Organic Delivery
April 30 2010
Organic food delivery
Organic box delivery schemes are still doing well and sales of organic food delivery more than doubled in 2008 to 400,000 according to the Soil Association. Although the recession has hit organic produce sales (along with sales of everything else, lets be honest!), people are now spending the same amount, but buying less, and spending their money on quality goods and produce. This is why companies like Waitrose and Sainsburys are increasing in popularity in 2010.
A weekly box of fresh fruit and vegetables can be delivered, either direct to your home or office or to a local collection point like a local shop or school. The organic and local fruit and veggies vary each week according to season.
Some boxes include additional items like meat, wine and whole foods and many offer organic produce. Prices for a box varies, and you can buy different sizes according to how many live in your home, but typical costs range from £9 to £20 per box. You can set up a standing order or pay a lump sum in advance and cancel deliveries during the holidays. You can also leave instructions about where to leave your box if you are out.
Produce is sourced locally, keeping unnecessary packaging, storage and transportation to a minimum. Much of the produce is farmed organically – without the use of oil based fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides – making the process kinder to the environment and so, arguably, better for our health.
These schemes provide a fairer deal to farmers than supermarkets and plough money back into local economies. This shorter supply chain also gives customers greater confidence about where their food has come from and how it has been grown. You can also do the same by visiting a farmer’s market of course, but if you don’t have the time to do that, this is a wonderfully convenient alternative. Here is a list of 35 organic food delivery companies throughout the country, please let me know about any gems in your area not listed and I will add them to the list!
LONDON
Abel & Cole
Deliver organic food and drink across southern England including organic fruit and vegetables, Abel & Cole also offers organic meats, sustainably caught fish, dairy and freshly baked bread, working with a network of around 50 British producers to bring local, seasonal and organic food fresh from the grower.
Bumblebee
Deliver to London, Oxford and Greater London. Bumblebee have small, medium and large bags of organic fruit and vegetables. Every bag contains potatoes, carrots, onions, salad and a seasonal selection of organic produce.
Growing Communities
Collection only scheme, but provides a weekly selection of seasonal organic produce, sourced as locally as possible, and is a social enterprise run by the people of Hackney, East London. There are five pick-up points across Hackney.
Organic Delivery Company
Delivers organic fruits, juices, nuts, chocolate, and Fair Trade organic gift hampers, made to order. Organic Delivery won the 2007 Small Retailer Online Green Award.
SOUTH
OrgaNick
Has a box scheme in LIss, Hants, but also a farm shop and farmers markets. They are based in Hampshire and have an organic farm. Orga Nick has organic milk, cheese, preserves and drinks, all sourced locally. Vegetables for home delivery are often picked and packaged on the same day.
Warborne Organic Farm
Home-grown in Lymington,organic veggie boxes are delivered locally with free-range eggs and organic meat also available. Customers receive a weekly selection of seasonal vegetables chosen from 300 varieties grown on the farm.
SOUTH EAST
Ashurst Organics
Local organic box scheme supplying fresh vegetables to Brighton, Lewes, Haywards Health, Eastbourne and Worthing.
The Orchard, Ashurst Farm, Ashurst Lane, Plumpton, Lewes, East Sussex (01273 891219)
Down To Earth
Have local organic foods including groceries, meat and gourmet goods. They also have veggie boxes for delivery or collection. 2-3 Goldrings, West Street, Midhurst, West Sussex (01730 815133)
Simply Wild Food Company
Delivers locally produced organic vegetables, fruit, eggs, bread and meat. Pullens Farm, Kent
Tolhurst Organic Produce,
Iain Tolhurst’s delivery box scheme operates within a 25-mile radius of his farm in Pangbourne, Berkshire, and delivers to collection points.
SOUTH WEST
Coleshill Organics
Deliver boxes to 50 collection points in Wiltshire, and the veggie boxes contain a selection from the 80 traditional varieties of vegetables, plus fruit and herbs, grown on about 30 acres of land in the National Trust-owned village of Coles-hill. All the collection points are within a 25-mile radius of Coleshill.
Keveral Farmers
Delivers fruit and veggies, apple juice, cider, preserves, shiitake/oyster mushrooms and fruiting logs. Organic herbs and willow cuttings are also available. Keveral Farm, Looe, Cornwall
Riverford Home Delivery
Delivers organic vegetables, eggs, milk, wine and fruit to Swindon and Wiltshire, and you can check the week’s box selection on the company’s website. Wash Barn, Buckfastleigh, Devon
RodandBens
Delivers vegetables nationwide and this box scheme was highly commended in the in the Organic Food Awards 2004 and its eggs were a winner. Bickham Farm, Kenn, Exeter, Devon
Somerset Organic Link
Fruit and vegetable boxes are supplied through a co-operative of organic farmers in Somerset.
The Cider Press Room, Flaxdrayton Farm, Drayton, South Peherton, Somerset
Spring Grove Market Garden, Milverton, Somerset (07956 429531) grows 95 per cent of the produce for its boxes on three acres of land where it has planted hedges, native fruit and nut trees, set up a beehive and keeps 50 laying hens. The business supplies 80 customers each week within a four-mile radius.
