Author Topic: Fruit and Veg boxes  (Read 23416 times)

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #15 on: August 28, 2009, 10:39:45 pm »
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!!!!

northfifeduckling

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Fife
    • North Fife Blog
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #16 on: August 28, 2009, 10:56:50 pm »
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?  :&>

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #17 on: August 28, 2009, 11:03:26 pm »
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


Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #18 on: August 29, 2009, 08:32:45 pm »
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.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #19 on: August 29, 2009, 08:46:03 pm »
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
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2009, 12:38:07 pm »
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



Hardfeather

  • Guest
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #21 on: August 30, 2009, 06:24:11 pm »
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?

northfifeduckling

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Fife
    • North Fife Blog
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #22 on: August 30, 2009, 06:58:08 pm »
never heard of this scheme - could it have been through the Fife Diet?  :&>

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #23 on: August 30, 2009, 07:01:34 pm »
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.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #24 on: August 30, 2009, 07:11:54 pm »
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

Quote
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

Quote
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

Quote
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.

Quote
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 :-)



doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #25 on: August 31, 2009, 12:09:10 am »
Quote
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
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #26 on: August 31, 2009, 08:16:14 am »
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

sandy

  • Guest
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #27 on: August 31, 2009, 03:58:03 pm »
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!!

kazschow

  • Joined Aug 2009
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #28 on: August 31, 2009, 04:11:48 pm »
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 ;)

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Fruit and Veg boxes
« Reply #29 on: August 31, 2009, 07:48:41 pm »
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.

 

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2025. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS