We've started getting a mixed box from Abel and Cole since our previous suppliers emigrated to Australia. There are a number of good features about the way Abel and Cole do things, being a bigger organisation than other schemes they probably have the economies of scales to do this - e.g. allowing preferences. They also have very friendly telephone staff (for example when our card expired and thus they didn't get paid they were polite and helpful and not accusatory!). The main reason for rating them as good and not excellent is that we have not found a box size that fits us 100% perfectly, and we sometimes find that there are too many of one type of thing - for example for much of the autumn we were drowning in onions... but generally they are good to very good. Nice website too.

The Reading farmer's market does what it says on the tin and more. A good variety of stalls, some on the pricey side but others extremely good value - one stall has sold us enough bacon bits for a large stew (4 adults) for £1.20!

There are meat, fish (one local fiver fish and one from the sea), vegetable, cakes, cheeses, general dairy and a juice farm that are regular. It's a pleasant way to spend a hour on a quiet Saturday and a good way to get some quality food.

Location is in the cattle market and it's 2 Saturday's a month
http://www.map-reading.co.uk/rfm/index.html

A freindly atmosphere and a huge range of real ales - 12 at a time along with a good choice of wine (although I can't rate that as I stick the the beer) are the real attractions here. It's a good place to go for a relaxed evening chatting with freinds, a quiet game of crib, a noisy game of darts or just a quick half.

They also do a meals for £6 between 5 and 7pm, there's not really much choice but they're definately filling. Friday night is often 'pie night' where they serve up pies from Sweeny and Todd, another Reading institution.

We got a vegetable bag from Tolhurst organic for over 2 years when livign in Oxfordshire. They are a vegetable box scheme that is very good value (often it would work out cheaper than non-organic supermarket vegetables). They also had a very strong set of ethical and environmental principles. The down side of this for the conventional consumer such as myself is taht they don't deliver to your door, instead delivering to your neighbourhood rep. We used to have a 10m bike ride each way to pick it up. NOo too much of a problem as long as you weren't busy on the specific day and you lived close by. For a working couple though it could be a pain - a lot of our fellow collectors where we lived in were retired. However the only reason we stopped using them was due to moving and not getting a response when we left messages asking where our nearest rep was in central Reading. Therefore I would recommend them for thos ewho have a bit more time and want a less expensive veg box scheme

We have been useing East organic for a regular delivery of fruit and veg weekly for the last 9 months and have found them to be very reliable and provide a good value selection that doesn't get boring. Occasionally we find that we get a little much cabbage in the quiet season but there is always something interesting or unusual along with the standards. Being as it's organic the produce doesn't tend to last as long as sprayed fruit and veg but it's always good quality and fresh. They also provide reusable boxes and most of teh bags are paper, again they will reuse them if they haven't torn. I would recommend them to people who want convenience and a good quality, varied box of food

Agree with evomedia's review - a very good traditional butchers. Good value free-range chicken, eggs available. The sausages are delicious, comparable with supermarket prices but much nicer! They also do less usual cuts or items. We had a whole rabbit a couple of months ago for a stew, although as a child of the supermarket age I haven't ventured as far as tripe and sweetbreads!

There is often a queue on a Saturday and they close relatively early (officially 5pm but I've found getting there at 4.50 can be too late!) so if you work in the town centre your best bet is to go at lunch time. Not open Sundays.

If you know what you want and are buying a lot it is also worth ringing up and they will put aside for you- I did this for a recent BBQ.

The only down side is they do use a quite a lot of plastic packaging, but probably no more than you would get from a meat counter in a supermarket.