Food & Wine

Veggie box hacks: How to make the most of your produce delivery

assortment of vegetables and eggs in a cardboard box

Wendy Hargreaves

Posted May 26, 2020

Take the mystery food challenge with expert tips for wrangling your fresh produce box. 

Never before has it been more fun to be a home cook. Through weeks of COVID-19 hibernation, we've been taking our time in the kitchen and making all sorts of goodies from scratch. And in the ultimate show of home-cook confidence, we’ve been having a red-hot crack at one of the great kitchen levellers – the mystery box of fresh seasonal produce.

Big, generous boxes of fruit and veg have become a survival line for struggling restaurants and cafes, with chefs and waiters now home-delivering restaurant-quality fresh produce along with meals to keep their businesses afloat and support the farmers who supply them.

It’s a captivating offer. Super-fresh seasonal fruit and veg direct to your door, sparking daydreams of hearty home-made soups, casseroles and curries.

But what of the reality when a super-sized mystery box arrives at your door, overflowing with a huge pile of brassicas and a glossy bunch of silverbeet that’s bigger than your fridge. 

“The secret here is to not panic,” says celebrated chef and cookbook author Matt Wilkinson, owner of East Brunswick’s Pie Shop and creative director at Four Pillars Gin.  

“Take everything out of the box and have a think about what you can do with them. If you’re not sure, pull out some cookbooks for inspiration or just Google the ingredients. It’s important to plan out your menu for the week so you don’t waste any food. 

“It might be as simple as having an amazing Sunday roast and doing leftovers for a few days. Cold roasted vegetables with some cold meat is the perfect salad for me. Keep it simple. That’s always the best way.” 

various vegetables at a Queen Victoria market stall

It’s important to plan out your menu for the week so you don’t waste any food.


Sharon Flynn agrees. As Australia’s leading expert on fermenting, she’s on a mission to teach home cooks the ancient, gut-friendly preserving techniques pushed aside by modern food processing. 

She says most students in her classes are initially skittish about natural fermentation, believing pasteurisation is safer. “Pasteurisation was a fabulous invention, but it created unnecessary fear in the home kitchen,” she says. “Humans have been fermenting foods for thousands of years… we’ve just forgotten how to do it. 

“Most people don’t realise that the pickles you buy from the shop are preserved in vinegar and pasteurised with heat to kill all bacteria. This means food can be stored for years, but the vegetables are devoid of life. 

“When you have a big box of super-fresh vegetables, it’s the perfect time to ferment, as it captures the vegies at their peak. I’d start with a simple brine pickle, using familiar vegetables like carrots, green beans or cauliflower florets, which are all in season right now and ferment in a few days. Then you can pop them into the fridge for eating at any time.” 

She says fermenting excess produce to preserve it for later use is as simple as popping the vegies into a jar and covering them with brine, occasionally releasing the lid to let the gases out during the fermentation process (see recipe below). 

“Trust your senses and have fun. The vegetables should taste fresh and pleasantly sour.” 

Sharon has literally written the book on fermenting (Ferment For Good, Hardie Grant). At her business, the Fermentary in Daylesford, she ferments live kraut, kimchi, kefir and pickles for customers across Australia. She also sells kits for home fermenters, with tips and recipes available online. 

For veteran chef Ian Curley (French Saloon, Kirk’s Wine Bar), fresh herbs are his favourite ingredient to preserve.

"I blend them up to make a salsa verde,” he says. “I love fresh herbs. Throw them in the blender and add some almonds or any of the nuts that have been sitting in the cupboard forever. Then add some olive oil, a bit of salt and lemon juice and put it in a jar, making sure it’s covered in olive oil. So long as you don’t put your finger in it – use a stainless-steel spoon – it’ll last for three weeks. No worries.”

 

close up image of vegetables bundled together

Finding the balance between buying too much and too little can take time.


Miranda Sharp, founder and director of Melbourne Farmers’ Markets, says she often ferments vegetables when she has a big stash, but her secret to success is a big freezer in her garage. 

She urges people to support local farmers and buy the produce as direct as possible. Then cook up a storm and store it for the long winter ahead. Victoria’s farmers’ markets are still running every weekend, but now the market community has a base at Alphington’s Melbourne Innovation Centre, where people can order ahead online and pick up a haul from producers every Wednesday and Friday. 

