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About us

WHO WE ARE

VEGBOX is a community-led organic vegetable box scheme empowering our community
to connect with great-tasting organic veg and fruit sourced from small-scale farms near London.
We are proud to be a cooperative, committed to making our food system more sustainable,
offering affordable prices and paying our farmers and staff fairly.
Vegbox was founded in 2012 by members of Transition Kentish Town, with support from Growing Communities in Hackney.

VEGBOX currently connects nearly 400 members in the Kentish Town, Camden Town, Tufnell Park, Dartmouth Park, Gospel Oak, Belsize Park, Holloway, King’s Cross and Clerkenwell areas with growers and producers from farms as near to London as possible. Bags are delivered once a week to a range of 15 collection points, bringing organic produce at affordable prices to our local community.

Healthy and low-carbon lifestyle

A weekly veg bag is a great way to get more home-cooked meals and organic fruit and vegetables in our diets. Instead of cooking the same old thing every week, enjoy the variety and connection to nature you get from eating seasonally. Collecting your weekly bag from community pick-up points is also a sociable way of cutting down on pollution and air-miles.

Part of the community

The scheme is run by and for our local community.  We invest our profits in local food projects.  We hold friendly and fun socials in the neighbourhood, and events like farm visits to spread the knowledge on healthy and sustainable options.

Sustainable food system

We source organic, as locally as possible, and work within the limits of what is seasonally available in England. We also minimise waste by only ordering what we need each week – any leftover produce is donated to local partners such as the Thanet Youth Club. In this way, we help build an alternative economy in which we support sustainable farms and consume our food more mindfully.

Fair trade

We’re harnessing the collective buying power of our community and providing a regular outlet and fair price for small-scale organic farmers. We also provide employment to the local community, paying in excess of the London Living Wage.

 

Not-for-profit consumer co-operative

Our customers are our members. Members attend the AGM and have a say in how the box scheme is run, and what we do with any surplus we make in the future.

Accessible

We believe everyone should have access to fresh, organic produce.  We work hard to make our weekly organic vegetable bags as affordable as possible.  We accept Healthy Start vouchers, and offer a low-income discount of 20%.

How does this differ from national veg box schemes, farmers’ markets or wholefood shops?

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By buying directly from the producers as a group, we source an ethical and affordable organic vegetable bag.
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We want to invest our profits in local food projects.
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We’re focused on supporting small-scale, sustainable farmers in the London hinterland.
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The scheme is run by and for our local community in and around Kentish Town.

"Vegbox has changed my life! I am a vegetarian and so of course veggies mean so much to me. It feels so fulfilling to be buying my source for food from local organic sources and quietly boycotting the scary supermarkets and terrible climate conditions that have been caused by all this mess! Thanks for saving the world!"

– Theo

"I LOVE my veg – and look forward to Wednesdays for midweek fresh veg. I especially love the flavours, seasonality and perfectly imperfect produce."

– Sacha

"We have really loved the veg box - my favourite part is the recipes and making something new. The cabbage salad recipe a couple of weeks back had the kids fighting over the bowl! I also enjoy the sense of community that comes with taking part."

– Selma

"Thanks for organising the veg box, which is genuinely one of the most fun and satisfying parts of our routines these days!"

– Robin

"Thanks for all the healthy food you've helped us to create, and for the healthier people you've helped us to be."

– Amanda

"Thanks for doing such a fantastic job with the veg box scheme. We're so please we've found a community-based group, that allows us to collect at a time that suits us, that has delicious local veg, AND which gives us a cracking newsletter each week! It's very much appreciated."

– Jenny

"It's been fun to so authentically move through the seasons in terms of ingredients and recipes."

– Ben

"The tomatoes are superb! I collected my bag about an hour ago, sat at the bus stop and gobbled half of the punnet. I know they won’t last a minute when my boys get home from school. You guys are doing a brilliant job, thank you so much."

– Fatma

"The red apples we had about 3 weeks ago - I gave one to my friend and she was eating it on the tube - she turned to me and said that it was the best apple she had ever eaten! High praise as she is very keen on her fruit."

– Simon

"I love it and am so enjoying the rhythm of it. I am only a month or two in but it's brightened up my week. I love being more conscious and connected to the seasons & having diverse fruits and veggies that look how they should!"

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"Just loved it - value for money is great, all communications are clear and friendly and I’m only sad it’s taken a pandemic for me to discover such a great scheme"

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"With Vegbox, I find my diet is much more varied. I love the surprise of what is in the bag each week! I have made lots of delicious meals with things I might not have looked twice at in the supermarket."

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"We love the recipes and the weekly newsletter. Thank you!"

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Latest News

2020 Vegbox AGM – and our 2019 annual report

2020 Vegbox AGM – and our 2019 annual report

Jun 25, 2020

Vegbox held its 2020 AGM on Thursday 18th June 2020, our first held as an online Zoom event. A total of 59 Vegbox members joined us for the meeting: thanks to all who joined and took part. Key outcomes from AGM: We presented our 2019 Annual Report, which you can...

Ripple Farm

Ripple Farm

Jul 16, 2019

Hello! I thought I’d tell you about Ripple Farm this week. When we set up Vegbox back in 2012, Ripple Farm was the first producer we reached out to. Martin MacKay is the farmer behind the farm. I had been given his mobile number. I rang him up in early summer and...

OUR PRODUCERS

Grahame Hughes Organics

Grahame Hughes at Hughes Organics has been growing organically since 1982. Grahame sells his own produce, and produce from a small network of other organic farmers in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. He is helped by his son Josh and wife Lizzie.

South London

Martin Ripple Farm

Ripple Farm is a small Soil Association certified horticultural farm situated in the Stour Valley, between Ashford and Canterbury. Their light, chalky soils produce vegetables of great taste and quality. Martin and Sarah at Ripple Farm also rent an amazing Victorian walled garden near Wye where they prepare their seedlings and grow salad leaves and herbs.

Kent

Chegworth Valley

Chegworth Valley is a family owned and run fruit farm situated in the heart of the Kent countryside. Over 300 acres are farmed by the family, consisting of apples, pears and soft fruit along with a wide selection of seasonally available vegetables and salads.

Kent

Sarah Green Organics

Sarah Green’s Organics is situated in Tillingham on the east Essex coast, 50 miles east of London. Sarah Green is the third generation of her family farming in Tillingham, where they grow a wide selection of seasonal organic vegetables throughout the year.

Essex

Annual Reports

As a member-led co-operative, we are accountable to our members, who hold membership in Vegbox by virtue of receiving weekly veg from us. You can read our Annual Reports in this section:

2019 Annual Report (reported in 2020)

2018 Annual Report (reported in 2019)

2017 Annual Report (reported in 2018)

2016 Annual Report (reported in 2017)

 2015 Annual Report (reported in 2016)

2014 Annual Report (reported in 2015)

2013 Annual Report (reported in 2014)

2012-2013 Performance Report (first 9 months to May 2013)

Contacting us

We work part time on Vegbox, so we may not pick up the phone when you ring.
But leave us a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

info@vegbox.org.uk

07815 771 939