Oddbox review: Good value for money or a rotten apple?

Are you fed up with the amount of food wasted in the UK? Then how would you like to receive a subscription box that stops food from being thrown away? Take a look at this Oddbox review to see the kind of quality fruit & veg you should expect and if you receive value for money.

Oddbox review

I never like to start a blog post focusing on something negative but sometimes it’s necessary. Currently, it’s estimated that 8.4 million people in the UK live in food poverty, yet we produce 9.5 million tonnes of food waste each year. Shamefully, that’s the highest amount in Europe.

There are two main reasons for this, with one being that we produce far more food than we can actually consume. After all, we are keen to have as much choice as possible.

The second reason is our perception of quality. It seems to have been instilled in us that food should be a certain colour, shape and length. Anything different just isn’t good enough. But will it actually taste differently?

But there are companies out there trying to make a difference in food waste and the environment. Welcome, Oddbox.

Now, I updated this review recently, as Oddbox made some changes to how it operates. And these changes made it a much better proposition – giving customers more of a say about what they receive.

What is Oddbox?

Oddbox is a subscription service that delivers straight to your door fruit & veg that is considered either too large or too small to be sold in supermarkets.

How does it work?

• Choose how often you want a delivery – weekly or fortnightly
• Decide whether to have fruit, vegetables or both
• Choose the size of the box (ranging from extra small to large)
• Swap out and change anything you don’t like
• Add some extras if you want… for a fee
• Wait for your delivery to arrive

All pretty simple.

Now, as I mentioned above, you can swap out anything from your box that you don’t like the look of. There are usually plenty of choices, so you shouldn’t be stuck with something you don’t want.

Be warned, you only have a short time to do this. You’ll get a 48-hour window, starting six days before your delivery is due. The good news is, Oddbox will send you an email to remind you

Oddbox gives you the opportunity to permanently exclude three items from any of your boxes. Ideal if there’s something you really hate. Personally, I would like to see more than three as my family is quite fussy.

Although it’s a subscription box, it is fairly flexible. You can skip deliveries or pause them for several months if needed.

How much does it cost?

	X-Small	Small box	Medium box	Large box
Veg	N/A	£11.99	£14.99	£17.99
Fruit & Veg	£11.49	£14.49	£17.99	£23.99
Fruit Booster	N/A	£13.49	N/A	N/A

Any other benefits to Oddbox?

Apart from helping to reduce food waste, a couple.

If, like me, your cooking knowledge is a little limited, there are some handy recipes and ideas on what you can do with your food.

There’s also a referral scheme where you can earn £10 in credit for every friend you recommend, up to a maximum of £50.

My first box

I can’t share my review until I talk about the delivery. I had a date booked for the 14th, and by 6 pm, nothing had arrived. So, I checked my confirmation email only to see that the time was booked for 7 pm to 7 am, which came as a bit of a shock. And that evening at 11.41 pm, I received an email telling me the box had been delivered.

But that’s my fault, as delivery times are quite clearly stated on the Oddbox website.

Anyhow, the next morning, I eagerly opened my box.

Contents from my medium box included:

• Potatoes from Suffolk
• Clementines from Spain
• Nectarines from South Africa
• Onions from Suffolk
• Apples from Kent
• Kohlrabi from Spain
• Cavolo nero from Lincs
• Spinach from Italy/Spain/Worcs
• Cauliflower from Lincolnshire
• Tomatoes from Spain/Morocco
• Celeriac from Lincs/Worc

Inside the box was a leaflet explaining why the fruit and veg had been included, such as if it was too big or too small, too odd or there were too many. There was also a recipe to give me an idea of what to do with that kohlrabi. Which was just as well as I had never even heard of it before today. There was also a QR code to scan to give me even more ideas for cooking.

Going through the box and I was pleased with the condition of the fruit and veg. Apart from a couple of plums looking a little soft (probably an age thing), the rest were in great condition and exactly the same as you would expect if you chose them in the supermarket.

Was my Oddbox good value for money?

Because it was my first box, I managed to find a discount, so my Oddbox delivery was just £7.99, which was terrific value. But would I pay full price for it? I’m not so sure. There is a lot of food for us to get through and I’m sure that if we were to buy our favourites straight from the supermarket, we could get it for less.

But then, that’s not what Oddbox is primarily about. As I said above, they’re keen on stopping food waste and helping the environment. And all of your produce is delivered in a box without plastic.

This is a great idea but it leaves me with one niggling doubt. How much CO2 does a van delivering fruit and veg to my house produce, compared to me collecting it straight from the supermarket? Yes, we’ll see less food wasted, but do we see a rise in pollution?

After looking through the Oddbox website, they do explain that they’ve chosen to deliver at night as there is less chance of being stuck in traffic, which reduces carbon emissions. Plus, they plan their delivery routes to be as efficient as possible.

I would be interested in knowing how much of a difference this all makes.

Would I buy another box?

Unfortunately, it’s not really for us. But that’s mainly down to me being a failure as a father and a human being… we just don’t eat that much fruit and veg in our house. We are quite fussy and there are only select varieties that we eat. Plus, our rabbits sadly passed away last year, so we can’t feed the leftovers to them.

For those who are a little more adventurous with their food, then Oddbox could be a great solution. Plus, you can try your first box for half price.

Oddbox discount code

Simply use the link below to get £10 off your first delivery.

Oddbox

A word of warning

Remember, your box will be delivered at night. That means it could be left unattended for a period and open to the elements. It could also mean that if you live in a house with a squeaky gate or with security lights, somebody might be woken up – either you or your neighbours.

What other people say

When writing my reviews, I always like to take a look to see what other people think of the product. Over on Trustpilot, Oddbox scores an excellent 4.7 out of 5 from over 11,000 reviews. On the positive side, customers praise the variety of food received and love the recipe ideas that come with the box. On the other hand, some reviewers complained about the quality of the food, with some of it needing to be thrown away.

If having food delivered to your door is your thing, why not take a look at my review of the best food subscription boxes?

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