You’ll all know Riverford from their organic vegetable box deliveries, but did you know they also do recipe boxes? You know the type I mean – where you receive a box containing everything you need for a recipe, right down to the exact quantity of herbs and spices you need, whether that’s a bunch of thyme or 1 teaspoon of cumin.
I’ve always been intrigued by these boxes but haven’t tried any for myself as, although I can see the benefits in time, convenience and the chance to try out a recipe you might not have thought of making yourself, as well as not wasting money on buying a whole jar of spice, when you only need a tiny bit, I’ve always thought they were a bit uneconomical. Recipe boxes aren’t particularly expensive – especially when you take into account what I’ve just said – but I’m in the habit of cooking so cheaply (my jaw hits the floor when I watch those programmes where families say what their weekly food shop is. £200 a week? Mine’s more like £20 a week), I kind of baulk at spending £5 on one dish at home (even if I don’t bat an eyelid at spending £15 on one delivery pizza).
So, when Riverford asked me if I’d like to try out their vegetarian recipe box, I eagerly accepted their offer. I say ‘eagerly accepted’ but because the recipe boxes change each week and you can see the previous week’s box, as well as the current week and the box for the next week, I had a look to see if there was anything I or The Meat Eater wouldn’t like. As far as I could tell, the only questionable item was olives – which I love, but The Meat Eater hates – but they were going on a tart, so all that meant was more olives for me, yay.
The box turned up while I was out, but it was left in my ‘safe place’, wrapped up in a protective covering to keep it dry.
Inside the box is everything you need to make three meals:
- A list of contents (categorised into loose ingredients, middle section of the box, cool bag)
- Three recipe cards (one for each meal)
- All the ingredients you need to make the dishes (except oil, salt and pepper)
Because I received my box on a Wednesday, and Friday night is chippy night and I don’t generally cook at the weekend, I was pleased to see everything had a longish shelf life of 5 days, which meant I could save the last meal for Monday and wasn’t going to end up having to throw anything away.
My three recipes were:
- Leek, olive & wootton millstone tart, with toasted pine nuts
- Roasted kabocha squash with pepper & bean chilli & lime soured yoghurt
- Beetroot latkes with red onion spelt, apple & horseradish creme fraiche
and because I was feeling tired and lazy the day I received my recipe box, I decided to make the leek, olive & wootton millstone tart, because it looked the easiest and I’ve made something similar plenty of times before.
I was pleased to see the Wootton Millstone goat’s cheese clearly labelled as vegetarian. I’d never have guessed it was, as it’s a hard, stinky (in a good way) cheese. It also stated on the label that it’s made with unpasteurised sheep’s milk, which struck me as odd, but I’m not a cheese expert, so maybe goat’s cheese is made from sheep’s milk?
Because the cheese was so stinky, I thought it might be too strong on the tart (I love blue cheese but when it’s cooked it can be overpowering) but it wasn’t at all. As I’d thought, the tart was quick and easy to make – on the recipe sheet it says preparation and cooking time is 30 minutes and I’d say that was accurate, even taking into consideration I’m a slow cook.
The next night, I made the roasted kabocha squash with pepper & bean chilli & lime soured yoghurt.
This recipe was slightly more fiddly as unfortunately, Riverford don’t send someone round to chop the vegetables for you. I’ve never had a kabocha squash before – the only squash I’ve had is butternut and that usually ends up in a soup, so it was with some trepidation I tried this.
I needn’t have worried though – we both enjoyed this and it was very filling.
I’m afraid the last meal – beetroot latkes with red onion spelt, apple & horseradish creme fraiche – didn’t go down too well. The beetroot latkes were okay but I managed to mess up the spelt as it was revolting. Bitter, hard little bullets that got left uneaten.
You can’t win them all though and on the whole I’d recommend the Riverford Recipe Boxes. The meals were tasty, interesting and easy to make.
The recipe boxes are available in:
- Vegetarian (3 meals for 2 people) at £33.95
- Original (3 meals for 2 people) at £33.95
- Original (2 meals for 2 people) at £29.95
- Quick (3 meals for 2 people) at £33.95
For more information, visit the Riverford Recipe Box page on their website.
Win a Riverford Recipe Box
Riverford have kindly allowed me to give away one of their recipe boxes and, because I am also kind, I’m not even going to restrict it to a vegetarian one, so you can choose whichever box you like.
