricey, but that didn't seem to stop people and all from Ireland -which is very important over here
http://www.christmasmadeeasy.ie/index.html
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This is the sort of thing that was really successful over here in Ireland last year - everyone was talking about it - bit pricey, but that didn't seem to stop people and all from Ireland -which is very important over here
http://www.christmasmadeeasy.ie/index.html
oh dear
there was abit of a scandal about one of these in Scotland a few years back - went bust owing millions!!!! people didn't have a christmas that year!
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once i'm up and running you can be my first "franchisee" ;D
Definitely ;D
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meeting the accountant on Monday!! Looks like its all gonna happen!!!!
so, central scottish smallholders and growers - i'll buy from you if you buy from me :-)
spent all night doing budgets, business plans, forecasts yada yada yada and the long and short of it is I'M CHEAPER THAN TESCO, IT'S LOCAL, IT's SEASONAL and you can pick what goes in there too.
but you can even have out of season and exotic stuff too - i'm good that way!!!!
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Most of the local box schemes here in Fife do well, I think it's a great idea. I'm impressed with the amount you are growing! I could do a box with rocket but not much else, lol
If you google Bellfield organic box and Pillars of Hercules, it should come up with what they are offering. Organic would be the selling point, don't know if you can do that with the Soil Association Regulations? :&>
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all the organic boxes are too expensive, i'm looking at a simpler model, cheap, local.
if i can do it cheaper than tesco, from the local area and picked 24 hours earlier, i think that's a winner
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Nah, Chris. The thing that went bust here was a menage thing - you paid so much every week and hem a few weeks before CHristmas you get vouchers for High Street retailers. I think menu boxes might be quite successful.
We used to get veg box but the bloke gave up. You coud have £6, £8 or £10 and he did 50 a week; so on average, he was taking £400 per week; off that he had vehicle costs and the cost of producing the veggies. Delivery on a Thursday took all day. I don't see how it was making a reasonable return.
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What veg did you get for the £6, £8 etc Rosemary? Was it good value? I think most folk will be watching the pennies just now as opposed to getting extra specially good veg. I've just frozen some veg from my garden that if I saw it in the shops would ask for it free for my chickens horrid scrappy looking caulis and cabbage ;) ;D ;D But I know it was grown without any stuff sprayed on it, it'll taste the same as better looking stuff so it'll do me (I just won't bring it out for guests ;) ). I'm just not sure I'd eat enough veg to spend a tenner on it each week. :o
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if i was to do a medium box for £5.50 it would have 1.5kg tatties, .75kg carrotts, 2 good sized leeks, 2 onions, 1kg mushrooms, half a turnip and a head of broccolli
obviously the box will change each week and will have whatever is seasonal in it
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Chances are you'll do well enough in the winter with things for making soups and stews...........short days and lack of time to shop and all that.
There is (or was) a scheme in Fife, run by chefs who sourced local produce for their menus. I think they have (had) a website which the sellers could advertise their wares on and the chefs took up the availability as it occured. Anything like pork, lamb, game, veg would interest them, and when the availability waned, they changed their menu to suit. Discerning restuarant diners will always support such a scheme.
Is that still operational?
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never heard of this scheme - could it have been through the Fife Diet? :&>
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We used to get an organic veg box delivered, but had to give it up, as it was just costing way too much (£15/week for a small ish mixed box of fruit & veg).
The produce was always fresh, and tasted great. However, the main problem we found was that there were enough carrots or mushrooms say for one meal, but we eat both more than once per week, so it meant we had to buy extra from the supermarket anyway (no greengrocer nearby unfortunately). Then you had the usual 'mystery veg', which was fun for a while, but you ended up scouring the net for recipes involving celeriac etc!
So, some feedback:
1) I would definitely subscribe to a weekly or fortnightly veg box. Personally I would pay a premium for fresh and local, but don't like feeling ripped off for organic (part of my job involves fungicide manufacture, so buying organic feels a bit ironic in my case!).
2) If you're including 'wierd' veggies, including a recipe card, or having suggestions on your website would be a great idea. <blush> I remember once having to phone my mum to find out what something was, before I could work out how to cook it! ??? </blush>
3) In our case, it was important to be able to pay online, or to leave a cheque in the shed, as there's not always someone home during the day.
