FAQ

There are a number of ways you can order with us. Either use the online shop and simply click the ‘basket’ icon when you want to add something to your order and follow through the check out. Equally if you would prefer to talk to us about your order, we are always happy to help. There is someone in the office from 8am until 5pm Monday to Friday, you can call us on 01937 531693 or email us at office@theorganicpantry.co.uk

Not at all, you can use the online shop whenever you choose and we will deliver on the next available delivery day. If you would prefer for us to set you up a regular order we can do this too. You should be able to select an option for having the same things delivered either weekly, fortnightly or monthly but equally you can just get in touch with the office to set up a recurring order.

We don't generally have surplus milk or meat here. It is pre-ordered specifically for customers on a Friday morning. As such, we need to have your order with us by 9am on a Friday in order to have this for you the following week.

For all other items, as long as we have the order by 2pm the day before your delivery day, we can get that out to you the following day. <\p> If you aren't sure on a Friday what your fridge will hold by the following week feel free to make one order in advance and a top-up order closer to your delivery day when you know what you're needing!

If you have any questions, just get in touch with the office either via email office@theorganicpantry.co.uk or call us on 01937 531693.

Just let us know – we we try to be as flexible as possible for our customers however, we do need a little notice! In terms of alterations, cancellations or additions, our deadlines are as follows:

• For any meat or dairy items you have on the order, we need all changes to be with us by 9am on the Friday morning the week before delivery
• For fruit, veg a& grocery items, we can process any changes as long as they are with us by 2pm the day before your delivery day.

If you want to add something to your order you can just use the on-line shop to select your extras. Should you need to cancel or take something off the order either email office@theorganicpantry.co.uk or call us on 01937 531693.

Yes, we have a minimum order value of £15.

You can suspend and cancel orders whenever you need to. Just get in touch with the office either via email office@theorganicpantry.co.uk or call us on 01937 531693. Please bear in mind our deadlines for all alterations:

• For any meat or dairy items you have on the order, we need all changes to be with us by 9am on the Friday morning the week before delivery
• For fruit, veg & grocery items, we need all changes to be with us by 2pm the day before your delivery day.

If you cancel outside of these deadlines, you may still be charged.

Not at all, you are under no obligation to have a box. Our boxes will work out better value for you than buying individual items but you are more than welcome to make up you order just as you wish, picking and choosing to suit you. As long as you meet the £15 minimum order value we will get it out to you as soon as we can.

Absolutely, maybe you want to keep a child well stocked up or find something for that difficult to buy for friend or relative. You can use the gift voucher option online or you can order something to be delivered directly to them. Just let us know in the comments section on check out that it is a gift and any note you may wish to add and we will make sure this is passed along and that the prices are hidden on delivery. Feel free to give us a call on 01937 531693 to discuss other gift options.

We up-date the website, here, every Friday to let you know what will be in next week’s boxes. This should give you a chance to get in touch if you want to amend your regular order in any way or decide which box would suit you that week. We also send out a weekly newsletter at the end of every week with the proposed box lists contents for the following week. You can easily subscribe or unsubscribe from this at any time. We try hard to stick to the published box menus but unfortunately sometimes we need to make last minute changes and substitutions. Unfortunately, organic farming is very dependent on weather conditions and nature which are not always easy to predict! Unforeseen events can leave us short of items and we need to use alternatives.

Hate cabbage or have a back-log of potatoes, don’t worry. We try to be as flexible as we can and allow up to three exclusions/substitutions on an order. If you do not wish to receive something just let us know. Equally if there is something you would particularly like instead you can request it. Our packers try to make exchanges on a value for value basis so you will get the equivalent value of another item. Either add a note on check out or get in touch with us in the office either via email office@theorganicpantry.co.uk or call us on 01937 531693.

You may find your boxes sometimes contain vegetables you aren’t familiar with. The weekly newsletters and recipe suggestions try to cover these and give you some inspiration for using them but if you are ever unsure we are on hand to handle any queries and will happily send you over a few recipe suggestions should you want them!

You can combine a box order with extra portions of any of the fruit & veg we have available. Just add them to your shopping basket. If you already have a recurring order, you won't see this online - we generate these from our accounts system but you can add anything you like from the site and simply put it through as a cash payment order. We will then add everything to your regular order and take one payment at the end of the week as usual.

