13 best food boxes delivered in London

Whether you’re too busy to head to the shops or feel uninspired by your weekly food shop, there comes a time when the metaphor of a two-week-old lettuce frozen to the back of an empty fridge becomes too much to bear. Enough is enough.

Food delivery boxes are so hot right now, and are the perfect solution for a regular fridge restock with excellent quality produce to spruce up your cooking routine.

Whether you want to combat food waste, eat more organic produce or support local growers, these food boxes are sure to spruce up your dinner plate.

From good quality meat, organic fruit and veg and even artisanal bread, check out our pick of the best 13 food delivery boxes transported straight to your door.

Oddbox

The cheapest variety box on the market, plus delivers fruit and veg that would otherwise have ended up as food waste

Oddbox champions food waste

One of the original fruit and veg delivery boxes to make waves on the London food scene, the ethos of Oddbox is simple – to save wonky produce deemed 'not uniform enough' for supermarket shelves from becoming food waste. Co-founders Deepak Ravindran and Emilie Vanpoperinghe launched the business in 2016 after discovering that a third of food produced globally is wasted, which amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes per year. Choose from weekly veg, fruit or fruit and veg boxes, from just £9.45. Plus, fun fact: one large delivery box saves 8 kgs of CO2 and 1,803 litres of water.

From £9.45 a box; oddbox.co.uk

Riverford

Longest-standing organic box, first launched in 1987. Plus, founder Guy Singh-Watson has his own BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs episode

Riverford, the longest-standing organic box

Age-old organic veg supplier Riverford first set up shop in 1987 and has since somewhat paved the way for sustainable businesses and fruit and the veg delivery industry (read our guide to London's sustainable restaurants for more organic-centric venues). Not only do the team grow and sow all of its own produce on the family-run farm in Devon, but they deliver it to your door, too. Many moons ago, the first order dropped off a mere 30 boxes to family and friends; now the brand deliver 45,000 boxes a week. There's a wide variety of products on offer, but the veg box is the star of the show.

From £11.75 a box; riverford.co.uk

Organic Delivery Company

Operational since 1999, plus free delivery

Bear with us – sure, there are lots of fresh food boxes delivered in London, but each and every one has something that makes it unique. Take the Organic Delivery Company, for example, which has been supporting local farms and growers since 1999. Buy a box and not only will you be doing your bit for lowering carbon emissions, reducing your plastic wastage and eating sustainably, but you'll be saving money on delivery, too – win, win. That's if you live in Greater London or Surrey. Oh, go on then.

From £11.95 a box; organicdeliverycompany.co.uk

Abel & Cole

Tells you in advance exactly what will actually be arriving in your delivery, plus provides the information on where your fruit and veg came from

Another well known success story, starting around the same time as Riverford is Abel & Cole, which started out dropping off potatoes fresh from the farm in an old postman's van in 1988. Alongside its extensive range of boxes – at current, there are 18 for you to choose from – you can select various combinations of fruit, vegetables and salads. These range in price from £6.50 for a farmers' choice vegetable bag to £23 for a large mixed box of fruit and vegetables.

From £11.50; abelandcole.co.uk

Pipers Farm

Ethical, farm-reared meat that takes no more than 19 hours to get from farm to door

What's that? You don't fancy a veg box but still like the idea of a subscription box with weekly goodies turning up at your door? Well, meat eaters, you’re in luck: Pipers Farm is a – yep, you guessed it right – farm set on a 50-acre site in Cullompton. There, the pigs and poultry are raised on nutrient-rich red Devon soil, among 400-year-old hedgerows. It's very small-scale farming, not a cage, barn or GMO-cereal in sight. All Pipers Farm produce is antibiotic, hormone and preservative-free, not to mention ethical. If you're wondering where to get your hands on said meat, it's as simple as placing an order and making sure you're in for your delivery slot. Transportation from farmer to your front door takes no more than 19 hours.

From £35; pipersfarm.com

Planet Organic

Thousands of products for sale, so you can do the rest of your weekly food shop while ordering your delivery box, too

You've likely found yourself in a Planet Organic before ogling at the kombucha, lentil crisps and gluten free cookies with a mix of awe and confusion, but did you know they deliver organic veg boxes similar to the likes of Riverford and Oddbox? The range is huge, from specific select fruit boxes for juicing, to organic salad boxes, to seasonal root veg deliveries. Basically, there's something for everyone, and it's as simple as ordering online or while you're in store. Result.

