What's Inside the Asda Wonky Veg Box?

Disclaimer: I have not been paid to promote or recommend any products, just wanted to share our latest kitchen experiment x

Hi Honeys
Back again after a very busy weekend at work :) I hope you've had a great weekend and that your week is off to a fab start. First of all, I need to apologise for my absence during the last week or so. I'm battling a blanket of exhaustion/feeling like my body batteries are drained right now.  I've felt like this for a while and not being able to sleep isn't helping. It will pass honeys and until it does I'll hang on in there x

On to today's post then :)  Recently, as part of our weekly grocery shop, we finally got to try one of the Asda (Walmart) wonky veg boxes and I thought I'd share it's contents with you.

I'd seen these boxes mentioned on TV earlier this year. The concept is great, a new way to allow farmers to sell vegetables & salad goods that don't pass the normally stricter inspection standards to make it onto supermarket shelves and onto our plates.

These wobbly or mis-shaped veggies are perfectly fresh, perfectly edible, perfectly fine they just don't look as pretty as their counterparts on countless market stalls and shop shelves is all.  After all, if we're going to wash, peel and chop vegetables why would we care that they're not perfectly straight?

This makes such sense to me honeys.  It helps the farmers sell more of their goods, instead of their being wasted by being binned, it's a great way to buy a huge box (at 5kg or nearly 11lbs in weight, it's pretty substantial) of healthy mixed veggies and it's relatively inexpensive too!  It's gotta be a win, yes?

Shall we take a closer look at the wonky veg box itself then honeys?
First things first then.  The veggies come packaged in a very strong, very airy box with a vented lid which allows air to circulate to prevent moisture and helps keep them fresher longer I'm assuming...

The box has good built in handles either side to make carrying easier, it is heavy after all.  When I opened the lid the first thing I saw was this...

A single sheet of paper explaining the concept behind the wonky boxes.  Removing it, I got to the boxes contents which were as follows:

Wonky Veg Box Contents

1 large cucumber

1 red pepper 

1 green pepper 

2 large potatoes

3 tiny cabbages 

3 large leeks 

4 parsnips

14 medium/small carrots 

16 small onions 

Instead of a large cabbage this box (since they will all be different I'm assuming, based on what's available?) had three small cabbages, which were actually very cute... in as much as cabbage can be cute :)

They certainly made my hand look very large and I have quite small hands...

Yes, there were only two potatoes in the box but they were very large potatoes.  I baked them for our dinner that night and they were marvelous :)

Verdict time then honeys.  Would I buy a wonky veg box again? Yes, I would, and will indeed buy another box again in future.  Next time though I'm going to open, wash, peel and chop everything in the box the day we buy it, placing each item into individual clip seal bags.  I'll then pop anything I'm not going to use straight away into our freezer to prevent them spoiling before I can use them.

There were a couple of carrots already beginning to show signs of mould when I opened the box and they were popped straight into our recycle bin. The rest of the box's contents were fresh though.  If you're planning on buying a box, it might be worth phoning your local store and finding out when the wonky boxes are due to arrive in order to buy them at their freshest.

I'm genuinely pleased the wonky boxes are finally being stocked by more stores since they were originally tested in pilot areas only.  As I said previously, I had seen them mentioned on TV several months ago and have been waiting for them to arrive in our local store since.  I like the idea behind the product because "waste not, want not" is always a good rule to live by and £3.50 for a minimum of 5kg of veggies seems a fair price.  

If you live in the UK you can find a list of Asda stores supplying these boxes in a link from an article here.  The list is valid from February of this year.  If you're outside the UK why not phone your local Walmart and ask if they have plans to stock them?  

So, what do you think honeys? Have you tried one of these wonky boxes? Are you tempted by the idea?  

I hope you've been enjoying the sunshine today, it's been glorious, the perfect weather for laundry :) Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xx