You can use our post code checker here to find out if we deliver to you. Even if we don’t right now, just get in touch with the office and we will let you know if we are able to extend our delivery areas. You can either call on 01937 531693 or email us at office@theorganicpantry.co.uk

We will always email you to confirm the day you can expect your first order with us. Just occasionally we may need to make changes to delivery days but we will always let you know as soon as we do if there are going to be any changes.

No, all our deliveries are free!

We try and keep our driving routes as eco-friendly as possible which means covering all of one area in a day. Sadly there just aren’t enough customers for us to be able to come to the same area more than once a week. Don’t worry if you’re not going to be there, our drivers are used to following customer instructions and leaving the boxes hidden in all manner of places.

Unfortunately, we are not able to give you an exact delivery time as the size and length of the routes can vary from week to week. If you ever want to have a better idea of when we might get to you just get in touch with our office, we would be happy to help. You can email us at office@theorganicpantry.co.uk or call us on 01937 531693.

Don’t worry, our drivers are used to leaving boxes in all manner of safe places for customers. Just let us know where you would like it to be left when you put in your order – be it on the doorstep, in a shed, under a bush or with a neighbour and your driver will make sure it is safe. If you don’t leave us instructions they will try to find the most secure place they can and will post your invoice through the door so you know he has been.

We prefer payment by debit or credit card for your first order. You can either do this on line or you can call the office on 01937 531693 to pass these details across. For repeat orders we can accept a variety of payment methods, including the following: • On-line payment via Sage Pay or PayPal • Authorising us to use your card details to take a payment for your order each time you have one, again this is done through Sage Pay, an encrypted secure payment service. • By Direct Debit through a secure cardless called Go Cardless

If you choose to pay on line, your payment will be taken straight away. For customers with a regular order, we usually take payments on a Friday for the order you have received that week. This gives you a chance to get in touch should you have any concerns about your order.

Organic food is food produced in a natural and environmentally friendly way. You can be assured of the validity of any claim of ‘organic’ production by the presence of a certification certificate. We are certified by the Soil Association who check that we follow the strict regulations set out by them to ensure all growing done is chemical & GM free and is done in the most sustainable way possible. Most farming in the UK follows intensive farming methods, aiming to get maximum yield from minimal costs. This relies on using harmful chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers which can cause long term damage to delicate ecosystems and destroy the diversity of natural habitats. Not only that, they are potentially harmful to human health too. Organically certified farms never use these kinds of chemicals – we use natural manure from organically reared chickens and rotted down waste products as fertilizers in our soil along with barrier methods to discourage pests.

We always try and source as close to home as possible. In the peak UK season, 85% of the vegetable box contents come from the farm itself or local sources. Unfortunately, there are certain times of year when this proves more difficult and we have to look to the Continent to feed us but we always make sure this produce is freighted by land and sea - minimising the environmental impact.

Organic food production is more labour intensive and it is produced on a smaller scale. Weeding is done by hand rather than by spraying herbicides. Organic fields are usually smaller than conventional ones because farmers need to plant hedgerows and borders in their fields to encourage natural predators. Also, because organic crops are more vulnerable to natural disease, yields tend to be smaller. An organic chicken flock is typically between 100 - 500 compared to between 3000 and 15000 in a conventional free range system; non-free range are larger still. Although we pay more over the counter for organic food, a recent French study showed that if the environmental cost of intensive farming is accounted for, then organic actually costs 5% less. In the UK, Professor Jules Petty has put the damage done at £2.3 billion, a total of £208 per hectare. This includes: £120 million to take pesticides down to the level required under the EU drinking water directive; £60 million a year for removing nitrate and phosphate pollution; £23 million a year for combating cryptospiridium; £124 million a year for replacing lost biodiversity, hedgerows and stone walls. Putting this into context - organic doesn't seem so expensive after all!

Do get in touch with us straight away if you think your order has not arrived or if it seems to be wrong in any way. If it is out of office hours you can leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we re-open. You can contact us on 01937 531693 or email us office@theorganicpantry.co.uk.

If you think something is amiss we always want to hear so please get in touch if you are unsure. We pride ourselves on quality - both of produce and of service and would always rather hear directly if anything is awry. You can contact us on 01937 531693 or email us office@theorganicpantry.co.uk.

We love our customers to give us feedback. You can put in a review on the website or you can review us on facebook or google. It’s great to include information that might be useful to other shoppers. If you are wanting to report a problem we’d be grateful if you get in touch with us directly, either email office@theorganicpantry.co.uk or call us on 01937 531693.