I have this friend called Lee (not her real name) who’s little eyes glow like Christmas lights each week when the organic vegetable box arrives.

Lunches will be cancelled, plans forestalled, life itself put on hold while she waits for the vegetable box man to knock on her door.

Later there will be breathless emails: “In the vegetable box this week were leeks and strawberries and bananas!”

The next week it may be carrots, apples or dewberries. It's all organic with the little particles of pesticide free soil still clinging lovingly to the skins.

The beauty of the box, says Lee, is the surprise element. The contents change each week depending on the season and availability of produce.

I have long mocked Lee and her vegetable box. Organic foods, I argued, were the drug of choice for the health conscious middle classes. And just like drugs they sucked away all your money leaving you nothing to show for it but a mouldering compost heap and memories.

But the Project: Life health kick has forced me to reconsider my negative view of vegetable boxes. Maybe if I ate organic vegetables all week I would feel better.

I even went so far as to look up one company on-line. At £10 per week per small box, I’m not sure if its good value. Also what if I don’t eat at home that week? I’ll have a filthy steaming compost heap of whole vegetables and no fond memories of eating them (the vegetables that is, not the compost heap.)

Have any readers had positive experiences or otherwise with vegetable box schemes or are they just marketing hype?

Labels: drugs, organic food, vegetable boxes