In a moment of procrastination I decided to weigh out all the veg in today’s Summer box, and compare the cost with how much I would have had to spend in the supermarkets to get the same produce.
Here are the results:
Waitrose, £28.13. I could not source organic basil leaves or organic radish, so non-organic prices were used. I could not source Red Chard, so the closest I could find was spinach, for the purposes of costing. There were 60 grams less broad beans, and 50 grams more radish.
Sainsbury’s, £27.48. Broad beans and basil were non-organic. The spring onions were 20g lighter, the spinach 40g lighter, the mushrooms 70g lighter, and not portabella but white field mushrooms. There were more broad beans, though: 500g instead of 360g in the summer box. Again, chard wasn’t available so I substituted spinach.
Tesco, c£26.00. Couldn’t be more precise as I couldn’t source broad beans or chard, and the courgettes didn’t show a weight, but I got to £23.84 substituting spinach for chard, and by including a 3-pack of courgettes (there were also 3 in the summer box), and leaving out broad beans entirely as I couldn’t think of a suitable replacement. The tomatoes were 100g lighter, the mushrooms 70g lighter, the radish 50g lighter, the basil 25g heavier, spring onion 25g heavier than the summer box items. Basil, spring onion and radish not organic.
The Riverswale box at £12.96 delivered (inc debit card charge) is fab value, before you even consider the better quality produce, and even if you forget the delivery charges of the supermarkets.
I look forward to next week’s box.
David (River Swale customer)
7 responses so far ↓
Maggie Barrand // August 4, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I was interested in the price comparison piece but for me there are other considerations of equal importance to price. I think I’ve become a veggie box junky - if there is such a thing. I love that my box is cheaper, more interesting and tastier than anything I’ve ever bought in supermarkets and I’m ecstatic that I can re-use or compost the packaging and that there is just much less of it! Also the business of actually visiting a supermarket has become so depressing. I hate huge trolleys, I hate the number of carrier bags people seem to use gleefully, making no effort to reuse bags. Ok, I forget my bags occasionally but then I force everything I buy into one carrier bag whether it fits or not, or I look for a box. What has happened to all the spare boxes they used to have in Supermarkets? The best thing about getting my box delivered by far is that I don’t have to stand in queues and I don’t have to make conversation with a check-out person when I’m tired or listen to the automated voice telling me where to collect my small change. My box is just waiting for me on the front porch when I come home from work. Once when it had been raining all day, my box was full of giant slugs which was a bit off-putting and they all had to be peeled off and put outside again, but even that is a very small price to pay for my weekly veggie fix!
Frances Murphy // August 9, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I love my box too. I love the fact that I can order from week to week and I appreciate the variety, freshness and efficiency of the delivery service. I am not that bothered about the contents being organic but I reckon I can’t beat what I get for value and quality from anywhere else and intuitively I think organic must be best . I spend a lot of time in Italy where vegetables are a source of joy and I was always sad to return home not least because the local supermarket could only offer me highly packaged dull vegetables. I now return with glee knowing that I will be getting my box delivered. Many thanks to all involved.
jules // August 10, 2008 at 3:50 am
Does anyone know why A.A. Gill dislikes the organic movement so much?
Solar Powered Hosting // August 21, 2008 at 7:24 am
It annoys the hell out of me when the supermarkets shout from the rooftops that their prices cannot be beaten. It’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that organic food sourced locally can easily compete with the supermarket scum. We get a mini box from Riverford at £8.35 and that’ll do us for most of the week. I can’t remember when I last visited the Tesco house of horrors!
Robert Day // August 22, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I think it may a bit disingenuous to include the whole delivery charge from the supermarkets. After all, they also sell many other things, and it is unlikely that anyone would not also buy their meat, bread, washing powder, etc at the same time as their veggies. I think a more robust comparison would be to take the delivery off both the veg box, and the supermarket basket. Also, when weighing the veg box content, did you wash all the produce and remove roots and leaves like would happen in the supermarket produce?
Just two points that a Supermarket spin-doctor would use to rubbish these claims….
Thanks to Robert Day for his observations regarding our price comparisons against supermarket organic produce. It is important to reiterate that all data is calculated exclusive of delivery charges! The ‘mud/root /leaves’ issue could potentially be misconstrued as disingenuous, and so we always compare like with like, e.g. bunched carrot, leek and beetroot with foliage. On balance we are confident that mud represents such a small percentage of our box weights that it is largely insignificant. We appreciate that scientific/mathematical purists may argue these points so, wherever possible, great pains are taken during these comparisons to eliminate any grey areas.
Claire Robinson // August 23, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I find it astonishing that the media keep trotting out the anti-organic lobby’s claims that organic food is elitist and only for rich people. I’ve eaten organic from the Riverford veg box scheme when living on a minuscule income and it is so much cheaper than supermarket stuff, not to mention fresher and more varied. People who tell me they can’t afford to eat organic just look at me blankly when I tell them what my veg box, which feeds two greedy people each week, costs. Why can’t they get it? brainwashing or what?
Tom // August 25, 2008 at 11:31 am
I agree with Robert to a degree about the delivery charge but I have to take issue in regards to the removal of roots and leaves.
I had the misfortune to buy a brocolli from Sainsburys last week and the stalk was easily more than half of the weight. The fact that it was well past it’s best just two days later says something as well. I wasted half of it for that reason alone. It’s not the first time something like that has happened.
The above comparison may not be perfect but if you take everything in to account I reckon Riverford wins hands down.
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