4) We rather liked getting wierd shaped veggies, or veggies covered in earth. It may sound stupid, but somehow it added to the taste - meant you felt you were eating 'real' food!
5) Cost is important. We were happy to pay a bit more for organic etc, but not as much as the premium we were being charged (same goes for supermarkets etc).
6) Could consider also selling yoghurts / eggs etc. All adds to the service.
Hope that's helpful!!
Womble.
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1) I would definitely subscribe to a weekly or fortnightly veg box. Personally I would pay a premium for fresh and local, but don't like feeling ripped off for organic (part of my job involves fungicide manufacture, so buying organic feels a bit ironic in my case!).
where do you live? i'll put you down as my 1st customer. I'll def. be cheaper than the organic boxes
2) If you're including 'wierd' veggies, including a recipe card, or having suggestions on your website would be a great idea. <blush> I remember once having to phone my mum to find out what something was, before I could work out how to cook it! ??? </blush>
i'll be including a wee recipe ideas, there will also be a weekly email with whats in the box and some ideas. Gonna have a forum (obviously not as good as this one) that will let folk share their recipe suggestions
3) In our case, it was important to be able to pay online, or to leave a cheque in the shed, as there's not always someone home during the day.
don't worry, i'll get your money one way or another!! I plan to deliver between 5 and 9pm so more folk will be home, but will have online/telephone payment options, leave a cheque in the shed, no problem
4) We rather liked getting wierd shaped veggies, or veggies covered in earth. It may sound stupid, but somehow it added to the taste - meant you felt you were eating 'real' food!
yeah me too!! annoyingly can't seem to get carrots with the leaves left on though - but do get "dirty" veg.
6) Could consider also selling yoghurts / eggs etc. All adds to the service.
yeah, gonna do all the basics, free range eggs, milk, yoghut, bread/rolls, jams, sauces, herbs/spices, maybe even some cakes/bscuit type things. Might even have a few more novelty things - like dried flowers, boxes of chocolates for mothers day/valentines day
I'd love to do a weekly scheme where i can work with a turkey/pig/chicken breeder and folk could buy a turkey, paying it up each week and then get it in time for christmas - would send photos and updates on how the animal was doing :-)
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I'd love to do a weekly scheme where i can work with a turkey/pig/chicken breeder and folk could buy a turkey, paying it up each week and then get it in time for christmas - would send photos and updates on how the animal was doing :-)
Hmmm, not sure about that - verges on peeking through my blindfold of not eating animals I have a relationship with ;) ;D ;D
Must admit getting a weekly or fortnightly veg box with recipes might encourage me to eat more of them. I'm really not good at having my 'five-a-day'
So I could possibly maybe perhaps be customer no 2
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So I could possibly maybe perhaps be customer no 2
you know you want to!!!! And i won't name any of the veggies if that makes it easier for you to eat them ;D
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When you deliver, doganjo's you can pop one up to mine as we live near to each other, weekly is best for us as we eat a lot!!! not bothered whats in it as we eat everything!!!! ;D ;D How nice!!
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We used to used an organic box scheme based here in glasgow not sue if they're still on the go, it was expensive, but you could also get organic meats, fresh organic bead etc... it was lovely except every lettice was covered in beasties!!!
Add customer no3 if you're doing a weegie run ;)
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I think local is more important than organic for most people at the moment. The orgnic premium makes it too expensive for many.
Good luck with it all.
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After seeing a TV prog recently I'm not sure now how much more value there is in organic - there seem to be so many variations on the theme. I'd go for local too.
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Years ago, I had a fill in job in a resturant for office workers at Golden Wonder, I knew the head Microbiologist, he always said organic was often the moldy bits or manky bits for flavoring, such as fruit, fish, meat, cheese etc and grown in human or animal waste ...nice!!
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Sandy, to me that's a bit of a cynical view and of course someone from a large company would spread rumours like that (like mouldy bits human waste)...Manure is animal waste - I use year-old duck poo on my veggies, that's what it's for!