From £5.99; planetorganic.com

Local Greens

Not-for-profit, independent and local, partnering with local venues and businesses across SE London as collection points for its weekly bag drops

The clue is in the name, really – for lovingly grown and reared local produce, this not-for-profit organisation is a great option. Not only does it source fresh veg from small UK, organic and spray-free farms weekly, but the team also pack it all up for you. While it won't collect direct to your door as with the larger companies, its ethos is rooted in low food miles and a low carbon footprint, and also it offers a handy pick-up service from local collection points around South East London. Support independent businesses and all.

From £8.25 for a selection of six varieties of seasonal produce; localgreens.org.uk

Eversfield Organic

Ethically reared native Aberdeen Angus cattle, fed on a 100% pasture diet, delivered with your veg

Great quality produce from Eversfield Organic

Fun fact: the Eversfield family spent years transforming and rebuilding the soil and plant health in a field used for many years before that for intensive industry farming, planting over 30,000 trees in the process. As for fresh food boxes delivered in London, it spans a wide range of fruit and veg options for you to choose from, offering hundreds of combinations of fruit and veg, alongside animals fed on grass and wildflowers, so you'll never get bored. The farm is certified fully organic, plus you can buy organic dairy, charcuterie, wild fish and larder produce on the online store, too. Dreamy.

From £10.95; eversfieldorganic.co.uk

Northern Harvest

Pick and choose between fruit, veg and salad boxes, in other words, pick and choose what produce you'll actually eat

A world of choice from Planet Organic

One of the easiest ways to reduce your food miles and support local food heroes is by buying and eating locally made produce – fact. With Northern Harvest, if you live in or near Cheshire, you can do exactly that. The website offers not only a wide selection of fruit and veg boxes, but also produce from over 80 local producers, meaning you can get British cheese, meat, honey and more treats delivered with your fresh veg box. We mean...

From £6.00; northernharvest.co.uk

Farmaround

The first London-based organic delivery service that also offers a greens-only box

Farmaround, the first London-based organic delivery service

Starting business back in 1994 as London's first organic box scheme, Farmaround offers veg boxes that change weekly and come delivered with a handwritten note from founder Isobel with what's in your box, the health benefits of each vegetable, plus a few recipe suggestions, too. As well as delivering all of its fresh fruit and veg in recyclable, sustainable paper sacks, Farmaround as a brand has been vocally campaigned for animal welfare for many years. Plus, it offers a greens-only box that's handy for if you've already bought starchier veg or would rather steer clear of them.

From £8.80; farmaround.co.uk

Growing Communities

A network of organic farms growing its own fruit and veg in Hackney since 1999

Another community-led start up, Growing Communities, based in Hackney and Dagenham, are working to help both shoppers and farmers in reducing its carbon footprint and eat more seasonally. It runs an organic fruit and veg bag scheme, where you can really personalise what products you'd like to pick up, further reducing the chance of produce going off and being chucked away. Waste not, want not. On top of that, the team provide workshops for local London residents on how to grow and produce food at home, helping to educate, inform and give back to the local community. Nice.

From £4.75; growingcommunities.org

Pikt Fresh

The only delivery box service in the UK with the plastic-free trust mark

As one of the more ethical fresh food boxes delivered in London, Pikt Fresh offers fruit and veg is grown by a team passionate about working with an eco foot forward, with all of Pikt's food is certified organic by the Soil Association. What's more, it's the only delivery box service in the UK marked with the plastic-free trust mark. On the fence? It also offers next-day delivery, and you can choose what produce you want. Not just for the eco-conscious or those perpetually hankering for a verdant bit of courgette, but for anyone looking to up their veg intake and up the eco in the process. 

Price dependent on customisation; piktfresh.com

Earth & Wheat

The world’s first wonky bread box

Earth & Wheat was started by baker James Eid, who noticed an eye-watering amount of baked goods were being thrown away due to strict shop standards. Choose between the essentials, variety or artisanal bread boxes filled with up to 3.5 kgs of bread, including crumpets, focaccia, naans and pittas. Even better, you can now buy wonky veg boxes containing over 5kgs of ten different kinds of veg that would have otherwise been thrown away.

Bread boxes from £6.99 and veg boxes from £13.25; earthandwheat.com