ORGANIC FOOD from farmer to your doorstep
Three quarters of UK households now buy at least some organic food.
Many do this because of the increasing evidence that organic food
is better for your health and, many believe, tastes better too.
There is absolutely no doubt that organic farming is better for
the countryside and its wildlife than chemical based non-rganic
farming. Buying local food produce, with the least possoble "food
miles" between where it is grown and where you eat it, is also
important to everyone who wants to reduce their carbon footprint.
One of the very best ways to support local food production and
ortganic farming is to buy your weekly vegetables as an organic
box delivered direct to your door: you will save money compared
with buying from supermarkets and help support local organic farmers.
There are as many different companies able to supply organic, mainly
local, fruit and vegetables to your door as there are major supermarkets
in the district. Sustainable Uttlesford set out to discover
which of them offers good service. Should you switch to an organic
box each week?
People who buy organic but prefer supermarket fruit and vegetables
give two main reasons for avoiding organic boxes:
- “Organic boxes are too dear”
- “Nobody in my family likes swedes – I want to choose what I
buy”
Our investigations show that neither of these problems is real.
Some boxes cost a little under buying equivalent organic produce
from Tesco, others can cost around 20% more. But that is comparing
the cost of a delivered box with the Tesco price for food you have
to drive and buy. Tesco charge £5.99 to deliver your shopping: taking
this into account even the most expensive organic box was cheaper
than shopping at Tesco – indeed it usually costs less to buy organic
food from a box company than to have non-organic food delivered
by Tesco (or pay for your car journey and buy in the shop).
As for the “swede problem” almost all companies have some way for
you to avoid getting types of produce you do not like and more of
the things you want. Sunrise Organics allow you to specify exactly
what the box will contain and how much of each chosen product. This
is more like buying from a farm shop, and having it delivered, than
taking “pot-luck” with a standard box.
How we made the comparisons:
Volunteers each ordered a box online in just the same way that
any other customer would do. They recorded how easily the process
worked, what the box contained (both in quantity and quality), what
information was given about the origin of the produce and how it
was packed. The quality of the food was judged by from each tester’s
comments and from digital photos of the box contents. Value was
judged by calculating the cost of each box’s content if bought from
Tesco (*see end of paragraph). We also drew-up an organic price
list from the Sunrise & River Nene listings (taking the cheaper
price for each item) and then using these prices to judge the value
of each box. Both methods produced similar results.
(* For many items Tesco did not sell organic produce. For these
we took Tesco’s price for non-organic and increased it by the average
difference between non-organic and organic items at Tesco)
This test was made in February: not the easiest month for suppliers
of locally grown produce. If possible we will repeat this test at
other seasons.
See
the details for each company
Packing
All companies supplied their produce in cardboard boxes that could
be re-used. Regular customers are asked to return the boxes. Some
companies supplied everything loose in the box, most had a few items
that needed the additional protection of a paper (or sometimes recyclable
plastic) bag.
Source of produce
Almost all firms provided information about the country of origin
(on website, with the box or both) and most also indicated local
(East Anglian) produce. A few (notably Cambridge Organic Food Co.)
gave details of the farm and farmer from whom each local product
came. There is no need for box companies to be registered as organic
producers if they are simply retailers of produce grown by other
(registered) producers. Those that are registered may grow some
of their own box contents or be producers of products from organic
ingredients.
Quality of produce
All the boxes contained fresh & good quality produce. In a
few cases some fruit arrived unripe and needed to be kept some days
before use.
How much will you get?
This is one area where we think organic box companies need to improve.
Most tell you (on their website or with the previous week’s box)
what type of produce will feature in the next box but not how much
of it. Only Cambridge Organic Food Co. specifies the weight of the
main (not all) items in its boxes. Most companies give some indication
of the number of people a box is intended to feed.
If you order a “choose your own box” from Sunrise, or add-on orders
from some other suppliers, you will be ordering from a list of produce
priced per kilo: so you can choose how much you need.
“Five-a-day”
It is difficult for a company to say exactly what the weight of
each item in the box will be: fruit & veg vary in size so, for
example, if your box has a small cabbage you may get few extra carrots
to make up.
What would be extremely helpful is if a company said how many of
the standard “fruit & vegetable portions” a box should contain.
We are supposed to eat 5 portions a day, so a box with 70 portions
would be everything a couple needed for a week. [Sunrise Organic
tell s they are now investigating doing this]
Who to avoid?
There are two companies whose websites claim they deliver in parts
of Uttlesford: Essex Cottage Supplies and Going Organic.
In both cases when our testers placed on onlne order the box did
not materialise. Essex Cottage Supplies said they do not deliver
in our area and would correct their website. They have not done
so yet. We never did get any reply to our emails to Going Organic.
It is clearly a waste of time for Uttlesford residents to attempt
to use these firms.
We tested seven firms of whom three deliver to any part of Uttlesford,
three only in and around Saffron Walden and one only in the Felsted/Dunmow/Stansted
area. All provided good produce, three were somewhat cheaper than
the others but it was the variety, degree of choice and types of
extra produce that varied most between companies. Depending on your
priorities, any of these firms could be a good choice. For those
who want maximum economy combined with a fair amount of choice,
River Nene Organic Vegetables is probably the “best buy” and is
available throughout the district.
|
