Riverford or Abel and Cole? Post Reply

[lalectrice]

Who's better? Am fed up with the supermarket and want to switch to an organic delivery company, but who to pick? Thanks for your advice!

[bingle]

We love Riverford in our house, although admittedly any comparison with A&C is based on being a customer of theirs some time ago now. What we love about Riverford:
- you don't have to have a regular delivery and you are not tied in long term
- you can edit your order every week if you so wish
- you can choose from a wide variety of boxes, we have a mixed fruit & veg box which doesn't have any of the 'fillers' of potatoes and onions which has put me off boxes before
- the recipe leaflets and sheets come in handy
- their meat boxes which I order occasionally are excellent value when compared to buying organic meat in the supermarket - you just need to make sure you have room in the freezer to store it all (it is delivered chilled not frozen so there is no danger or partial defrosting therefore making refreezing dangerous).

Somehow the company maintains a small family feel and doesn't feel a big corporate machine, clever marketing or genuine it does it for me!

Be interesting to see others comparisons though.

BTW I have also discovered an amazing app which allows you to search all your own recipe books by ingredient - fantastic for those random veg from the box which otherwise lingers in the fridge. Check out eatyourbooks.com - you have to pay for the service but I have used my recipe books so much more and thrown away much less because of it, so to my mind money well spent.

[WannaBe]

Like the previous poster, I am very happy with Riverford and I have to add the really handy foldable boxes to the list.

BUT

I think Abel and Cole has all the similar advantages nowadays. I used to be a customer a long time ago but I know they've upgraded since then...

Have you compared websites?

[lalectrice]

Thanks v much for the useful info. I have compared websites, but they do seem pretty similar. I'm slightly confused about the extent to which you must subscribe to a regular order versus the extent to which you can use them as you would an online supermarket - presumably this is increasingly flexible.

[mummyjen]

Hi
I have no experience of A&C but can confirm that Riverford is completely flexible - you can set up a regular order which you can add to or cancel each week. We have been a customer for about 7 years and love it. They are also trialling some fab new recipe boxes too at the moment, which are getting a big thumbs up in our household. The local distributor is very active with organising new customer suppers and the like - he is very passionate about the products and just won veg man of the year!!

[Camille]

Our experience of Abel & Cole has been great. Really, really tasty vegetables every time and on time. I have no experience of Riverford but maybe you should choose the most local, supporting local business and all that...unfortunately haven't googled either so can't help on that either but i think whoever you choose will be a huge improvement on any supermarket.

[evainlondon]

Having tried Abel and Cole and found it really bad value for money, I've switched to Ocado veg box since and love it - really fresh, good quality and value. Would thoroughly recommend it!

[WannaBe]

Come to think of it, A&C just rung me up and said they'd be happy to deliver a box if I ever wanted to compare the two. So you could buy a box from each and see?

[patersr]

I have used Riverford for about 6 years and can totally endorse them in every way. THEY ARE WONDERFUL. Their ordering system is totally flexible and they even send you a reminder e mail two days before your weekly delivery day to remind you that you have until 10pm that day to change (or cancel) your order.
We are a family of 6 and I have a weekly delivery of a medium veg box (massive), a fruit box and 6 litres of milk plus regular extras such as bags of apples etc. I then tend to add to that groceries such as eggs, cheese, pasta, other veg, more fruit etc.
They also do wonderful meat and every so often I order a large meat box for the freezer. I used to do this every fortnight but found it a bit too much.
The vegetables are in wonderful condition when they arrive and I tend to put some in the fridge and the rest I leave in the box in the garden (it sits on top of the barbeque!) with a cover on it (which you can also buy from Riverford). This works for most of the year other than July/Aug when its simply too hot for the veg.
I regularly use their recipes (they come weekly with the box but I find the website great for this) and I thoroughly enjoy the weekly letter from Guy Watson (owner) describing the trials and joys of the farming world. It's still a family owned business which I don't think A&C is.

Do try them - it totally enhances how we eat. Above all it makes you and your family eat both seasonal and a great variety of vegetables, its amazingly good value, lessens the load from the supermarket and you know that the producers are being well treated. Everyone wins!

[nannyS]

Here is a good offer today on littlebird.co.uk website if you are not a customer of Riverford already!

http://www.littlebird.co.uk/riverfordve ... view%20now