WHAT IS IN THE BOX?

Each box will contain:

• A meal for two to five people (depending on size of box), including main, sides and dessert
• A step by step guide to serving the dishes (for the first boxes this will be reheating, with more preparation required each fortnight)
• Recipes for each dish included to repeat at home and keep in your Good Food Club folder (provided in the first box)
• Access to our cookery tips videos
• Activities and discussion points for before, during or after your meal
• Membership to the Good Food Club community (facebook group)
• Occasionally, the box will include a ‘Grow at home’ starter kit or basic kitchen equipment if required

CAN I SEE A MENU?

Yes, of course! Just take a look at a half box or full box and scroll down to see what might be inside over the course of the season.

Our menus aim to be balanced with lots of vegetables and a little bit of meat and dairy, all sourced locally and produced sustainably.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED AT HOME?

Our recipes and meals will be designed to be as simple as possible and using basic kitchen equipment. You will need a saucepan or pot, a frying pan or skillet, a hob and an oven or microwave, a sharp cooking knife and a chopping board, a peeler, a grater, a wooden spoon, a mixing bowl, a sieve or colander, a rolling pin and a whisk. We’ll have some equipment available for any members that need it.

DO I NEED ANY INGREDIENTS?

All ingredients will be provided, but it would be helpful if you had oil (a neutral oil like sunflower or vegetable oil for frying and a heavier oil like olive or rapeseed oil for dressings, dips and finishing dishes), salt, and plain flour for dusting surfaces when we get on to working with pastry or dough. Again, we can provide these for any members who need them.

WHERE AND WHEN DO I GET MY BOX?

Boxes will be delivered fortnightly for six months, starting on Friday 30th July and running until Friday 17th December. We will deliver them to local collection points in Musbury, Axminster, Seaton, Lyme Regis, Honiton, Sidmouth and Bridport. We have limited capacity for door-to-door deliveries, but can deliver to your house if you cannot get to one of the collection points.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I GO AWAY ON HOLIDAY?

If you are unable to receive one of your boxes, you can choose to either arrange for a friend to collect and use it on your behalf, offer it to another member of the community (so that they can double up), or roll it over to the following box (so that you get double of the next box). The more warning we have, the easier it is for us.

CAN I CUSTOMISE MY BOX?

For the pilot project, the boxes will have a set menu each fortnight so you won’t be able to choose what meals you want. We are starting very small and have limited capacity for making lots of different combinations of dishes, but can accommodate most food allergies and vegetarian households - just let us know about when you sign up.

WHERE DO THE INGREDIENTS COME FROM?

We source all of our ingredients as locally as possible, from small-scale farmers and growers who are our friends as well as our neighbours. We make sure that the ingredients we use are produced ethically and sustainably, by people who care as much for the health of the environment around them and the welfare of their livestock as for the food they ultimately produce. In particular, most of the vegetables will come from Trill Farm Garden, and eggs and meat will be from Haye Farm. We’ll tell you about our suppliers in each box.

WHAT ABOUT PLASTIC PACKAGING?

We don’t like using plastic, but having done a lot of research into alternatives, we have come to the conclusion that re-usable and recyclable plastic tubs are the best option at the moment. We are continually looking for and trialling new alternatives.

HOW CAN I HELP?

By signing up to the Good Food Club and telling all your friends to as well! We would like to have 40 households signed up for our pilot, so we need help spreading the word.

If you’d like to support the project but don’t want to receive a box, you can donate a membership here. This means that we can offer a free box to a another household who usually couldn’t afford it.

DO I HAVE TO SIGN UP TO THE WHOLE SIX MONTHS, OR CAN I JUST GET A ONE-OFF BOX?

At the moment, we are only offering the box for the full six months. This is because we want the benefit of a community of people learning and sharing together, and building our cookery skills with each box. As growers, it is also important for us to know how much veg we need to set aside each fortnight for the boxes. Subscribing for six months is a commitment to supporting your local rural economy and growing a local food culture, and we are really grateful.

WHAT IF MY CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE AND I CAN’T CONTINUE WITH THE WHOLE SIX MONTHS?

That’s ok. We know that nothing is certain and that things can change in the blink of an eye (if we’ve learnt one thing over the past 18 months…!) Ideally, we’d find another household to transfer your box to, or offer it to an existing member so that they get double the food.

WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENT PRICES FOR THE SAME BOX?

We have set up a sliding scale payment scheme for our boxes, so that members can pay what they can afford. We know that the food we grow and produce is not affordable for everybody, but we believe that everybody should have access to it if they want it. When some members pay more than the box cost price, it means we can subsidise the price for members who need it. Together, we can create a more equitable food system.

WILL THE PROJECT KEEP GOING AFTER THE FIRST SIX MONTHS?

Yes! We are in this for the long run. We initially have funding to help get a pilot project running for six months, but will be using the feedback from our members and the lessons we learn along the way to set up a longer term project. By offering boxes on a sliding scale rather than just giving away lots of free boxes, we hope that the project will grow to be financially sustainable so that we don’t need to rely on grant funding to continue.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

Just drop us an email to info@olddairykitchen.co.uk