We run a fair trade supply chain! Farmers receive just 10% of the customer pound in the supermarket-driven system, while in our veg box scheme they receive 60% of the customer pound.

As we are a very small scheme we do not have the logistical capability to offer you the choice of opting out of a specific vegetable. Some of our collection points have swap boxes where you can leave unwanted veg, or try some of our newsletter recipes and see if we can change your mind! And because our vegetables are directly sourced from farms they are fresher and tend to keep longer than supermarket produce, so even if you end up with too many potatoes or onions they should keep for a while until you can use them up.

We have carrots and mushrooms, potatoes and onions in the bags in alternating weeks. If you have a bag every other week, you will be getting the same items in the bags all the time. From an admin perspective we are unable to process that number of holiday refunds, as members are charged weekly for their bags.

Our scheme works on the basis of collection points, rather than home delivery. However, during the coronavirus outbreak we recognise that many people are not able to leave their home. At the moment, our members are delivering bags for other members who are self-isolating, so we’ll be able to match you up to someone who can home deliver while you need it.

If you want to stop your bag for one or more weeks, just email info@vegbox.org.uk with at least one week’s notice, and we’ll stop your bag and refund you.

Please let us know via email (info@vegbox.org.uk) if you are missing an item in your bag. We will ensure you will be refunded the appropriate amount. If you have any other problems please let us know and we try to resolve them as soon as possible.

We are always looking for new volunteers to help us with packing on a Wednesday at The Thanet community centre in Kentish Town. It’s fun, sociable and out in the fresh air (though we have a canopy for when it rains) and you can come along as often or as little as you like. Regular volunteers get discounted veg. 20% if you help out once a month, 50% if you help twice a month, or a free bag of veg if you help every week.

We also hold an AGM every year for all of our members, when we elect our Board of Directors. Email us at info@vegbox.org.uk to find out more.

The vegetables are freshly harvested at the farms and then delivered to us. This means that the veg are still often muddy when we receive them. To have them cleaned by the farm for us would bump up the price, which is why we usually opt to receive them muddy, plus muddy veg keep for longer than washed veg!

Over one third of all the food that is produced worldwide is wasted. This amounts to a huge waste of resources (water, land, energy, labour and capital) and the associated production of greenhouse gas emissions. Proper packaging is one way that food can be stored for longer and waste can be reduced. Studies have shown that packaged fresh goods in fact have a smaller environmental footprint than unpackaged food.

So, we want to ensure that your vegetables remain as fresh as possible to reduce food waste. Certain food types such as leafy vegetables and salads will start to dehydrate and wilt as soon as they have been picked. Plastic packaging slows downthis process by maintaining the air humidity around them. However, we rely on our members to return these to us, so that we can reuse them. We use paper bags where possible to protect vegetables such as mushrooms from damage.

We deliver our produce to you in the packaging that we receive it. We encourage our suppliers to look for new and more environmental packaging solutions, and are sure these will become more widely available soon.

Please return any packaging including the plastic bags, fruit punnets, paper bags and the nylon Vegbags back to the pick up points so that we can reuse them.