Finally I see the point of a veg box

Last night we finished the final veg in our veg box. Yes, I know I said I wasn't convinced by them but I have now identified the circumstances in which they come into their own - which is feeding the family hoardes over Christmas.

I didn't actually order one, I must confess. Someone from the veg box company Abel & Cole wrote and offered me a free one "as one of their favourite food bloggers" (obviously they say that to all the bloggers). Still, £15.95 worth of free fruit and veg is frugal by anyone's standards - who am I to refuse?

It contained clementines, bananas and (particularly nice) apples, potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, green cabbage, leeks and mushrooms. Enough of each to be useful although our youngest son is capable of demolishing pretty well all the potatoes at a single sitting. And he's stick thin which is grossly unfair.

I didn't do anything particularly unusual with them. Most supplied straightforward veg accompaniments to our Christmas meals. (No sprouts though which was odd, just before Christmas) We had garlic mushrooms on toast which you can find here on my student Facebook page, used one of the parsnips grated into the chestnut stuffing as we'd run out of carrots (rather good, actually) and made soup with the leeks.

Will I be ordering a veg box from now on? No, 'fraid not. I still prefer to go to the shops and see what's looking good rather than have a pre-selected box imposed on me and still reckon it's cheaper to buy fruit and veg direct. But if I was veggie, had kids at home and/or was working (as in going out to work rather than working from home) then I might. Which I suppose is a result for Abel & Cole.