Please note: Although Riverford deliver to lots of locations around the UK, they don’t deliver everywhere, so you might want to check they deliver to you before entering the giveaway to avoid any disappointment, as there is no cash alternative.
Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. Good luck!
165 comments
They sound amazing! Perfect for s lazy cook like me!
All The Ingredients Look So Fresh! 🙂
seen these advertised, but was reluctant to spend so much in case I did not like the recipes
The ingredients are always top quality and fresh
fingers crossed
I like the look of the tart!
Sounds great. Such a joy to have someone else work out what to have.
lovely prize!
looks amazing and very yummy
love to try one
These look delicious
Look great
Would love to try them! X
I would love to try this as a gift for my brother and sister in law – it would be perfect for them (busy veggie A&E nurses)
Gorgeous organic ingredients – would love to make the recipes!
This looks great, I’d love to try one of these
The food looks so healthy and tasty.
I really want to try these!
I’ve heard so many good things about these recipe boxes – would love to give it a go! xx
I love the idea of these – makes life easier!
Wonderful fresh ingredients, thank you for the giveaway.
Looks lovely x
Could really fancy the tart.
I’ve had the general boxes for ages and loved them, so this would be a real treat!
Great quality and all the help I need, fabulous!
a great chance to try some lovely veggie recipes. thanks for the chance
Fantastic prize – would love to give it a go!
lovely giveaway thanks for the chance x
I have wanted to try Riverford as I need to eat healthier meals and improve my limited culinary skills. This is a great giveaway!
My parents live just down the road from the Farm Shop & they love their veggies!
I’ve always wanted to try one of these boxes, they look so inviting
Sounds lovely and not too difficult to make
Great prize. great idea
These look so handy! Always after new ideas
Fantastic. They look great x
Thanks – looks a great selection of fresh ingredients.
looks great, so handy and great ingredients xx
Especially for you …
New follower here, never tried these boxes, they look enjoyable and great ideas
My neighbour gets a regular box and it always looks great.
Would like to try one of these boxes
fab!
These look great xx
Thanks for the chance.
Thanks for the fab comp, these look so good especially as I’m always making the same thing all the time- no time for ideas
Really keen to try these, they look so helpful and healthy
That leek and cheese tart looks so good! Right up my street! 🙂
This would be lovely, Me and the children enjoy cooking together and eating our meals we have made. Not only would this be a tasty healthy dinner but cooking the recipes would be a fantastic activity for me and the children as they love cooking 🙂
Thanks for the review – I’m vegetarian as well (but my husband isn’t) and I always wondered what the veg boxes would be like – worth a try, might just have to add some chicken on the side for the meat eater! 🙂
Lovely giveaway thank you for the chance.
Wow this would make dinner time far easier!
Phwoaaar, I’d love one of these! I need some new cooking inspiration!
A great idea to get you to try something you wouldn’t normally consider
Perfect price for a veggie family 🙂
This all looks amazing
Would like to try looks delicious
Sounds amazing i’d love to try them out,
Fantastic prize
Would love to try this
I would love to give one of these boxes a go!
lovely choice of giveaway…thanks
These so so inviting, it would be good to try different dishes and knowing everything is so fresh!
Would love a Riverford Recipe Box
Wow! Recipes and fresh produce galore!!
Great prize – fingers crossed
Yes! This looks wonderful, river food are great but recipes too would really ace my cooking skills!
looks lovely
We had one once and it was absolutely lovely food. Not really designed to be a quick dinner though.
I’ve tried another brand of this style of box and was impressed so it would be interesting to compare.
We used to get a vg box from Riverford a few years ago but struggled to make use of everything. A recipe box is a great idea
I love how fresh the ingredients look =]
Absolutely love this idea! My friend has their veg boxes delivered.
The perfect giveaway
Kelly Ellen Hirst
Amazing giveaway – thanks
I am always very nervous about trying new recipes so this would be perfect
they sound a great way to try ingredients away from your normal
I love your suggested recipes – lots of new ideas to try out
Good encouragement to try new recipes
Great box o’ goodies!
I’d love to try one of these!
really good value for money
We recently had one of these boxes – they were great xx
Box looks huge! Love having a large variety of veggies so this looks awesome 🙂
Looks fantastic!
great prize
Love to give this a try
A fantastic vegtastic prize!
