It is no secret we love food in this house but I am incredibly fussy about what I feed my family and after the recent horse meat scandal it seems my fussiness is somewhat justified. I try to buy as little from the supermarkets as possible, sadly it really is unavoidable but in my mission to become less reliant on the supermarket I have found some local gems that not only have fabulous produce but make food shopping fun and Rita Wild’s Boxa is one such gem.

Boxa is a community buying scheme and it  began when its founder, Rita Wild, wanted to buy organic beef for a party and was stunned by how expensive it was (despite this not being reflected in the price paid to the farmer by the supermarkets), she set out to find a local farmer to buy beef directly. Rita came across David and Anne Laughlin’s Culmore Organic Farm , David had already given up on the conventional market as the price he was paid was “insulting” and was selling beef directly from the farm to rave reviews but without the time or money to devote to marketing the idea it remained small scale.

Rita saw the opportunity to bypass the traditional food chain and deal with local farmers on a larger scale. Price was critical and the least costly way was to simply divide a cow between a number of people, everyone pays the same and receives  the same. It started with half a cow divided between 10 people and within a week Rita had 20 orders.

Demand meant Rita soon added grass fed lamb, free range pork and turkey from Michael and Cathy Black’s organic farm in Ballycastle, then came Rathlin Island Seafoods and  finally wild venison, turkeys for Christmas and the much anticipated arrival of chickens. Boxa now has 135 members and is growing rapidly.

Before finding Rita and her wonderful scheme I bought all our meat from the butcher, we are fortunate in Northern Ireland to still have an abundance of local butchers, and while the quality was fabulous and I still do use our local butchers on a regular basis I did want the majority of our meat to be organic and that was impossible to find at the butchers.

When I first called Rita to ask about joining the Boxa scheme she was so enthusiastic and endlessly patient with all my questions, she really is a one woman whirlwind who single handedly manages the ordering and delivery process, hand delivering every single box of meat with a smile and a chat.

We are regular purchasers of the beef, lamb and fish boxes and the the first time this month we experienced the joy of prime cuts in the form of half a sirloin, we had a Boxa turkey and ham for Christmas and have tried out the most amazing wild venison from Donegal.

Being organic is not just enough for, the meat also needs to be utterly delicious and I can happily say it is the best meat we have eaten at home.

I have chosen not to go down the pork box route as despite being organic the sausages are only 85% meat which still allows for a lot of filler and despite Rita’s best efforts the bacon isn’t nitrate free , although I understand a nitrate free trial is underway. For those interested a fabulous nitrate free bacon is made by O’Dohertys of Enniskillen, having said that I do need to research the nitrate issue a bit more as some say it really isn’t an issue at all so Boxa bacon may be on the menu soon. We have also tried the pork roasts (crackling to die for) and pork chops and they were wonderful so maybe I just need to put my sausage obsession to one side.

This is how the meat arrives, not the most attractive picture admittedly. It is in large boxes and is generally well labelled so its identifiable in the freezer.  I love things to be organised so I do appreciate a good label and the lamb boxes (in the picture) is consistently well labelled, the beef can be hit and miss and the fish isn’t labelled at all but  it is more easily identifiable so I can forgive that. If I really can’t identify a piece of meat Rita is more than happy to help and she has been super lovely when she receives random texts asking what in the world chump is or what specific cut of meat the pot roast is (brisket by the way and divine).

Boxa suggests each box should fit in one drawer of a standard domestic freezer, I think this is a little optimistic and if ordering I would allow for it to take up a little more.

Here is our freezer, filled (literally to the brim) with a beef, lamb and fish box as well as half a sirloin (I really do need to learn how to resize my photos). In terms of price it compares very favourably to the price of organic meat purchased elsewhere, I haven’t compared the price myself and Mr Belfast Mummy keeps muttering that I should do some analysis to see what the weekly cost is but that just isn’t going to happen. As a very rough guide it cost £250 to fill our freezer, I would expect this to last around 2 months, probably longer.

So does Boxa have any downsides? Not many that I can see, you are buying a share of an animal so there isn’t any opportunity to choose which cuts of meat you would like but I see this is an advantage as it means I cook with cuts I may not necessarily buy otherwise.

There is flexibility in the fish box to swap things in and out and make additions such as prawns or lobster. The only thing in any of the boxes I was a little dubious about was the “veg roll” , a Northern Irish speciality I had so far managed to avoid but Rita even changed my mind on this with the genius idea of turning them into meatballs. Oh and if you are ordering the fish box with young children in mind the Glenarm salmon is in steaks rather than fillets and are very, very boney, not being a fan of bones I have swapped them and am hoping Rita can organise some fillets for our next box.

Rita is planning open days at the farms especially for the Boxa children and I am really excited about showing small and smaller where the food they eat comes from.

Look Mummy, it’s our favourite..veg roll..

So, Boxa provides the most beautiful, organic meat and fish that is much cheaper than the supermarkets and our money goes directly into the hands of small, local farmers, fishermen and processors rather than into supermarket tills. It’s not surprising I’m a little evangelical  about Boxa.

If you are interested in joining Boxa you can contact Rita here.