By Franzi
The classic sustainable subscription box: vegetable boxes
If it's important to you to eat healthy and seasonally and you want to rely on vegetables and fruit from Germany, a regional vegetable box subscription is probably just the thing for you!
You will receive a seasonal vegetable box at a fixed rate, usually once a week. The boxes contain the finest that the German fields have to offer at that time. Many vegetable box providers let you choose how often these sustainable subscription boxes are delivered to your door. It's usually not a problem to take a break, for example if you want to go on vacation. Almost all providers allow you to choose between different sizes. Many also offer options between different variations such as “raw food box”, “mother-child box” and many others.
In order to keep the transport costs and the CO2 footprint of your food box as low as possible, it is recommended to find a regional provider. The search is not complicated at all: simply enter “vegetable crate” plus “[your city/region]” into your browser search engine.
The search function at Ökokiste.de is also suitable for organic lovers. There you can enter your zip code and you will be redirected to various organic farms in your region that offer vegetable and fruit box subscriptions and often other regional delicacies such as cheese, yoghurt and bread.
Etepetete and Bringmirbio
Two organic crate providers that cover the entire German territory are Etepetete and Bringmirbio.de .
With the aim of reducing food waste, Etepetete buys vegetables and fruit that do not meet conventional supermarket beauty standards. It then packs and ships it as climate-friendly as possible.
Bringmirbio started as a family business with the aim of offering a seasonal organic box that is available throughout Germany. If you value knowing exactly where the contents of your boxes come from, you've come to the right place. The majority of the vegetables and fruits in the sustainable subscription boxes come from the family-run organic farm. Bringmirbio also works with selected other organic farms. You can find a detailed list of them on the Bringmirbio page .
Most organic boxes are priced between 20 and 30 euros, depending on how large, what contents and whether the boxes are organic or non-organic.
A box subscription is of course also a great gift idea. Most subscriptions can also be canceled at any time. So when you take out the subscription you are not immediately obliged to receive vegetable boxes for the whole next year (or to have someone deliver them to you 😊).
A little more unconventional: weekly vegetable boxes through cooperative shares
Are you particularly interested in ecological, sustainable agriculture with a direct connection to the region? Then membership in a local vegetable gardening cooperative is just the thing! After purchasing one or more cooperative shares, you will receive a weekly delivery of vegetables to your pickup point or even to your home for a fixed monthly amount. The cooperative shares also guarantee you participation in the general meetings and a say in voting. So you have the opportunity to actively support a local agricultural cooperative. You will also be provided with fresh and regional vegetables. These numerous advantages are usually accompanied by a rather longer-term payment obligation of at least 12 months.
Unfortunately, there is no Germany-wide offer for this, but for anyone interested in agriculture from Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder) , Plant-Age , for example, is a great opportunity to secure sustainable subscription boxes from a cooperative.
We recommend that everyone else also searches for specific regions or cities on the website. 😊
The Sirplus food subscription box against food waste
With the mission to bring the issue of food waste into the mainstream and thereby reduce it, Sirplus offers sustainable subscription boxes and individual boxes with rescued food.
Although current food production exceeds actual consumption by billions, hunger is part of everyday life for millions of people. Food that is still absolutely edible and free of any defects is often removed from the commercial cycle due to an expired best-before date, production errors, packaging defects or similar. This acute food waste in our mass society presents itself as both an ethical and ecological, resource-consuming problem.
With a box or even a box subscription from Sirplus you can make an active contribution to combating acute food waste in our society. You can also discover many new, delicious snacks and foods that you might not have thought of without Sirplus.
Sirplus offers its boxes both as individual boxes and as sustainable subscription boxes, the latter with a significant price advantage and a term of 12 months. You can choose between vegetarian and vegan-organic boxes. There is also the snack box, filled with crunchy and sweet delicacies that can no longer be offered in the supermarket for various reasons, such as a packaging error.
The contents of the boxes vary and depend on the food currently being rescued, but all boxes have approximately the same supermarket value. The prices of the individual boxes vary between twenty and 50 euros. However, compared to the supermarket prices of the contents, you save between 20 and almost 40 percent.
Sirplus subscriptions can be taken out for three or twelve months. If subscription boxes are too expensive as a sustainable gift option for you, you can make your recipient happy with a single sample box full of rescued food.