Organic is not a lifestyle choice like choosing to eat food which is less contaminated. It's about peak oil and resources being used up by the production of these chemicals. We went to an open day at our local organic farm yesterday - it can work. They grow on quite a large scale but produce all their fuel as biodiesel from local chip shops and restaurants. Not to mention what intensive farming does to the soil - non-organic is a temporary solution for crop enhancement. I think that program showed all aspects quite well...I would have loved more details on how and why local lamb for example has a higher carbon footprint than the meat imported from New Zealand which is still is cheaper. I would love to buy lamb from the farmer around the corner but I simply can't afford it. I also buy local free range chicken for half the price of organic. But I know that the chickens are fed GM free and local feed. It's always a compromise! :&>
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The problem for me is that Organic is still too expensive.
Now, if it's actually more expensive or is being marked up at a premium - i'm not sure. I'll hopefully find out in the next few months and will make moves to have an affordable local, GM free, Organic scheme myself.
However, the cost of organic food and fruit and veg boxes - IMO - puts a lot of people off of buying them.
On the "is it better for you debate" i think it's established that organic milk is actually better for you - but that's really it. there is no real compelling evidence on either side - though i'm inclined to fall on the organic side of the fence as i know what ba5turds companies like monsanto are and i could never trust them.
There is no doubt that for the future of the planet we need to move to a MORE organic means of production.
However, addressing the issues of obesity and poor diet in Scotland, I only think you'll convert folk over to a better diet if you can provide them with cheap healthy fruit and veg.
the benefit of it being local (if not organically certified) is at least it's providing jobs in the local community and keeping farmers producing edible crops (if there was no money/demand they'd be growing bio fuels and other such stuff that we couldn't feed ourselves with)
Also, being local, it does have a slightly reduced carbon footprint and should be that little bit fresher and have a bit more of the goodness left in them by the time they are on your plate.
thats just my thoughts on it all.
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Yup, you've got me on board, especially with the recipes.
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get a few of your neighbours interested then - make it worth my while to come across teh clackie bridge!!!
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Well, there's Sandy for a start - 2 minutes up the road, I'll ask my two closest neighbours too but why not prepare a flyer that we can hand out?
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i'll send them on once i have them done!
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Put on here as attachment then we can print them ourselves and help save your costs.
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Maybe am wrong but you can still uses a percentage of chemicals on organic produce ?
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I am in the center of clackmannan so can post a poster in the window, I will ask my neighbour as well!!
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;D ;D ;D ;D
thanks guys
sadly i haven't started yet, so i'll dig you all up again about this in a month or so when i'm ready to go
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(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Happy/happy-051.gif) Me and my OH are looking forward to that :)
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Hi Everyone
The new company - www.mylocal5aday.co.uk - will be up and running in January - new year, new idea, new years resolutions about healthy eating to be cashed in on!!!!
the web site is being done up just now - so can't give you a sneak peak yet.
However, i need your help to pick a new logo
whats your thoughts on these
thanks in advance
chris
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Hi Chris, I like 3b and 4c. Good luck with the venture.
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Hi Chris
My favourite is 3b, followed by 4c.
Good luck...Look forward to seeing the website.
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Hello,Love 4 a and 4 b bestest,looking forward to getting MY 5 a day ;)
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2d and 4c for me - I like the Ochil hills in the background of 2d and the trug in 4c
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2b works well for me, but maybe it doesn't get the concept across all that well (e.g. no veg in picture).
How about turning 4a into an open-backed 7.5 te truck, by adding a cab onto the front of it? I think that would look quite good, with all the oversized veg inside!
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How about turning 4a into an open-backed 7.5 te truck, by adding a cab onto the front of it? I think that would look quite good, with all the oversized veg inside!
that is my thoughts exactly
the web page will have a farm on the left, the truck in the middle and a house on the right "fresh, local produce direct to your home"
you can see the work in progress site here
http://mylocal5aday.org.uk/
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The website is looking good Chris. :)
I like the idea of the forum, keeping the local and community feel alive.
Great recipes too.
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I liked 4C as you will be delivering in a "basket" and the vege is approx. what people will get. Then it is 3D. 3A would look great on a white polo shirt for deliveries. :cat: :chook: