[Rosepickles]

Hi all,

I get fruit and veges delivered by Aussie Farmers once a week. I pick out my own, not the boxes they put together.

We are not on a strict budget but I would like to cut expenses a little to save a bit more.

Just wondering what others think of it in terms of value for money?

Thanks

[Phascogale]

I don't think it's particularly cheap. Although the quality is usuall very good.

It does depend what else is in your area though. Do you have a good green grocer? What are the prices and quality like at your local supermarket?

It also depends on how much you go through in the way of fruits and vegetables. We go through a mountain and it's much cheaper for us to go to a market or get stuff that's on a good special than use Aussie Farmers.

[Lynken]

We've been getting F&V from Aussie Farmers for about 6 months and I'm really enjoying it.

I consider it good value for us as I find that the produce is better quality than the supermarket or the F&V place we used to go to. Previously, we'd go F&V shopping every weekend and I am definitely enjoying having one less thing to try and fit into our weekends. Also, very little of the produce would last longer than a week or even last out the week. The Aussie Farmers produce easily lasts two weeks, sometimes three. Not that much is left uneaten for that long around here (!!), but I've had nectarines easily last over two weeks as I'm the only one who eats them so I can buy a whole bag at a time rather than just a few.

I find that I'm not spending much more dollar wise but I am getting less overall. Once you factor in that I'm not throwing as much away, it probably works out. However, I am still getting enough produce so I may have been over-buying before.

I always check out what's in the boxes and will sometimes get one and "top it up" with extras. Other times, I will fully pick my own order. It just depends what I need and what's available. I find that the contents of the boxes are a good indicator of what is in season so it's a good place to start.

If you have a good F&V market available and the time to go, then you probably would save money. For us, the convenience and quality are worth the price but F&V is something that I will happily spend extra on for good quality and make cuts in the budget elsewhere.

[The Old Bag]

Compared to a good market, they are pretty expensive. We're about to stop our delivery as we're also unhappy with the quality and I have a lifetime supply of carrots already!

If you are happy to buy whatever's plentiful and in season, you can shop very cheaply from a market or greengrocer. Mine often has things for less than $1 a kilo (this week it was nectarines and eggplant) I buy a heap and so our weekly lunches/meals revolve around those, plus I'll stew and freeze the fruit or make pickles, jams etc if I'm feeling virtuous... next week we're onto something else.

[MrsNorthman]

DH and I were not impressed overall - which really disappointed us as we thought it would be a great time saver. The quality was ok but not terrific and value for money was negligible to what I would normally spend.

[Lyra]

I looked at Aussie Farmers vs coles vs local fruit market and went with local fruit market. As an example today they had bananas for 79c/kg and punnets of strawberries for 29c! I bought three punnets and picked through them and got about 2.5 punnets worth of strawberries. They are going to have to be eaten in the next couple of days but for 90c I can deal with that! I usually spend between $20-$25 on fruit and veg and one time I had to go to coles and it cost me almost $50. I nearly died LOL

[duckasorus]

We dont get them here but I will share what I get in my coles salad box for $30

Six tomatoes
Punnet cherry tomatoes
Whole lettuce
Small bag mushrooms
Large cucumber
Two avacados
Medium bag fresh spinach
Two large carrots
Three capsicums
Mix of herbs (normally two small bunches or one big one)
This time I also got half a bag of globe grapes

[tothebeach]

We got them for a couple of weeks but it didn't meet my needs. Filled with potatoes and carrots.

[beccaj]

Just started with them and have already cancelled the fruit&veg box. first delivery was missing items and what i did get was mouldy within 3 days.

I can shop at my local market for much less and get better quality and choice.

we still get the milk and bread

[kyrrie]

I didn't find the F&V box good value at all, particularly when I picked my own. Our quality was very good, but overall too expensive.

On the other hand, the convenience of having milk and juice delivered is worth every cent.
(well, not so much convenience for the juice, but so yummy I can't go back to anything else now)