Best Sustainable Food Delivery Services
By Ellie Smith
1 year ago
Planet-friendly food direct to your door
Looking for online shops that don’t send their products in piles of plastic? Fear not: there are plenty of eco-friendly options out there. Here we highlight some of the best sustainable food delivery services on the market, from the company rescuing surplus fruit and veg to a pioneer in ethical meat delivery.
Best Sustainable Food Delivery Services
Dovebrook Kitchen
Frozen meal company Dovebrook Kitchen launched in 2015 with the aim of showcasing how exciting and indulgent plant-based food can be. Dishes are handmade from scratch from the company’s Cotswolds kitchen (which uses renewable energy), using seasonal, high-quality ingredients, with as little waste as possible. Meals are frozen immediately to remove the need for excessive additives and preservatives, ensuring the flavour and nutritional value of the meal remains intact. They then arrive to you in plastic-free, biodegradable packaging, which would dissolve within six weeks if it ever did make its way into our oceans. Sold? Here are some dishes you could try this winter: Persian dried lime and herb stew, Thai yellow curry, and surplus vegetable tagine.
OTTO
Launched in May 2021 by Phil Howard and Julian Dyer, OTTO takes pasta to a whole new level with fresh ingredients, rich flavours and seasonal menus. Eight dishes are available each season, including vegan, vegetarian, gluten and dairy free options, and and they all bring Michelin star quality food to your kitchen table. Despite being the new kid on the block, OTTO has plans to expand its already large delivery radius to reach all of London – and nationwide – next year. Every single element of OTTO’s packaging is recyclable and ingredients are sourced from responsible suppliers like HG Walter (who source local, free range meat and prioritize recyclable and reusable packaging), meaning you can enjoy your dinner guilt-free.
Hosanna by Hervé Deville
Ready meals get a luxurious spin with the sustainable food delivery service from Hervé Deville, former head chef of the Michelin-starred sketch. On the menu you’ll find dishes like lobster mac & cheese and confit duck a l’orange– but alongside this decadence sits a commitment to the planet. Deville aims to support local and independent producers, getting British seasonal vegetables form Pale Green Dot, organic meat from Rugh Estate, fish from Wright Brothers and dairy from The Estate Dairy in Somerset. Everything is 100 per cent plastic free too, with meals arriving in recyclable wooden boxes.
Chef’s Farms
Fresh, local produce lies at the heart of Chef’s Farms, an online shop which brings together goods from a group of Sussex farms. The company originally supplied produce to hospitality establishments in the area, but last year introduced a home delivery service with the aim of connecting customers to seasonal produce. You can buy anything from fish to flowers: think cinnamon swirls baked in Petworth, slow-maturing beef from native rare breeds, and bunches of three varieties of beetroot.
The Ethical Butcher
When sustainable meat delivery service The Ethical Butcher launched its e-commerce site in 2019, coronavirus wasn’t yet on the UK’s radar. Fast forward two months and the business is seeing a level of demand that it had predicted might land in year three. As a response to this increased need, the ethical meat website launched a new range of meat boxes, including a basics box filled with a selection of their best products for day to day dining, such as lamb mince, beef steaks and beef burgers. All meat comes from farmers who honour natural systems – many have measured a net loss of carbon as a result of their methods, which works to improve soil health and help combat climate change.
Crate to Plate
Live in the city but craving fresh country produce? Crate to Plate is your new best friend. The London-based urban farming business uses state-of-the-art hydroponic technology and eco-friendly innovation to bring locally produced greens to your home, with everything harvested shortly before being delivered to your door. There are a number of boxes to choose from, containing ingredients like lettuce, rocket, kale and herbs – depending on what’s ready for harvest to guarantee the freshest possible greens.
Available for delivery in Zones 1 – 3 in London. cratetoplate.farm
Oddbox
On a mission to cut food waste, OddBox works closely with farmers to rescue seasonal surplus fruit and vegetables that are at risk of going to landfill due to minor imperfections. This not only reduces food waste, it saves carbon dioxide emissions and unnecessary water use. The subscription box company also donates 10 percent of its produce to charity, including food redistribution charity City Harvest. Some boxes contain both fruit and veg, others just one, with a variety of sizes to choose from including boxes to suit individuals, couples and families.
Field&Flower
In 2010, farmers James Flower and James Mansfield set out to change the way we eat meat by launching field&flower, a service which delivers grass-fed beef direct to people’s homes. Ten years on, the brand’s core values surrounding animal welfare and sustainability are more important than ever. All meat is sourced by founder and fifth-generation farmer James Flower, hand-butchered and packed by the field&flower team. Alongside the meat boxes, you can order fish, cheese, and products from the deli. Alternatively, re-create the restaurant experience from home by ordering from the Sous-Vide range, which includes meats that are pre-cooked by expert Somerset chefs using high quality free-range meat, from crispy pork belly to lamb rump with rosemary and garlic.
Riverford
Riverford began as one man and a wheelbarrow delivering home grown organic veg to friends. Thirty years on, it stands as one of the UK’s most successful vegetable box schemes, delivering the goods to around 50,000 customers a week. Ethics are fundamental to the brand: self-confessed veg nerd Guy Singh-Watson has always believed that organic food should not be elitist, but accessible for everyone – and he built the business to give a fair deal to all: growers, staff, customers and the planet. All Riverford boxes are filled with organic freshly picked produce, with various different types to choose from including a seasonal box and a zero-packaging box.
Gladwin Brothers Online Store
Sibling trio and restauranteurs The Gladwin Brothers launched an online shop during the first lockdown, selling produce sourced directly from their family farm in Sussex. ‘Local and wild’ cooking has always been the brand’s ethos and this extends into the online store, which sells cuts of high-quality meat and fish, fruit and vegetable boxes, plus some luxurious ingredients such as truffle and caviar.
Daylesford Delivered
Motivated by a desire to feed her children better, Lady Carole Bamford set out to turn her family’s farmland into a sustainable business. Little did she know, 40 years later Daylesford would stand as one of the most sustainable farms in the UK, supplying fresh, organic produce to restaurants across the country. There are restaurants and shops across the country – and now locals can enjoy its wholesome delights without having to leave the house, via Daylesford Delivered. If you live near one of the shops, staff will do your shopping for you, pack it up and send it to your door. This can include anything from fresh fruit to pastries, as well as pre-prepared seasonal baskets brimming with ingredients ready to be transformed into nourishing home-cooked meals.
Abel & Cole
Having been in the business for over 30 years, Abel & Cole knows a thing or two about sustainable food delivery. The much-loved brand offers a variety of different fruit and veg boxes, all of which contain only organic produce from British farms. The origin of each product is then listed within the box, allowing customers to rest assured they’re supporting small, homegrown farms. There are numerous boxes to choose from, varying in size and selection – all delivered to your door in recyclable packaging.