“You can do so much with a freezer,” Miranda says. “You can cook up a bucketload of silverbeet and freeze it in containers… chopped and sauteed with onion and garlic, ready to go when you need some greens.” 

For Matt Wilkinson, leafy vegetables like silverbeet and kale are best chopped up and fried with onion and nutmeg. He then folds a beaten egg and crumbled fetta into the mix, and wraps it all in filo pastry. 

He says the key to making the most of a big box of seasonal produce is savvy storage. 

“Never pre-wash or cut your fruit and veg before you put it away,” he warns. “It’ll stay fresher for longer if you wash it just before cooking. 

“It’s important that you think about storage space. Figure out what can sit out in the pantry, like potatoes and onions and beetroot, and what needs to go in the fridge. But don’t just shove everything in the crisper, with the celery squashing the salad leaves. Layer it in gently… maybe take a few bottles of wine out of the fridge to make room.” 

 

colourful vegetables sorted into wooden crates

Be open-minded to finding the right produce from different sellers.

Where to get your produce box

The Farm Cafe, Abbotsford

Collingwood Children’s Farm is closed during COVID-19’s restrictions, but the farm’s much-loved cafe is selling produce boxes (from $60) along with sourdough loaves, free-range eggs, cheese, olives and Aussie beer and wine. Order ahead for pick-up or delivery.

The Flying Zucchinis, Melbourne

Offering free delivery across Melbourne’s inner suburbs, fruit-and-veg boxes range from $29 for small to $79 for large, with sourdough, eggs and milk also available.

Small Graces, Footscray

Delivering fruit-and-veg boxes (from $35) up to 15 kilometres from the cafe, the Small Graces team can also provide a tasty range of staples including sourdough, eggs, granola, coffee and milk.

King and Godfree, Carlton

Returning to its 1884 roots as a Carlton grocer, King and Godfree has expanded its deli, wine shop and espresso bar to include fresh fruit and veg, along with pantry staples, milk, butter, eggs and some seriously good take-home pasta dishes. And if your order is $50 or more, you get free delivery.

MRC Pantry, Caulfield and Mornington

The vast Melbourne Racing Club kitchens might not be serving racegoers during the lockdown, but the chefs are still busy creating restaurant-quality produce boxes for home delivery across metropolitan Melbourne (free if your order is over $50).
 

And in the regions….

Sandors Harvest, Bendigo

A regular at the Bendigo Farmers’ Market, Sandor Istella grows exceptional organic fruit and vegetables and has started selling vegetable boxes ($35 for two people, $50 for families). Customers can pre-order via Sandor’s Harvest Facebook and pick up the box from the market, now operating on Thursdays and the second Saturday of each month at the carpark at The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery in Hargreaves Street. 

Eat Drink West, Ballarat

A new platform for Western Victoria’s fresh food growers and producers started as a directory for the region, but now Eat Drink West is putting together produce boxes from across the region for home delivery or pick-up at Housey Housey on Armstrong Street North in Ballarat. The produce would normally be cherry-picked by Ballarat’s hospitality industry, but the new home-delivery system is revolutionising how regional producers reach new customers. 

Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley

The team at Rochford quickly converted their winery space into a grocery store, delivering fresh fruit and vegetable boxes from Yarra Valley suppliers, along with pantry staples, fresh meats and fish, bread, pasta, groceries, and of course wine, throughout the Yarra Valley and right into metropolitan Melbourne. You can also order take-home meals from the winery’s 400 Gradi restaurant.

 

Sharon Flynn’s pickled beans recipe

Equipment 

  • 1 litre jar

Ingredients 

  • 300 grams green beans (enough to fill your jar nice and tightly), topped and tailed with strings removed.  
  • You can also add your favourite flavours. Sharon adds one or two cloves of garlic, a stalk of dill or fennel and five black or red peppercorns. 
  • 1 litre of boiled water, cooled 
  • 2 tablespoons fine salt

Method 

  • Pack the beans tightly into the jar with your favourite flavour combo, if using. 
  • Make a brine with water and salt and pour it into the jar, leaving two centimetres of head room. 
  • Seal the jar. 
  • Leave at room temperature to ferment for three to five days, or longer in cooler weather. 

Check the beans after two days. When they’re sour enough for your palate, they’re ready to refrigerate. The beans keep in the fridge for up to eight weeks.