CHANNEL ISLANDS
Farm Fresh Organics
is on Jersey, with a range of organic vegetables. They also import fruit and eggs to distribute island-wide through a box scheme from La Bienvenue Farm, La Grande Route de St Laurent, St Lawrence, Jersey
EAST ANGLIA
Castle Acre Organic
Delivers, with a box scheme, organic poultry, Aberdeen Angus beef, Dorset lamb and mutton, pork, bacon, ham, sausages and burgers, eggs and vegetables. Manor Farm, Castle Acre, King’s Lynn, Norfolk
River Nene Organic Vegetables
This box scheme offers 60 different vegetables packed one day and delivered the next across the Midlands and eastern counties. The box contents change weekly.
Station Bridge, Yaxley, Peterborough
Wild Country Organics
This organic farm specialises in aubergines, cucumbers, peppers, cherry tomatoes and winter leafy salads. It has a box scheme and stalls at Stoke Newington and Marylebone farmers’ markets in London.
11 Chalky Road, Great Abington, Cambridge, Cambs (01223 560038, )
MIDLANDS
Wild Carrot
A wholefood workers’ co-op supporting local and UK growers, and specialises in organic food and alcohol, Fairtrade goods and environmentally-friendly products. It has a variety of vegetables boxes Buxton, Derbyshire
Woodlands
Delivers organic vegetables, beef and lamb locally and also sells its produce to local and regional outlets. Organic bronze turkeys are available at Christmas and Easter. Woodlands won the Organic Food Awards Producer of the Year for fresh fruit and vegetables in 1994. Kirton, Lincs
WALES
Calon Wen Organic Foods, is a co-operative of Welsh organic farmers and their families who provide fruit, vegetables, milk and cheese to customers throughout Wales. Camarthenshire. Calon Wen
Organics To Go
Fresh, seasonal, organic fruit and vegetables are delivered using dual-fuel vans, together with eggs, cheese and marmalade Deliveries of organic fruit and organic veggie deliveries are made weekly to Wales and the West, Wiltshire and London. Golden Grove, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire
So Organics
has a box-scheme that specialises in Welsh produce. It delivers fruit, vegetables, groceries, dairy produce, free-range eggs and bread, and also provides fresh flowers.
12 Main Street, Salva, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire
NORTH EAST
Butterby
A delivery box scheme for the Durham area, which includes salad, summer vegetables, apples, pears and plums as well as cut flowers and honey from its own bees. Every box contains six free-range eggs plus seasonal produce. Low Butterby, Croxdale, Durham
Slater Organics
Have an organic vegetable delivery scheme and work with other local growers to supply box schemes in Hull, Beverley and local villages.
16 Cross Street, Aldbrough, Hulll, East Yorks (01964 527519)
NORTH WEST
Goosemoorganics
is a smallholding that grows and distributes organic fruit, vegetables and vegetarian groceries to shops and restaurants throughout the north of England and provides home deliveries. Organic delivery boxes contain at least five different vegetables. Cowthorpe, Wetherby, North Yorks
Howbarrow Organic Farm
A 13-acre smallholding producing lamb, beef, turkeys, eggs, vegetables and medicinal herbs. As well as a delivery box scheme, it has an award-winning farmer’s shop and offers demonstrations, walks and displays. Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
(I can personally endorse this - it is amazing!! Susie)
Oakcroft Organic Gardens
Growing organic produce since 1962, this farm offers a large variety of vegetables and soft fruits as well as fruit grown elsewhere, together with bread by order and eggs. It has a delivery service to Nantwich, Crewe, Chester, Northwich and the Knutsford areas.
Oak Croft, Cross o’the Hill, Malpas, Cheshire (01948 860213)
BORDERS
Acme Organics
Delivers a range of organic, Fairtrade and eco-friendly products locally and to south Lanarkshire, including alcohol, medicines, seaweed and cosmetics. It grows much of it sown produce and sources from local producers. Blyth Bridge, West Linton
SCOTLAND
East Coast Organics, near Edinburgh, delivers to customers in Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian and also sells eggs. It sources organic bakery and dairy products.
EPO Growers
Organic vegetables, herbs and soft fruit are grown and delivered to the Glasgow and northwest area. Kennels Cottage, Hardgate, Glasgow, Strathclyde (01389 875337)
Grow Wild
Delivers to Edinburgh, Glasgow and central Scotland, and sells extras such as meat, wine, coffee, dairy and delicious store-cupboard items.West Lothian
Hope Trust
A registered charity that grows and sells a wide range of organic vegetables and fruit through a box scheme. The Westway, Arbroath, Angus
Vital Veg
Grows and delivers organic vegetables and fruit, plus eggs, to homes and offices in the Aberdeen area. It also offers vegetable starter plants grown from seed in certified organic compost and gives advice and seminars. North Tillydaff Farm, Midmar, Aberdeenshire
NORTHERN IRELAND
Helen’s Bay Organic Gardens
Organic vegetables delivered weekly to greater Belfast and North Down in large, medium or small bags, with fruit, bread and eggs as optional extras. Holywood, Co Down