I’ve used Riverford, and found them to offer good produce and service, with a particularly helpful delivery man
what a fab prize
Certainly would love to have a go with Riverford Recipe Box as the Ingredients look top quality and so fresh so enjoying dinner more 😛
Yum! I love the idea of having the decision made for me, I get a bit bored of making the same meals all the time because it’s ‘easy’…We get a veg box delivered and I love it when we get some odd-looking item that I’ve never seen before. This is a great idea.
I’ve heard quite a bit about these recipe boxes and would love to try one.
This looks brilliant, would love to try one.
This is a great idea. I’d find it really helpful for trying new ingredients and recipes that I could use myself.
Those look a brilliant idea, I would love to try them.
lovely concept, the ingredients look gorgeous…love to try
Looks Exciting.
Great idea no panic about missing ingredients
Looks fab, thanks for the giveaway
Had never heard of these recipe boxes, but they sound great!
Never tried these but great for people like myself who need inspiration.
I discovered kabocha squash earlier this year and am now totally addicted to it. I slice it with the skin on into chunky segments then roast it in the oven in coconut oil. It comes out like the sweetest, softest sticky toffee and I eat it like sweets as a treat.
Count me in! 🙂
would love to win 🙂
I really fancy trying the beetroot latkes, they look delicious.
I would love to try one of the Riverford boxes. To not only have the fresh vegetables delivered, but also to have the recipe cards included means that everything will get used (they won’t go off while I wait for inspiration!) and that the end result is guaranteed to be delicious (assuming I don’t burn it…but I wouldn’t 🙂 )
Think these would be a definite inspiration to eat more healthily
looks fantastic x
These look delicious.
Please put me into the prize draw – thank you.
I’d be worried I wouldn’t like the recipes they sent, but it looks like a really good way to get more variety into meals and might encourage me to try sOmething new!
I have always wanted to try one of these!
This is such a good idea. Especially during the working week when it gets a bit much planning out our menus and cooking them as well x
These boxes look great, have wanted to try one for a while.
Would love try them out 🙂
It would be fun to try a box
Love this idea, really good for inspiration
I would love to try one of these often wondered what they would be like
Its such a brilliant idea it would be great to try it out
My mother in law cannot sing the praises of these boxes enough! Id love to give one a try.
this looks yummy
I love the idea of getting some new vegetables through the door so maybe I could get the kids to try something new.
Love the Idea of Riverford esp Vegetarian as it forces you to eat the best produce, health and Environmental 🙂
Would be amazing for christmas and would love to try this wow
I have never tried Riverford as I never have the spare pennies, but the principle seems amazing!
this is great! i am on a healthy streak atm x
never tried but would love to have a chance to try
Looks amazing!!
I’d love to try a Riverford veg box please
This looks really good, I’d love to try one
Sounds like a very good service.
Lovely prize!!
I’m pretty sure goat’s cheese comes from goats…
would love to win
Please enter me into the prize draw
Top Giveaway – Would LOVE to Try 🙂
My daughter would absolute this as a recent veggie convert. Good luck Caitlin x
Fantastic giveaway would make me start creating great recipes xx
What a lovely prize. Count me in too please
I love the sound of these, especially as I often struggle to decide what to cook – problem solved!
Impressed with the picture of the box and it’s contents.
Looks so fresh and delicious!
Fab giveaway! Fingers crossed x
Great prize, thanks for the chance x
Great prize, the food in them looks good!
I’d love to try one of these!
All looks so delicious, thank you for sharing x
Thanks for the raffle!
It’s making me feel hungry!
I love this idea for giving people recipe ideas – I’m sure most couples and families are in a bit of a rut with their meals 😀
Oo, er. Looking at those delicious dishes has made me hungry.
What a shame your last meal wasn’t so great , the others sound really good though!
Being veggie this would be perfect for me x
Looks like a great prize!
That tart looks lovely. Great to have all the ingredients to try a new recipe.
What you’ve cooked with these looks very tasty! 🙂
These are such a great way of making sure people eat healthy and try new things!
Great idea – need some veggie meal help!!!
Fabulous giveaway!
This looks brilliant
I would love to give one of these a try.
Fab Giveaway
looks great – brilliant box
i love the idea that they tell you what to do with the ingredients makes life less confusing
Love the variety of veggies – great giveaway xxx