Abel & Cole - anyone used them?

Just had a look at them to see where they deliver to, and surprise, surprise - not here in rural north Wales!

We have a delivery from them every week. You can get different basic boxes and you know what is inside in advance. You can substitute if it’s something you hate and add on single items if that week is not exactly what you want.

They also sell milk and cream ( added at extra cost) and other things like bread / some other groceries / chocolate etc . It is all seasonal and fresh . At special times of the year such as Christmas and Easter you can buy things associated with the festivals as extras such as meat and mince pies etc in Dec .

They are fairly expensive but good quality and the delivery people are always pleasant. They will also give you a bag every week to recycle some plastics etc that other recycling won’t do and them al that away when you put the boxes out to swap. We like them a lot

I did order from Abel and Cole for quite a while and enjoyed the different produce. I noticed the unusual seasonal salads and veg I was receiving were not available so much.

The quality of some of the vegetables and fruit was poor so I stopped placing orders.

I cannot help it, it just happens

if this was Autumn, I could have described fields of gold, ha ha

SORES

Oreo - yes! in Lincolnshire fields of fresh

You’re being poetic again 😃

What I cannot understand is why, having moved somewhere on the edge of the fens, close to the vegetable growing region of England, the range of fruit and veg for sale in the local market is far more limited in range aand far more expensive than it was in my local market in Oxfordshire, which is both further from the growers and a much wealthier area.

Oreo - yes! in Lincolnshire fields of fresh

Boston?! Oh…Boston in Lincolnshire?🤭

We used Abel and Cole about 15 years ago when we lived in London, then Riverford which we preferred.
We moved to an area not covered by either firms at the time.

Quality was excellent, with recipe cards, but we objected to the inclusion of oranges and/or bananas in place of seasonal soft fruit, as they are hardly locL grown and available anywhere, we thought this was not in the spirit.

Yes they were expensive, but then so are farm shop which have become increasingly chi chi, limited opening times, also selling imported fruits - pineapples for eg and eggs from the commercial supplier in the next county.

Abel and Cole were a victim of their own success and bought out.
We have a small genuine farm shop nearby opening only Wednesday and Saturday limited hours. It’s exclusive you
know …

We also have a Tuesday am market here, the veg stall I feel
is expensive but always busy, fine if you can stand the shouting and barkering, they prefer cash, its from the wholesale market, nothing is hours old, you would have to go to Boston for that.

I had to google ‘farm shops near me’ as no neighbours or anyone I met knew of any, or wanted to as they were ‘quite happy with Waitrose’ and flown in from Kenya/Peru/Morocco, food, so sleuthing was essential.

There are so many farmers markets and farm shops now where you can see the quality of fruit and veg that I wouldn’t be using a company to deliver unseen.

M0nica

The fact that someone hasn't heard of a company is neither here not there. It is merely an admittance that you haven't heard of them. They could be an international brand, or limited to one village, a company of repute or shysters. Mind you neither does having heard of a company, that too is neither here nor there.

There are lots of people and companies I haven't heard of. Abel and Cole are among those I have heard of.

That’s wonderful 😄you’ve heard of them and I haven’t, we can all sleep easy in our beds now.

The fact that someone hasn't heard of a company is neither here not there. It is merely an admittance that you haven't heard of them. They could be an international brand, or limited to one village, a company of repute or shysters. Mind you neither does having heard of a company, that too is neither here nor there.

There are lots of people and companies I haven't heard of. Abel and Cole are among those I have heard of.

The quality is always quite good, I prefer their veg and fruit boxes to their meat. The meat I get from the organic butchery is better quality.

Never heard of them.

I used them, they kept me going in lockdown. They are basically an organic delivery company. You can get veg boxes of various sizes and a vast range of other things. Expensive but you get what you pay for.

Bukkie

I too had never heard of them until we got new neighbours in October and they have a delivery every week. I looked at the website but apart from that I can't be any help. I wonder if they are a new company?

They’ve been going for ages!

I've used them (infrequently mainly due to cost) for years.

No complaints, the quality for me has always been good.

Used to use them a good few years ago. I lked the box and it got me trying things I might not have choosen myself. You can tell them what you like/dislike etc.
They were good, however they kept delivering to the wrong house! Our numbers/names are a bit weird, and we expect the odd wrong delivery - but it was more or less every time on a regular delivery! After repeated phone calls I just gave up using them.

A few years ago they took over a local meat company, The local meat company use to just drop food on my doorstep at an agreed time, as a result little packaging was used. When it was needed they collected it back the next day. A&C would only collect if they could do it on their next delivery, which in my case would have been three months later.

Thanks for the replies. I agree about not wanting boxes of stuff picked by someone else, but they evidently do more than boxes of stuff. I might give them a try.

I often use them, have done for years. I can get all the organic food I need and it is best quality. Expensive but so be it

I use A and C when I cannot get what I want from riverford

My next door neighbour, who has now moved away, had an Abel and Cole veg box delivered regularly plus an order of meat of her choice. The quality was great and she was delighted with the choice of veg, except the cucamelons which we both disliked!

They were bought out a few years ago by William Jackson group.
They have an excellent reputation.

Not a new company, just becoming more popular I think. Our neighbours had deliveries ten years or so ago.

I bought a relative a subscription for cheese deliveries for a year for a 0 birthday. We have found the quality and range to be good and the delivery is brilliant - on time and well packaged. Yes, expensive but worth it for what I wanted.

I haven’t used them but there is an organic food delivery business in the next village doing veg and fruit, eggs and bread, I think they might do local meat to order.

I wouldn’t want a box of produce selected by someone else. I buy only what I know I will use, and very rarely have any food waste.