Which UK Veg Box Is Best for Budget-Friendly, Sustainable Living?

Abel & Cole vs Riverford vs Oddbox: Which Veg Box Delivery is Best?

Looking to eat more seasonally, reduce plastic waste, or support local farmers? Veg boxes are a brilliant way to bring fresh, more ethical, organic, lower waste produce straight to your doorstep — but with so many options, and all of us being different, which one do you choose for your life and budget?

Our family tried, tested, and budgeted three of the biggest names in sustainable UK veg box delivery — Abel & Cole, Riverford, and the slightly different Oddbox — and here’s our honest comparison of what each one offers, what makes them different, and which one is best for different people and needs. This is especially important if (like us!) you’re both budget-conscious and deeply focused on lowering your household’s footprint.

If you’d rather watch the review you can see the box comparison and dive in with me here. And you can jump to THIS section for my short hot take on which box is best for who and a discount on all of them!

🥬 What is a Veg Box?

A veg box is a subscription service that delivers fresh fruit and vegetables (and sometimes extras like dairy, eggs, or pantry staples) to your door. The idea is to eat seasonally and more directly from the growers, to reduce food miles, and support more sustainable farming systems — and often, it can work out cheaper and fresher than the same comparable items the supermarket. When not cheaper though, you are getting the addition of extra values like lower waste, greater ethics, better care for farmers and the environment, or doorstep delivery.

🥕 Abel & Cole vs Riverford: How do the two Organic Boxes Differ?

Abel & Cole and Riverford are both known for their B Corp certified organic veg boxes, branded trucks on the roads, eco packaging, and broad grocery offerings. They’ve both been around for decades and have loyal customers – but how are they different?

Abel & Cole

• Abel and Cole offer a wide range of organic veg boxes, fruit boxes, juicing and local boxes. They also offer very flexible customisation. You can switch every item in the boxes (aside from the UK only box) for one of a selection of other items you choose. This is a huge plus if you don’t want surprises!
• Abel and Cole offers the widest range of extras and add ons so that you could do a full week’s shop there. (Which is a more expensive way to shop, but a convenience to note!) They offer meat, dairy, pantry items, ready meals, bulk produce, gardening items, menstrual products, alcohol, other drinks, cleaning supplies and gifts.
• Sourcing: Abel and Cole source from UK and internationally. To offer a wider range of goods, they don’t offer the same level of commitment to UK sourcing as Riverford. They still focus on as local as possible, and never use air freight, but balanced with offering variety. So you get a little less local, in return for more options.
• Delivery: £3.50 however much you buy.
• Certified B Corp

Is Abel & Cole worth it? If you’re after convenience, variety, and a wide range of customisable, ethical, organic, low waste groceries with nothing you don’t choose — then yes. It’s not the cheapest, but their service, packaging, and flexibility are excellent.

Want a deeper dive into how we’ve shopped Abel and Cole on a budget? Read that post HERE.

Riverford

• Riverford is 100% organic and farmer-owned. Riverford have the highest B Corp score of the three boxes. This is largely because of being employee owned and taking great care of those employees.
• They are focused on UK-grown, seasonal produce more than either of the other boxes. (80% of what Riverford sell is UK sourced over the year and all meat is.)
• The extras they Riverford offer are fewer than Abel and Cole and include bread, dairy, eggs, and organic meat. The range is much smaller than Abel and Cole but has some high quality, organic, staples.
• Their delivery is always free. This is a big win especially if you’re doing a smaller order!
• Because of the focus at Riverford on local there’s much less customisation. You can pick 3 items to save on your profile – Riverford will always switch those out for an item they choose. Beyond those three you get what you get.
• Certified B Corp

Riverford vs Abel & Cole? If organic, sustainability and local sourcing are your top priorities, Riverford wins. It’s a lot less flexible than Abel & Cole which will cause waste or extra spending for some people, but if you don’t mind what you get so much, then it could be your best box! Get £15 off your first box here.