There are many ways to get a vegetable subscription
Sustainable consumption through crowd farming
Not sustainable subscription boxes in the classic sense, but crowd farming offers another great, sustainable way to have delicious things sent to your home. Crowd farming works with different farmers around the world. Its aim is to shorten the supply chain by mediating directly between consumers and producers. By cutting out middlemen, farmers can be paid higher and, above all, fair prices. So more reaches the actual food producers. This significantly improves the working conditions on site and guarantees the farmers their livelihood.
On the crowd farming site you can buy individual foods such as oranges, olive oil or cheese by the box. This option is particularly useful if you need larger quantities of a food, for example to replenish your orange marmalade stocks. Crowd farming is also a great option for group orders with friends and family.
Another exciting way to specifically support individual farms is crowd farming, which offers one-year farm sponsorships. Depending on which end product is produced or grown on the farm, you can choose and adopt a cow or an olive tree, for example. You give your adopted child a name and receive one or more deliveries of the corresponding product within a year. So here, for example, cheese or olive oil. The adoption is equivalent to a subscription, giving farmers planning security as to how much should actually be grown and thus minimizing food waste. So win-win – and a great gift idea, many adoptions only cost around fifty euros!
Subscriptions that you can't eat, but still make you want to eat
In addition to the exciting, food-related sustainable subscription boxes that we have already introduced to you, a little excursion into the classic realms of the subscription world: magazines and journals!
There are now some magazines that explicitly deal with the topic of sustainability and/or sustainable enjoyment.
The slow food magazine for connoisseurs
A magazine that should definitely be mentioned in this list is Slow Food Magazine . The publisher is the corresponding association “ Slow-Food eV .”, which focuses on sustainable food production and conscious nutrition. In the magazine, which is published every two months, you will find regional travel tips, articles about food and nutrition as well as politics and society.
Of course you can also become a member of the club itself. This gives you the opportunity to take part in exciting events on the topic of conscious enjoyment together with like-minded connoisseurs. The magazine subscription is already included in the regular club fee of 75 euros.
So if you're still looking for a gift for someone who loves cooking and, above all, food, you could absolutely hit the mark with a Slow Food magazine subscription or a free club membership.
The Enorm Magazine as a sustainable subscription option
A magazine that is more dedicated to sustainability and the issues that determine our zeitgeist, such as climate change, racism and the question of fair economics, is Enorm Magazine . You will find exciting texts on the topics of climate change, sustainability, racism and social justice that stimulate thought and discussion!
The Enorm magazine subscription offer is great. Depending on the financial capabilities of the subscriber, there are different price ranges with different service options. This means you can find a subscription option to suit every budget. It also explains in detail how the magazine price is made up.
With its variety of topics, this magazine subscription will certainly enrich not only the subscribers, but also the table discussions in the respective household. 😉
Finally: The tastiest, sustainable subscription boxes you can imagine – the Theyo chocolate subscription!
Similar to the classic restaurant process, this blog post ends with something sweet, or floral, fruity, espresso-like. Or with all the flavors that our fairly produced, sustainable and delicious chocolates from the Theyo range have to offer.
A delicious and informative chocolate subscription
There is now a chocolate subscription box in our range in our Theyo shop! So you can discover new, exceptional and sustainable chocolates every month with our subscription boxes.
With our chocolate subscription you will receive 4-5 bean-to-bar chocolates per month, but exactly what the current box contains remains a surprise. What is certain, however, is that the subscription boxes are filled with the finest and at the same time sustainable fine chocolate flavors. So you can enjoy chocolate without a guilty conscience! Because our chocolate experts select the chocolate based on both the enjoyment factor and sustainability. The box also contains exciting information about the individual chocolates as well as tips on how you can optimize your chocolate experience for maximum enjoyment.
The Theyo chocolate subscription is available in two different versions: vegan or non-vegan , the latter also containing milk chocolate. The subscription period initially begins with three (80 euros) months and ends automatically. Of course, you can also give the subscription as a gift to other chocolate enthusiasts. To do this, you simply have to enter that of the recipient as the shipping address.
If you just want to try a single box, that's of course possible too. Just take a look at our shop for tasting boxes !
Header photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash
