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Best fruit and veg boxes
If you want fresh produce delivered straight to your door, our unique survey insights reveal which company offers the best service and customer experience, and which you might want to give a miss.
Our 2023 survey asked over 1,000 fruit and veg box users about their experiences with big brands such as Abel & Cole, Milk & More, Oddbox and RIverford, as well as smaller, more local brands.
We also compare prices, delivery costs and other extras - and explain how to choose the best veg box for your lifestyle.
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Best fruit and veg boxes rated
We asked users about the range, quality and quantity of produce in their veg boxes, as well as the amount of packaging used, delivery service, customer service and value for money.
We also asked them about the seasonality of food, the ease of placing and adjusting orders and the ease of pausing subscriptions.
Our highest-scoring fruit and veg box company got a customer score of 83%, beating the second-highest scorer by 13 percentage points. The lowest got just 45%.
Which? members can log in now to find out how customers rate the different companies, plus the two that we recommend as the best for fruit and veg boxes.
If you're not a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the companies reviewed, with insights on pricing and what they offer. Join Which? today to see the full results.
Recommended provider? | Overall customer score | Customer service | Range of food | Quality of food | Value for money | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abel & Cole (159) | ||||||
Eversfield Organic (43) | ||||||
Farm Direct (75) | ||||||
First Choice Produce (51) | ||||||
Greendale (55) | ||||||
Kerry's Fresh (61) | ||||||
Milk & More (66) |
Table notes: Numbers in brackets are sample sizes. Customer score is based on satisfaction and likelihood to recommend to others. Customers also rated ease of placing and adjusting orders, ease of pausing subscriptions, amount of packaging used, delivery service and seasonality of food in addition to the ratings shown in the table.
Abel & Cole
Prices from £15.30 - for a small fruit and veg box (containing six types of veg and two types of fruit). A large box (eight veg and three fruit) costs £29.25. Delivery is a flat £3.50.
Abel & Cole delivers an extensive range of organic produce. As well as fruit and veg, it offers meat and fish, dairy and chilled foods, plus store-cupboard essentials, toiletries, cleaning products, pet food and alcohol.
Join Which? to see how Abel & Cole did in our survey and where it ranked overall.
Want to place an order without reading our results? Visit Abel & Cole.
Eversfield Organic
Prices from £20.95 - for a mixed fruit and veg box, which feeds three to five people for a week. Standard delivery starts from £5.95 but is based on the cost of your orders - delivery on smaller orders costs more. Standard delivery is free on orders of more than £80.
Eversfield Organic is a family-run farm in Devon. It delivers fruit and veg boxes as well as grass-fed beef and lamb, free-range poultry, outdoor-reared pork, and wild and sustainably sourced fish.
Boxes can also be topped up with a range of other foods and drinks.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Eversfield Organic in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Eversfield Organic.
Farm Direct
Prices from £10.95 - for a small seasonal fruit and veg box containing around 10 types of fruit and veg, suitable for one to two people for a week. Orders of less than £20 must be collected from the depot, but delivery on all other orders is free.
Farm Direct is based in Walthamstow and only delivers to London postcodes.
It delivers UK produce from more than 150 British farms and food producers. The range includes fruit and veg, meat, fish, dairy, eggs, baked goods, chilled food, pantry food and ice cream.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Farm Direct in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Farm Direct.
First Choice Produce
Prices from £22 - for a small mixed box containing 11 varieties of fruit and veg. All orders have a minimum spend of £45. Deliveries in Central London are £2.50, in Greater London and select near-London postcodes £3.50 (see website for details), anywhere else on UK mainland £7.50.
First Choice Produce is based in Nine Elms market in London and supplies British fruit and veg, dairy, eggs, meat, baked goods, chilled and pantry foods, frozen food and drinks across the UK.
Join Which? to see how customers rated First Choice Produce in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit First Choice Produce.
Greendale
Prices from £14 - for a small box containing five types of veg and two types of fruit. Delivery is free on all orders of more than £50. On orders below £50, delivery to certain EX postcodes is £4.95, and nationwide delivery is from £7.95.
Greendale is based in East Devon. It offers a range of boxes including fruit and veg, seafood, meat and cheese. All these items are also available to order individually along with other dairy, bakery, deli and pantry items, and alcohol.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Greendale in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Greendale.
Kerry's Fresh
Prices from £17.99 - for a regular fruit and veg box containing 12 different varieties of fruit and veg, recommended for one to two people. A large box with 15 different types of fruit and veg costs £22.99 and is for two to three people. Delivery in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire is free. Nationwide delivery is £5.
Kerry's Fresh is a family-run business that has supplied locally sourced fruit and veg from its market stall in Nottingham since 1885. It has expanded to include an online shop which delivers organic fruit and veg, meat, dairy, bakery and store-cupboard items nationwide.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Kerry's Fresh in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Kerry's Fresh.
Milk & More
Prices from £16.50 - for a seasonal organic fruit and veg box containing seven types of fruit and veg. Prices include the cost of delivery.
Originally a milk-delivery service, Milk & More has expanded its offering to include fruit and veg, meat, pantry items, household essentials and pet food. The company's mission is to offer sustainable living to customers - it offers many items in refillable containers, and collects the empties to reuse. Its vehicles are also electric.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Milk & More in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Milk & More.
Oddbox
Prices from £11.49 - for an extra-small fruit and veg box containing five types of veg and two types of fruit. A large fruit and veg box is £22.49 and contains nine types of veg and four types of fruit. Delivery is an additional £1.49 on all boxes.
Oddbox's mission is to reduce food waste and help growers get a fair price for produce that would otherwise go to waste. It delivers fruit and veg that doesn't meet retailers' standards and specifications for size or appearance, or that the producer has too much of. Produce is from the UK and abroad, but the company doesn't use air freight to transport its goods. It's not organic.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Oddbox in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Oddbox.
Riverford
Prices from £6.50 - for the cheapest box, a 'zero waste surprise' bag which contains three types of organic veg. The priciest is a large, seasonal organic fruit and veg box for three to four people, costing £27.55. Prices include the cost of delivery.
Riverford delivers seasonal organic fruit and veg and the company pledges to pay farmers a fair price. Produce is UK-grown where possible, but boxes do also contain items that can't be grown in the UK, such as bananas and citrus fruit. None of its produce is air-freighted.
The company is employee-owned.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Riverford in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Riverford.
Ted's Veg
Prices from £25 - for a small fruit and veg box containing food for two to three meals for two people. A large box is £40 and contains enough for four to five people for two to three meals. Collection from Borough Market is free, nationwide delivery is £6.50.
The farm that supplies Ted's Veg is in Lincolnshire, and the produce is sold at its shop in Borough Market and also at several farmers' markets in London.
Join Which? to see how customers rated Ted's Veg in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit Ted's Veg.
The Veg Box Company
Prices from £21.50 - for a small mixed box containing five types of fruit and eight types of veg. Boxes can be topped up with meat, dairy, bakery and pantry items. There's also a limited number of meal kits available. Local delivery to specified postcodes is free, but the company also offers nationwide next-day delivery for £4.50.
The Veg Box company is based in Preston, Lancashire and delivers produce and meal kits from the North West of England.
Join Which? to see how customers rated The Veg Box Company in our survey.
Want to order without our reading our full results? Visit The Veg Box Company.
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Is it worth getting a veg box?
Fruit and veg box customers told us they like them because it means they shop less at supermarkets. Many also liked that you get sent things you wouldn't necessarily choose, which encourages you to be more adventurous and eat a wider range of fruit and veg.
There's usually some flexibility, too: you'll find out in advance what your weekly box will contain and can switch out a specified number of items. You can also pause deliveries if you're on holiday or want a break – some companies will let you amend or cancel a delivery the day before it arrives, although others require four days' notice.
Are fruit and veg boxes good value vs the supermarket?
We compared the cost of buying a fruit and veg box from two of the largest companies – Riverford and Oddbox – against buying the equivalent produce at a supermarket.
We found that veg boxes typically come out more expensive, but there's not a great deal in it – less than £5 in both cases. And, of course, one is delivered straight to your door, while the other requires you to go to the supermarket.
Riverford costs vs the supermarket
- Small weekly box from Riverford - £17.05 including delivery
- Same items price-checked at Waitrose (chosen because it had the most comparable organic produce) - £15.69
Riverford Box = £1.36 more expensive
Oddbox costs vs the supermarket
- A small weekly mixed box from Oddbox - £14.49 plus a £1.49 delivery charge, totalling £15.98.
- Same produce at Tesco cost £12.14
Oddbox = £3.84 more expensive
Based on boxes ordered in August 2023. When an exact match wasn't available in supermarkets, we chose the nearest equivalent.
Veg box customers in our survey weren't put off by the fact that the boxes cost slightly more. One user told us: 'We're happy to pay that bit extra as it's a sustainable, innovative brand and that's important to us. There's no plastic packaging.'
Several people told us they like that the boxes offer an alternative to shopping at the supermarkets, the food is seasonal and you get things you wouldn't usually buy, which encourages you to be more creative with your cooking.
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How to choose the best fruit and veg box for you
- Check if the company delivers to your area - some will only deliver in your area on certain days, or not at all.
- Decide if you want organic produce only - this will rule out some of the companies.
- Think about how regularly you want delivery - do you want a regular box or to order ad-hoc ones? Flexibility varies.
- Consider whether you want extras beyond fruit and veg - some companies offer a wider range of extras.
Some companies offer lots of top-up options such as meat, cheese and cleaning products, so you can pretty much use it as a full supermarket, whereas others have a more limited offering.
The big players, such as Abel & Cole, Oddbox and Riverford are subscription companies where you sign up to a regular weekly box (which you can pause if you're away). Other companies including Milk & More allow you to place on-off orders.
Consider your lifestyle and if you're happy to go with the flow to some extent. If you have a fussy eater in your household or don't like certain foods, then a fruit and veg box might not be for you.
If you're keen to try, you can look out for introductory offers and give one a go.
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How we tested fruit and veg boxes
The results are based on an online survey of 1,231 people (general public and Which? Connect panel) in May 2023 about their fruit and veg box subscriptions.
We asked them to rate the company and its boxes on aspects including customer service, value for money, range and quality of food, quantity of produce in the box, ease of ordering, the amount of packaging used and the delivery service. Customers were also asked to rate the seasonality of boxes.
The customer score is based on satisfaction and likelihood to recommend the company to others.
To give a company a rating, we needed a minimum of 30 responses in our survey. Sample sizes for each company are in brackets in the table.
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