In 2011, when Mike and I were living together in Newcastle and both studying masters degrees, we had a weekly vegetable box delivered. I loved it; the food was organic, I liked the element of surprise as to the box's contents, and it felt like getting a present every week, in the same way that things you have ordered online and then magically turn up at your house always do. However, back then I don't think we were very good at using everything we got each week. There would always be a few old, mud-covered carrots lying around, and some things that I didn't know what to do with, celeriac for example, went in the bin after my good intentions never quite made it to looking up a recipe and giving it a go. After about nine months of getting the boxes we cancelled our order, deciding it wasn't really that financially viable, and a bit ashamed of how wasteful we had been.
A few years on, having chatted with a Riverford representative at Beverley Food Festival, I found myself resubscribing, and last week our first box arrived. I ordered a medium veg box, which gives you a selection of 8 different vegetables, and is recommended for two adults who eat primarily vegetarian diets like we do. I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit how excited I was to come home from work on a dark, cold evening and find the box tucked away in my back garden.
This week it contained:
carrots
onions
potatoes
a crown prince squash (like a ghoulish green/grey pumpkin but better tasting)
beetroot
mushrooms
leeks
kale
And these are the meals I have made from it so far:
roast potatoes and carrots with stir-fried onion, mushrooms and kale
pasta with onion, mushrooms and kale in a tomato-based sauce
beetroot, carrot and potato fritters with chilli and garlic stir-fried kale
With what's left over, I am planning to make leek and potato soup, roasted squash, which will be added to risotto and salads, and more beetroot fritters because they were so good the first time round. That should take us nicely to the next delivery, where the cycle can begin again. I am intending to do a weekly write up of what we get and what I make, both to keep me accountable and stop waste, and to act as a diary of sorts as I find this sort of thing really interesting (sad)! Now I've done a bit of an introduction, the posts will be on Mondays, as that's the day before we get the new box and so is most suitable for reflection, and I will hopefully take photographs to make it a bit more interesting; of the full box in all its glory and of anything that I cook that I deem photogenic enough to warrant the effort. I'm hoping that the shame of having to admit to throwing away a full bag of unidentified greens (it has happened...) because I let them get a bit weird will stop any future misdemeanors. Here goes!
A few years on, having chatted with a Riverford representative at Beverley Food Festival, I found myself resubscribing, and last week our first box arrived. I ordered a medium veg box, which gives you a selection of 8 different vegetables, and is recommended for two adults who eat primarily vegetarian diets like we do. I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit how excited I was to come home from work on a dark, cold evening and find the box tucked away in my back garden.
This week it contained:
carrots
onions
potatoes
a crown prince squash (like a ghoulish green/grey pumpkin but better tasting)
beetroot
mushrooms
leeks
kale
And these are the meals I have made from it so far:
roast potatoes and carrots with stir-fried onion, mushrooms and kale
pasta with onion, mushrooms and kale in a tomato-based sauce
beetroot, carrot and potato fritters with chilli and garlic stir-fried kale
With what's left over, I am planning to make leek and potato soup, roasted squash, which will be added to risotto and salads, and more beetroot fritters because they were so good the first time round. That should take us nicely to the next delivery, where the cycle can begin again. I am intending to do a weekly write up of what we get and what I make, both to keep me accountable and stop waste, and to act as a diary of sorts as I find this sort of thing really interesting (sad)! Now I've done a bit of an introduction, the posts will be on Mondays, as that's the day before we get the new box and so is most suitable for reflection, and I will hopefully take photographs to make it a bit more interesting; of the full box in all its glory and of anything that I cook that I deem photogenic enough to warrant the effort. I'm hoping that the shame of having to admit to throwing away a full bag of unidentified greens (it has happened...) because I let them get a bit weird will stop any future misdemeanors. Here goes!
