The Fresh Produce Subscription Box – What You Should Know
Subscription boxes have become well established over the past 10 years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shed new light on food delivery services, including subscription boxes for food, wine, and fresh produce. To avoid the risk of shopping in public, it seemed a safer option to have groceries delivered straight to your door. If you considered subscribing to a regular delivery or fresh produce, here are a few things you should know.
There is one obvious benefit of getting your veggies delivered straight to your door: it is pretty convenient. You don’t have to set foot outside your own house (well, save for the few steps to get to the front porch). If you haven’t thought of getting a weekly veggie box, then perhaps we can change your mind!
Most suppliers of veggie boxes grow their vegetables organically. Since these veggies come directly from the farmer, they are much fresher than the ones you’d get in a supermarket. More often than not, store produce stays in cold storage for months, and only see the light of day when store supplies need to be replenished. On the other hand, vegetables from a veggie box are usually picked to order, so they spend minimal time in transit from the farm to your doorstep (and your plate).
Buying directly from the farmer essentially means you’re cutting out the middleman. This makes much more financial sense for both you and the farmer! Also, because these vegetables use less packaging, it’s much more environmentally friendly.
Deliveries of veggie boxes are no different from normal courier services. If you happen to work odd hours, or are unable to determine exactly when you will be home, a delivery can be made to a more convenient location. Some companies also have collection points, and thus you can easily pick up your box on the way home.
When it comes to the price of fruits and vegetables, the costs are similar between veggie boxes and store produce. You might even save money, since many companies include the delivery fee as part of the service. Moreover, because you select the size of your box (whether for one person or a whole family), you’re likely to waste less produce compared to having bought it at a store.
If food waste is a concern for you, try choosing recipes that use the vegetables specific to your box. Look on the supplier’s website to see what’s inside the next box. Make use of the search bar on cooking websites (like ours!) to search for recipes using specific vegetables. Some veggie boxes even come with their own recipes on how to use the week’s produce. In such cases, it takes even less effort to prepare delicious home-cooked meals.
In recent times many suppliers allow you to tailor your box to your own needs, and thus you choose (to a certain extent) which fruits and vegetables you want. But vegetable delivery boxes are also a great way to get out of your cooking comfort zone. How else will you be forced to cook with kohlrabi?
