I usually buy my fresh fruit and vegetables at various independent shops in my area.
But since the lock down I’ve not been able to!
being able to eat plenty of fresh fruit and vege is a priority for me, and my kids being massive eaters, eat a sh** tonne… um *coughs* ‘huge amount’ of fruit and vege. 😳😅
So… I want fresh and yummy. I like spray free/organic but generally speaking don’t have the budget for it. I prefer local and in season and I also like cheap! I also prefer zero waste packaging.
you can click on the name of the company to get to their website.
The Harvest 2 Home company is spray free and definitely the most flexible of all food boxes I’ve used so far. They have 3 different boxes:
- Humble Box $46.00
- Hearty Box $56.00
- Heroic Box $66.00
You can add different items to your order and they are all individually priced. You can also swap out items for other ones. So I swapped out the stir fry mix for garlic and added extra carrots, beetroot and celery (didn’t get the celery so the cost should go down to $82) and delivery was free.
The box contains, kale, green beans, parsley, carrots, beetroot, apples, feijoa’s, 2 medium sized kumara, 1 medium to large sized broccoli, 10 tomatoes, pears, potatoes, salad mix (bagged), brown onions.
There’s enough potatoes for one meal, enough vegetables for 4 to 5 meals and enough fruit for 3 to 4 days. It’s not the most value for money, but the quality is excellent, customer service is good and the fruit and vegetables are very fresh + spray free – which if you have the budget is worth it (in my opinion!). Ordering is easy and delivery times are easy to work out and regular.
I’d give them 8 stars.
I ordered the $40 family box which is designed to feed a family of 4 for a week.
Delivery $5.
This box is excellent value for money. It has a great range of fresh, NZ grown produce.
It contains: 2 bunches of bananas (not NZ obvs), lots of apples, plums, NZ oranges, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, 3 avocados, capsicum, potatoes, cucumber and carrots.There’s enough produce here for our family for the next 3 days.
It’s definitely not large enough for a family of 4 for a week, but it is excellent quality, very fresh and definitely one of the best value boxes I’ve found so far. My one complaint would be no onions or garlic! I’ve ordered from these guys a couple of times and have found their delivery and ordering dates unpredictable. Twice, I have ordered a box, expecting it to come one week and it has come another. Which sort of makes it difficult for my food budget and I end up with having too much or not enough fresh produce in a week!
I’d give them 8 stars
They have several box options:
- $44.00 for a mixed fruit and vege box (pictured)
- $33.92 for 33 + pieces of fruit
- $52.90 for 55 + pieces of fruit
Delivery was free
It has good variety and definitely has the largest variety of the boxes so far.
It contains 1 egg plant, 1 bunch of spring onions, a bag of mescalin, cucumber, carrots, avocados, 2 lemons, 2 onions, potatoes, 3-4 tomatoes, bunch of bananas, feijoas, oranges (NZ), mandarins and a medium sized broccoli.
The quality is really good, it’a all NZ local produce, and definitely good value for what you get – better variety but maybe not as much as the Food Together box. There’s only enough potatoes for one meal for us and enough fresh produce for my family of 5 for 2 days of fruit and 3 days of veggies. I don’t love the bubble wrap (for sustainability reasons) and really don’t feel its needed. As always, there is no garlic in the box (why is there never garlic?!). Their website is easy to use and it’s really clear when your product will arrive, you get text messages when it’s packed and shipped. Would definitely recommend!
Stars 7/10
They have several box options
- $35.00
- $80.00
- $95.00
I selected the $35.00 box – I’ve had a few hiccups with fruit and vege box orders and I was expecting 2 smaller boxes to arrive last week, but instead due to (partly mine, partly theirs) errors I have them coming this week. So, I basically had a week of no incoming fruit and vege and by Easter Monday my fruit and vege drawer looked like this:
After a few delivery date muck ups, my produce drawer was looking like this…
So, I made sure I ordered one to come on Tuesday to tide us over.
Come Tuesday I had a funny feeling, so I emailed Chevalier and, they didn’t admit to it, but I think my order got lost in transit – payment had gone out, but I had not received anything by email or text to say they’d received the order and it was on it’s way. They emailed me back within the hour and asked if delivery tomorrow was ok. I sent them a pic of my empty fridge (above) and said I’d appreciate delivery today. They emailed back with confirmation of delivery by 5pm – in less than 2 hours! 100% for customer service!
This is definitely the MOST expensive box I’ve bought. There is literally only enough fruit and vege here for 1 day for the 5 of us. We’re using all the veggies for our dinner tonight and the fruit will be consumed tonight and tomorrow for breakfast. There’s only 1 carrot, 3 bananas, a small and not very fresh lettuce, a handful of beans, 2 very fresh capsicum, 3 mandarines (not local produce), 3 oranges (not local produce and not very yummy), 1 red onion and 1 brown onion, 2 peaches, 5 potatoes and 2 avocados (which was exciting!). Quality is ok, some of it is super fresh, some is not and a few of the apples are obviously damaged ( I wouldn’t care about that at all if it was 20 apples and a few damaged, but when its a few apples and several have marks….). Delivery times are excellent – next day, website is easy to use and their customer service is excellent. The box is small and good for people who have smaller families / live alone, but quite expensive for what you get and quality varies considerably – from fresh to not – most of it’s pretty good.
If I’m gonna give them stars 4/10
Mangawhai Grown
The Manghwai grown box was:
x1 $40 fruit box and
x1 $40 vege box “the season”
delivery was free for the first order then $5.00 for orders after that – free for orders over $80
They do different sized fruit boxes and different types of veggie boxes (keto, salad smoothie). You can also pick and choose individual items
The fruit box is amazing! Really fresh fruit, excellent quality and variety and it’s a huge amount. Will definitely keep us happy for the next week.
The veggie box is ok. It’s also very fresh, excellent quality, good variety with tomato, lettuce, pumpkin, spinach, corn, green beans, parsnip, potatoes and courgettes.
My one issue is the quantities aren’t enough (there will be massive fights over that single corn cob 😬) and it doesn’t have the same value for money as the fruit box. There’s enough potatoes for two meals, and enough vegetables for 3 meals maybe 4.
If I’m gonna give them stars 7/10
The second box is by Get Groceries
It was $89 with free delivery
They sell fruit, vegetables and meat and have various packages available that you can choose from.
You basically choose one of their boxes and cannot independently pick and choose items to suit.
This box has contains: celery, two massive kumara, potatoes, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, carrots, pears, onions and pumpkin.
The produce was in great condition and very fresh. The oranges were from the US – I’m not sure why you would supply oranges when they are not really in season and apples are (no apples provided) – but the kids have been eating them and were pretty excited about it.
There’s enough fruit in this box for my kids for 2 days. There’s enough potatoes and pumpkin for the week but very little veggies for our dinner. My son has already eaten half the celery for a snack and there are no beans or leafy greens or veggies aside from carrots to add to my dinners. It’s pretty expensive for what you get.
Stars 5/10
Over all #VGBOX Mangawhai Grown fruit box is the best and easily had enough fruit to keep us going for over a week. AND there’s a bit more flexibility with being able to add specific items (like garlic! How can I live without garlic!) Food Together come up tops in the mixed box department – great value and I reckon 2 of these with a few supermarket top ups of potatoes, apples, celery and garlic would feed us for a week. The Fruit Guys come in close with great quality and the best variety.
I will do more reviews and add them on here as I go- this is determined by the amount of fresh produce I can eat and my food budget because I have not been supplied with produce, asked to promote products or been contacted by the companies at all – so watch this space!
Feed Nourish Feast 