🥦 Riverford vs Oddbox: Both Sustainable, Different Focus

Where Riverford champions UK organic farming, Oddbox is all about rescuing surplus or “wonky” produce. Everything in their boxes is something that would have been wasted!

Oddbox

• Oddbox isn’t organic, instead they are focused on rescuing food that would go to waste, and selling it on to reduce food waste.
• You can customise your boxes around a week before delivery (an earlier cut off than the other services) and switch out any item in the boxes.
• Oddbox includes fruit and veg from the UK and further afield depending on where there’s waste (but they never use air freight, like the other boxes.)
• They use overnight deliveries so you’ll always have it for the day it’s delivered.
• Oddbox has a greater volume of produce than the comparable boxes from the other services so it’s a LOT more for your money.
• £1.99 delivery fee per box
• Certified B Corp

The Riverford vs Oddbox choice comes down to values and budget, organic and UK-grown organic produce vs surplus and rescued options. Oddbox is fantastic if you’re passionate about sustainability and reducing waste, and want by far the best volume for your money of any of the boxes.

Looking for an Oddbox discount code? They offer £10 off with a refer-a-friend link and you can use that HERE.

Side-by-Side Comparison: Abel & Cole vs Riverford vs Oddbox

💡 Which Veg Box is Best for YOU? (The short answer!)

• If you want the best box for all organic produce, and a wide range of ethical organic groceries while keeping your order completely customisable… Abel & Cole is the box for you.
• If you want a slightly better price on organic and mostly UK-grown organic produce, and you’re a less picky shopper happy to get what you get with fewer extras, and especially is campaigning for wider change is a value to you… Riverford is your box.
• If you’re on a tighter budget and want the most volume for your money, and you don’t mind so much about organic but you want a great option for fighting food waste… go for Oddbox.

And honestly? You don’t have to pick just one forever. We’ve switched between them over the years depending on budget, time, and food goals. You can see what will come in one box and decide if that’s the one for that week or not. Personally, having done this review, I think that I’ll be adding in more Oddbox orders when we’re feeding a crowd. While organic is very important to us, on a budget it’s not always 100% possible and Oddbox provides a really sustainable alternative.

Discounts on Abel & Cole, Riverford and Oddbox

⭐️ ODDBOX DISCOUNT: Get £10 off HERE

⭐️ RIVERFORD DISCOUNT: Get £15 off HERE

⭐️ ABEL + COLE: Get 50% off your first box

Other notable points in reviewing these 3 boxes

• All the boxes are brilliant options for sustainability in different ways!
• Food waste is a massive issue in climate change, emissions, food justice and resource use and all of these boxes are fighting it in different ways which is so important!
• There are absolutely more veg box options than these! Many of the others are more local, but these are the biggest three that deliver more nationally. You can explore more locally to see what’s close to you as well.
• With all three you need to stay on top of which days are your delivery days, and which days are your cutoff days for modifying your orders.
• We found the Oddbox ordering system the hardest because due to the nature of saving waste veg you can’t choose your box early – you have a small feeling window in which to do it. It just takes some organisation.
• While Abel and Cole is slightly more expensive than Riverford, the volume of veg tends to be a bit bigger. The Oddbox box though, was by far the largest – £10 cheaper and almost double the volume of the Riverford box.
• All the boxes can be worked into a smaller budget, but shopping the extras (the more prepared goods and refill items etc) can really push the budget up. So getting a veg box shouldn’t be confused with doing a full shop at these places, budget wise.

Final Thoughts on Veg Boxes

Whether you’re new to veg boxes or switching providers, all three — Abel & Cole, Riverford, and Oddbox — offer a more conscious way to shop. Each one supports different parts of a more sustainable food system.

Have you tried one or more of these? I’d love to hear your experience — or your tips for making the most of a veg box — in the comments or over on Instagram @kezianeusch.