Did you know that the lions at Werribee Zoo are fed organic meat? Apparently when they used to be fed conventional meat they’d get sick all the time.

Doesn’t that make you wonder what effect eating non-organic food has on our health?

Regardless of whether you buy into the organic-is-better-for-your-health claims, I like to buy organic food where I can afford it because of one thing – I’ve found that organic food tastes better. On my balcony I’ve managed to grow my own lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes, and I assure you that my modest crops burst with freshness and flavour.

Enter Organic Angels, a certified organic and biodynamic fruit and vegetable home delivery service based in Melbourne. They deliver a range of seasonal organic produce boxes, mostly sourced from Victoria, and other organic products on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (depending on the area).

Each week the best quality and best value organic produce available is used to fill the boxes with a colourful selection of seasonal produce. Produce is bought from the wholesale market on the delivery day, so it’s super-fresh and what you get each week may differ depending on what’s best at the market that day. The box only contains good surprises though, as you can specify your dislikes (next time I’m saying no to kiwi fruit).

Thanks to founder Scott Butler of Organic Angels, I tried two different seasonal boxes – the Small Organic Mixed box ($41.50) and Organic Fresh Fruit Box ($41.50). As it was my first order, delivery was free instead of the usual flat rate delivery charge of $8.95.

I was really surprised by the quantity – I received so much fruit and veg I couldn’t fit it all in one shot! My two boxes included:

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Red Capsicum
• Dutch Cream Potatoes
• Mushrooms
• Baby Spinach
• Zucchini
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Beans
• Apples
• Bananas
• Pears
• Kiwi fruit
• Navelina Oranges
• Strawberries

This was about enough for one and a half to two weeks worth of meals for two people. You also don’t have to order every week – just when you want to – or you can set up a standing order so you never run out of organic fruit and veg.

From our boxes I think the standout items were the unbelievably crisp and richly green baby spinach, the sweet, non-mushy pears, the thin-skinned and very juicy oranges and full-flavoured bright red and firm strawberries. I can’t say I noticed a discernible difference in flavour between the conventional and organic onions or mushrooms (but they were cooked in a rich tomato sauce), and we’re yet to get to the kiwis, apples and carrots.

For us the biggest issue with using the service is the timing of deliveries (and it’s the same issue with every produce delivery service). We’re not usually at home during the weekdays and don’t have a safe spot to leave our food so we’d have to go lug our boxes home from our very unhelpful local post office. If you are able to have the boxes left somewhere safe, from my experience everything will still be crisp and fresh out of the fridge for 3 hours, possibly more.

I’ll be ordering from Organic Angels again because I was impressed by the quantity and quality of the produce and I liked the convenience of not having to shop for fresh produce for two weeks – but I’ll have to time my order to the next time I know I’m going to be home on a Monday.

Thank you to Organic Angels for inviting me to try their service.

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