Veg boxes!
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to squeeze in another post this morning as I’m off on another camping trip this afternoon! Ed (my husband) has had to go on another camping trip with his colleagues from work – a kind of team-building exercise I guess – and I was invited to go with some friends so Louie and Oslo and I are heading down to the lovely Dorset coast for a couple of nights. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us this time! The nights are drawing in already and there’s a definite Autumn feeling in the air so I thought we’d better make the most of what’s left of the summer before it complete disappears.
Now a few of our readers have asked me where I do my shopping – whether I go to the supermarket or individual shops in town, or to an open-air market. Well the answer is, all three! Although I guess we use the supermarket for most things. One thing we do do which I thought you might be interested in is we get an organic ‘veg box’ every week. The vegetables are grown on local farms and then packed into boxes and distributed to whoever has signed up to receive one. It’s become quite a common thing to do across the country, as not only are the vegetables organic but the idea is to support local farmers and reduces the ‘food miles’, meaning that the vegetables haven’t travelled very far to get to your door, or should I say, your plate. In the UK, supermarkets tend to go for the cheapest options when choosing which vegetables to sell so they order them from all over the world to get the best deals.
Here is a photo of our veg box:
And its contents…
As you can see, we get quite a good variety of vegetables and all are locally grown. The only real drawback is that you don’t get any choice, so you have to plan what you are going to eat around what turns up in the box… this can be kind of fun but sometimes I end up with loads of, for example, red cabbage because I don’t know many recipes that use it. In the winter this will be an even bigger problem as the selection will be much smaller but let’s see… On the other hand, you get to try vegetables that you might not have eaten otherwise, like kohlrabi… In case you’re wondering, we do buy other vegetables sometimes as well but I’m trying to use the veg box as my main supply. It's kind of strange how here everybody is saying how we should focus on 'local food' while in many countries there is no other choice... what do you think about it?
Okay Kiran, just before I go, I’d like to have a quick look at some time phrases that you’ve used in your posts:
By daytime we went shopping.
Next day morning I will go to the shops.
In coming Friday I will go shopping.
Now a day I go shopping everyday.
(Only the phrases in italics are from your posts, I just added the rest of the sentences to show how they were used).
Now all of the phrases need a little bit of correcting… can you see if you can spot the errors? Have a go and I’ll post the answers next time.
Okay, time to go. Cross your fingers for me that the weather is okay!
All the best,
Amy
Vocabulary definitions from last time…
To put someone out of his/her misery - to do or say something that stops someone from feeling bad or confused
Context – the situation or environment
Instalment - a section of a story where each part appears separately
Comments
Hello Amy, how are you doing? I hope everything goes well in your camping trip. I loved the veg box idea. I wish we had something like that around here. And what a beautiful and colorful veg box you have there. We don't have as much choice of vegetables here in my town. Not even from the supermarket. It's good to be able to choose what you want to eat, but I think this idea of suporting the local farmers is quite valid. Besides, I think you have a great variety in the box you showed us. I'm sure you must do wonders with it and your family must be very satisfyied. Let me give the sentence correction a try: At daytime we go shopping. Tomorrow morning I will go to the shops. Next Friday I will go shopping. Nowadays I go shopping regularly. Best wishes Amy. Bye,Bye.
What a brilliant idea! I'm really impressed. Do you know by any chance whose initiative this was? I mean, did the farmer themselves come up with this concept or was it proposed by the government in order to support local farmers? Anyway, I'm glad that this is already quite common in the UK because it definitely helps raising awareness and attaining a healthy and sustainable consumer behaviour.
Hi Amy! Veg boxes have become popular over here as well. The prices of vegetables and pasta have recently gone up too much. So do I go to the supermarket, but I do not have a favourite one. When we go shopping, we go to several supermarkets. My father is the mainly member of my family who goes shopping. He usually makes price comparison and he tries to get the best promotions each supermarket is offering. Mind you Amy, he does these things because he is retired, and so he has more free time. LoL We go to a mini-market mostly to buy bread. Ed's grandma is very energetic!! I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for you. Thanks for your answer and bye for now!!!
Hi Amy! Yummy! My mouth is watering just to have seen this wonderful veg box :-). I hope you and the kids have a ball this weekend. Hopefully it won´t rain! Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Hi Amy, I am very glad to find out this English learning blog. This is my first post and I am looking forward to improving my English through your blog. The followings are my answers: In the daytime we went shopping. Tomorrow morning I will go to the shops. This Friday I will go shopping. Nowadays I go shopping everyday. Thank you and wish you and your family a wonderful trip. Jackson
Vegetables are good for health. I like pasta salad and your veg box.
Dear Amy, You started a new topic for discussion but due to lack of enough time, it is hard to even cook these vegetables and get virtual taste. The method of organic farming (without using chemical fertilizer s well as chemical insecticide and insecticide) is good to health and support the idea of sustainable development. This farming not only helps farmers but also ecosystem and fertility of soil. In northern hemisphere, nights are drawing in (days are becoming shorter or night are becoming longer) due to the earth’s tilt and its orbital motion. Though people started feeling in the air (it is happening or about to happen) that autumn is approaching, all of sudden flood in Eastern part of Nepal swept away farming land and small huts. This Koshi River known as sorrow of Bihar (India) created a great challenge to newly formed government of Nepal. The agreement signed between Nepal and India more than fifty years ago is a drawback (disadvantage or the negative part of a situation). Both governments are agreed to review over it and we can expect what tend to be result of it. In my opinion, it is very difficult turn up in our favour due to improper preparation of Nepalese politicians and bureaucrats.
Hi Amy - your last question is profound and shows one of many contradictions in the world. By the way, in my opinion, to buy local and seasonal products and, on the whole, to have a more sober lifestyle is right. This wonderful blog is almost at the end. What can I say? Thanks to your brilliant brainwaves, I've surelymy Englishsurely has improved
Hi Amy - your last question shows one of many inconsistencies in the World. By the way, in my opinion, to buy local and seasonal products and, on the whole, to have a more sober lifestyle is right. This wonderful blog is almost at the end. What can I say? Thanks to your brilliant brainwaves I've surely improved my English and, furthemore I've met friendly people.Best wishes to you and your delightful family.I hope hear from you again, for now I leave with a nice pun: Isle of You :) Concetta
Hello, i approve the idea: focusing on local food because it seems a little ridiculous that owners of supermarkets earn their benefits by transporting cheap goods from some places that are far far away from the local area. It seems to be certainly beneficial for only a few people, like owners, staff, stock holders of the supermarkets, etc., but order of market was thus complicated to a certain degree. As for the four sentences waiting to be corrected, i think the corrections might be: (1) During the daytime, we went shopping. (2) Next morning I will go to the shops. (3) Next Friday I will go shopping. (4) Nowadays I almost go shopping everyday.
Hi! Enjoy your week-end! What about the weather? I was looking forward to reading about veg box. I heard of this kind of deliveries. I don't know if it exist in France because I live in the country...maybe in some towns. But I know gardens where you can pick yourself strawberries... and vegetables. Do these gardens exist in the UK? As for me, I can't lay my own veg box on the table! Indeed it's my garden! My family and I love fresh and seasonable vegetables. I really love gardening even if it's much work. I didn't know the French beans! and I'm wondering if we have English ones. Bye for now... I've to pick tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes.. for lunch.
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