Food Connect?

[Madi]

Just wondering if anyone here uses them? And are you happy with them?

TIA!

[Kali]

I used them but I wasn't happy. You don't get to choose what is in your box so we always ended up with stuff we wouldnt usually buy.

I would love to buy from Moo on here, but sadly, we can't afford it. Contact her for a pricelist before you sign up with Food Connect. Just to compare.

[Madi]

Thanks Kali... how was the quality of the produce? That's my main concern :yes

I'll PM Moo.

[jodiemiller]

You live close to me Madi, and our bulk beef and lamb and occasionally I also get raw milk and cream via the food connect network. For fruit and veg you may find it meets some of your needs but not all. You have to be prepared to eat seasonally and locally (very short apple and mango seasons, sporadic bananas, no carrots available, etc). Depends on your food philosophy as to whether that's desirable or not.

[~kaoss~]

It's been a while since we did food connect. I loved the concept. The quality of the food was mostly good (sometime I was disappointed with the quality of various bits and pieces). When we were doing it we learn't to eat and make use of what was in our box, but after a while it got tiring.

If you are unsure, you could try it for a month, then not renew your subscription. Then you could experience it for yourselves :)

[Kathryn]

We have been on-and-off with food connect for years. We have been subscribing again for veg for the past 3-4 months as I'm time poor and it's easier to pick up a box at school pick up time knowing it's mostly from good sources and it forces me to be a bit more creative. The quality can be up and down, and availability too, of course. But generally, we are pleased with the box, and even if everything doesn't get used we are still all eating more and varied veg this way, which can't be a bad thing. ;) And the guinea pigs love getting the leftovers. :)

[Zenifa]

We have just finished our first 4 week sub with Food Connect and so far its been very convenient and I love the milk, bread (spelt/sourdough) and overall the fruit and veg has been good. The downside is the lack of variety, and not being able to choose, so its our main source but we also top up with extra fruit and veg as needed from our local farmers markets. I do love the concept of FC, so will give it a try for another 4 weeks.

[battlecrumpet]

We've been with FC for a couple of years. I really like it, the main downside for me is that some weeks you seem to get less veg in your box than other weeks - but this is all to do with "sharing the risk" with the farmers so if the varvests go well one week, you get more food in your box and vice versa.
The quality is pretty good if you're not expecting the over-waxed-fruit-on-steroids that you get in the supermarkets ie. if you are more concerned with food's taste than appearance. The corn occasionally has grubs in it but it's still fine to eat, just chuck the grub away.

If there's veg that you really need, often you can buy them separately to the vege box as an extra (like, if C is eating heaps of carrots, we'll get an extra bag of carrots every fortnight).

I actually like how the produce is regional and seasonal. I like local food due to the food miles issue. I like seasonal because it puts me more in touch with the earth / the seasons thru the food that I'm eating. And anyhoo, you can usually store most of it e.g. I've kinda been forced to learn pickling / chutneys (to store away FC beetroots) and it's rally yum anyway. Last summer we bought trays of FC mangoes, pulped and froze them, and now we're eating the mango ice-cream that's the end result :) So often you don't have to miss out on all-seasons food if you're a little creative.

Another downside of FC compared with some other similar businesses is that the produce isn't all certified organic. Some is organic-in-conversion; FC actaully has its own farmer rating system which rates their produce according to how organic / chemical free it is.

I also like FC's farm newsletters that come in the veg boxes where you find out about the harvests, produce, recipes etc. The whole idea is that city consumers feel more connected to the people who grow their food.

[Avalon]

I think we're gonna give it a go here shortly. Looking forward to it - I was just saying to Mark today I want to start making more of my own "stuff" (I was referring to lime cordial at the time, Im a fiend for it) but we also go through a lot of chutney so that would be quite cool! Their farm tours look pretty neat too. And it looks as if we'd be exposed to some new food too, Ive never had Dragonfruit for instance, and dont even know what a pomelo is! Yay for raw milk too, DIY yogurt here I come.

Edit: Just one question though, when you know you want something extra, like say a kilo of lemons, how do you know in advance if they will be available? Is there a list of what is and isnt available for each delivery, so that you can add an alternative or an extra if something you want wont be available? TIA...

[battlecrumpet]

The list of extras is here (http://www.foodconnect.com.au/products-n-prices/).
FC has an online ordering system and I don't think it'll let you order an "extra" that isn't currently available.
Their Farmletter (newsletter) and Facebook site also let you know what new stuff is being added to extras - like - they haven't had carrots for months and they announced that they had them in again via their FB site.
They have a farm tour coming up next month (to Maleny area), we're hoping to go on it for the first time :)