The best recipe boxes and meal delivery kits

• Cost per meal: £6.93 to £11.23
• No subscription required
• Delivers to: most of England and to south Wales

Recommended by Simon Lewis

Riverford Farm in Devon is mostly known for its organic fruit and veg boxes: they’re up there with Able & Cole as suppliers of ethical food to people who own Hunter wellies. I didn’t realise they did recipe boxes as well, but I wasn’t surprised to find that they’re seasonal, sustainable and mostly plant-based.

There were 11 recipes to choose from when I ordered: four vegetarian, four plant-based, two meat and one fish. I ordered a wild mackerel linguini recipe and was quite excited when the fish were delivered exactly as they came out of the sea: gutted, but with their heads and tails on. This freaked my vegetarian wife out, but I enjoyed the novelty of cooking with completely fresh ingredients.

Most of the other ingredients came loose, as you’d find them in a veg box, and what packaging remained was almost all paper or compostable. Only wet, oily or fast-perishing things, like my fish, arrive in plastic. For my other recipe, Vietnamese noodles, it was just a teaspoon of tamari sauce and a serving of cashews. Everything else was fresh from the ground and waiting to be rinsed.

I can’t fault Riverford for freshness, and its ethics are impeccable, but if you’re looking for a simple, relaxing mid-week recipe this is not the one for you. The Vietnamese noodles took me an hour and a half. I do like to take my time in the kitchen with a glass of wine, but even the stated time of 55 minutes is not going to be ideal for worked-off-their-feet parents with three hungry kids to feed.

The same parent might not appreciate the lack of delivery times: they come on a Friday, but vary the route to minimise food miles and carbon emissions, so you have to be in all day. On the plus side, the customer service is very friendly: I actually got a call from the farm to welcome me as a customer.

If Pasta Evangelists are at the easy end of the scale, Riverford are at the opposite end. But if you’re confident in the kitchen, have time to spare and like super-fresh food, they’re worth a try. The meals tasted amazing, by the way.