After following Tony at Farm2Table on twitter for a while I saw he had a half price offer and thought yes I will give this a go! I like the way Tony sells his boxes; you order a box for the number of adults and children you have to feed and he delivers a box each week with sufficient meat and fish for 4 family meals. Each week he includes a list of what will be in the next weeks box together with a list of what you can swap each item for, simply email Tony your swaps. This really helps as you can plan your shopping and meals as you know what you are getting each week.

I did have some reservations as we have good hearty appetites in my family and I wondered just how much we would get for each meal. Well I needn’t have worried, the amounts are just right and the quality of the meat and fish is so high you do not find half a pan of fat being produced when you cook the mince or sausages.

Week 1 – the box contained cumberland sausages, diced chicken, beef mince and 2 sirloin steaks together with 4 wonderful huge baking potatoes, a savoy cabbage, thin green beans and a swede.

Week 2 – the box held diced chicken, pork steaks, salmon fillets and beef strips together with potatoes, onions, broccoli and carrots.

A real bonus is the free veg in the box. Again the amounts provided are ideal and each week different vegetables are provided which means we are getting a variety of veg without having to think about it. I have to say the veg is one of the real plus points for me as this has vastly changed my shopping habits as I don’t nip to Tescos as often and therefore do not get tempted by the, entirely delicious but very unhealthy, almond croissants!  If the veg were not included I suspect the box would not appeal to me as much.

The boxes are delivered in substantial polystyrene boxes and so if you are out when Tony delivers the delivery can easily be left outside for a while although you would need a sheltered area to leave it when the summer sun finally comes out. Tony will happily recycle the boxes and ybe I would like to see more made of this, possibly on the information note inside the box or by way of a sticker on the outside of the box. Not being able to re-use the boxes will eat into Tony’s profits plus of course there is the ecological impact of lots of polystyrene boxes going to waste.

Some of the meals I have cooked are bolognaise which was great and it was lovely to cook with mince that browned nicely and did not release lots of water and fat. We made chicken satay from the diced chicken using a modified version of my own satay recipe which I will add to the website. I could write reams about sausages, it is one of those foodie areas where artisans compete to make the “best” sausage however in my view sausage making (and indeed pork pie making) requires some of those reviled things like fat, without which they just do not work. Some artisans have removed so much fat, breadcrumbs etc from their sausages it is like eating cardboard. Well not in this case, the sausages were meaty but full of flavour and a real delight to eat, plus being a good substantial size.

I am looking forward to my next delivery and the inspiration its contents will give me in cooking good healthy meals for my family.