The Food Forager

As long time fans of Thyme and Tides (we can't wait for the return of their brilliant supper clubs!), we were very happy to be asked to review a food box from their new venture that began life at the start of November - The Food Forager. This food delivery service with a difference has a strong emphasis on great local produce. Choose from over 350 carefully curated luxury foods and drinks (as well a wide variety of the more everyday essentials), place an order and have it all delivered the very next day!

You could pick a box of essentials for yourself, add a good few treats to liven up an evening or a weekend, perhaps spoil someone who is stuck in for the time being, or opt for one of the carefully selected gift box options that would make amazing Birthday or Christmas Gifts for loved ones. There are gift boxes to suit all tastes - The Artisan for the Super Foodie in your life, consisting of things like Black Truffle Crisps, Drift Single Estate Coffee, Spanish Sardines, Suffolk Salami Red Wine, Greek Olive Oil, Scottish Sables, Double Fudge Brownies, Spiced Fig Balsamic, Spanish Olives, Tea, Chutney, Chocolate Rum Figs, Pinot Noir, Gin plus a lot more besides (I am about to update my Christmas list!!). There's a Seafarers Box stuffed full of everything you need for an evening of smoked salmon and blinis - right down to the dill you put on top of each one. There's also a Cheese Lovers Box packed full of artisanal English Cheese, Chutney and Crackers, a luxurious Gusto Gift Box, and one that I know many of my friends living abroad would fight over - a Brit Box made up with British produce only. Can't decide what to get? Opt for one of the wine boxes perhaps, or a gift card so that special someone can choose for themselves. We would be pretty happy with any/all of them to be honest!

As I mentioned above, The Food Forager is definitely not just a gift box service - you really could do a weekly food shop full of lovely things (including fresh fish from the counter prepared especially!), get ready for the upcoming Festive season with a bespoke "everything you need to ensure that Christmas 2020 makes up for the rest of the year" box, or if you're not sure what to order, take some inspiration from the Food Forager site itself (the photography is drool-worthy!)...

The teamwork regularly with Valentine Warner and Gill Meller who provide inspiration for product selection, and contribute recipes frequently... You could tailor a box to include all of the ingredients for one of their recipes, together with a bottle or two of something nice (there's a great range of drinks as well as food, many of it from local producers and vineyards), have it delivered the next day, follow the recipe, and have an impressive restaurant-quality meal in no time... We also really liked the fact the site features videos of The Food Forager Team introducing new products, a few of which were certainly new to us - we now know about the existence of Happy Butter Organic Ghee, Katie's Banana Chip Company, and Utta Nutta Peanut Butter makers from Wiltshire... All things we will be adding to a future Food Forager Box order.

We were gifted a Food Forager Box that consisted of everything we needed to make a Spanish stew full of butter beans and chorizo topped with pan-fried cod. This is actually one of Thyme & Tides House own recipes (they happen to be pretty good cooks themselves!), and is most definitely the kind of dish I like to cook - one of the best "chuck everything in a pan" type recipes with straight forward steps that result in a plate of something delicious in next to no time.

Absolutely everything we needed was included, right down to an onion, garlic bulb, and sprigs of rosemary tucked into the box. We were also sent a bottle of Kings Somborne Wine's Bacchus - their newest wine that's also a limited edition with only 1000 bottles produced. With notes of citrus and a Sauvignon Blanc nose, it complimented the cod and chorizo stew perfectly.

We were also treated to some Perello Olives to enjoy whilst we were cooking, a bag of delicious New Forest Chocolates Dark Chocolate Dipped Honeycomb for afters, along with one of our all-time favourites - a Tunworth Cheese which effectively made it four courses from one Food Forager box!

We both really love the concept of The Food Forager, the website is easy to navigate and it's nice to know that you could just place an order for bread, coffee and some cheese and wine for a weekend, or go all out and order everything you need to try and recreate one of Thyme and Tide's amazing supper club meals in your own kitchen - Lobster and Chips for New Year's Eve here we come (my favourite supper club meal yet back in August!)...

Up until the end of November if you use the code 'welcomebox' you will qualify for free delivery. After that date minimum orders are £30, with free delivery to all UK mainland addresses for orders over £50. Want something even quicker than that? Click and Collect is available, as is Local Delivery (also available on a Saturday!). Boxes and packaging are 100% recyclable.

*We were gifted a box from The Food Forager in exchange for an honest review.