Abel & Cole - Mixed Organic Box
By: Abel & Cole
As keen readers of this site will know, we put our money where our mouth is and try as many of the producers listed on this site as possible (or rely on your recommendations). Having heard Abel & Cole highly recommended we had a look at the website.
They list a wide range of organic food, with veg and fruit boxes being the mainstay. They also list meat, sausages, burgers etc. One fine Spring evening a order went in, 1 pack of sausages, 1 pack of beef burgers and a mixed fruit and veg box. Total cost including delivery £22.82.
The van arrived and left our veg in a in a branded, bio-degradable box and a excessively large polystyrene box for the meat. Image my delight when I opened this up and found sausages and burgers from Daylesford Organics!. Now, we like Daylesford and even featured them as a proper SOTW last November, however if i wanted to buy Daylesford I would - I wanted to try Abel & Cole sausages!
I wouldn't mind so much if the website or catalogue stated who supplies the sausages.
Anyway instead of Abel & Cole sausages we have a nice pic of the £14.80 veg and fruit box. What did we think of this? Not much really. It contained carrots, celery, chunky courgette/marrows, kiwi fruit, mushrooms, oranges, packham pears, estima potatoes, mushrooms, spring greens and white onions.
I know that you can pick what you want on the site and can pick costly goodies such as asparagus and Jersey Royal potatoes but in our ignorance we expected to find local, seasonal English food. Not imported kiwi (New Zealand?), pears (Pachkam pears are mainly grown in Australia) and oranges. There was enough of each vegetable for a meal for 2 or 4 people (apart from the spuds which would have fed 2 or 3), 3 pears, 5 oranges and 5 kiwi. Overall this might be enough fruit and veg for 2 people to last 1 week - pretty expensive. Plus there is the mixed box stuff you never use and leave to wilt in the fridge.
To be fair Abel & Cole let you pick what you like/dislike and they will modify your box according. Perhaps I'm too tight and not that bothered about the Abel & Cole van delivering my food every week!