Nutrition

Buy Fresh Organic Salads Online in The UK At the Best Price

21 January 2020

About us

At Pikt, customers call the shots. We supply fresh produce tailored to your requirements in line with our ethical values. Sustainability is key to our success. We respect people throughout the entire supply chain, from growers to customers. Ingredients are organic and we’re proudly verified by the Soil Association. We provide fresh organic salads home delivery.

We believe in giving back rather than being profits driven. We put you first. Everything we do is in accordance with organic principles, reducing the size of the supply chain and preserving the planet in the face of fluctuating prices – aiming to operate our business towards net-zero for 2030. Our focus is on sustainability, ethical and honest relationships with our growers and you the customer with no hidden agendas. We work towards a better future for the majority, not a minority.

Our history

SunFresh Produce Ltd is the company that began our journey. We started delivering organic fruit and vegetables to shops, but always had bigger goals. After canvassing attendees at a food festival in 2018 about what they loved about food and what they didn’t, we saw the light: bespoke fresh organic produce available online for home delivery.

Customer choice

We listened carefully to our customers to enhance our service. They told us that they want a say about the content of their boxes and to minimise waste while receiving the choicest ingredients.

Receiving ethically sourced food that is fairly traded was important, and an open and transparent scheme was also a must. We delivered on all these preferences, as we put you, the customer, first.

Bespoke boxes for you

Pikt boxes are hand-packed at the click of a mouse, with your convenience being our priority. We supply a fantastic selection of fresh, organic produce and let you offset the box’s carbon footprint.

Alternatively, rounding up the price of the box means that your change goes towards good causes through the Fresh Republic Foundation: a charity committed to sustainability, fair dealing and worker welfare.

Homey box

If you want the freshest organic salads home delivery is the way to go. This box covers your normal weekly shop. You will get up to 25 portions of gorgeous organic fruit and vegetables for your household.

Some delicious choices available include ginger root, broccoli, avocado and butternut squash. Further exciting picks include grapefruit, fennel bulbs, aubergine, mango, speciality potatoes, celeriac and pineapple.

Cooks seeking to experiment can get to grips with white cabbage, pomegranate, leeks, garlic, blueberries, Braeburn apples, parsnips, bunched kale and cavalo nero, to name but a very few.

Fruitist

The Fruitist box (regular or large) supplies a weekly quantity of organic fruit for a healthy lifestyle.

Prepster

The Prepster 3 or 5 is a handy fresh ingredient box. Stock is easily managed and there’s no plastic waste.

Order by 8am and receive next-day delivery from DPD (UK mainland).

By purchasing salads from Pikt, you are buying into a sustainable lifestyle and helping to preserve the environment. What’s more, the produce is delicious and bursting with freshness – joining our scheme is a no-brainer!

Where to Find the Best Organic Vegetables for Home Delivery?

20 January 2020

Why Organic Vegetables?

Organic vegetables are grown without using harmful pesticides and fertilisers. To be able to label food as organic, strict guidelines must be followed, so you can guarantee all organic vegetables will have been grown using natural fertilisers. This means:

There is a less harmful impact on the environment.
The vegetables are fresher.
The vegetables have a higher nutritional quality than non-organic vegetables.

Extensive research has shown solid evidence that, by eating organic vegetables, you can increase your intake of desirable antioxidants whilst reducing your consumption of harmful pesticides.

How Do I Know It’s Organic?

It isn’t easy to get organic certification, and all organic farms and manufacturers are inspected at least once a year. If a company is certified by the Soil Association, you can guarantee the food has been grown organically.

Are There Any Other Benefits?

Not only are you looking after your own health, but by using a vegetable delivery service you are helping to keep the environment healthy too.

Did you know that 95% of the food we eat comes from the soil, and this soil is a non-renewable resource? By eating organically, you are helping to keep soil healthy. Healthy soil captures carbon dioxide and stores it as carbon. This means we can help reduce harmful greenhouse gases by farming organically and keeping the soil healthy.

Organic farming also helps protect our wildlife. Unfortunately, over the last 60 years, much of our wildlife has lost its natural habitat due to farming methods. Organic farmers are dedicated to protecting our wildlife by:

Creating spaces for nature within their fields.
Allowing nature (such as bees and beetles) to control pests and weeds.
Ensuring soil is nurtured to help reduce erosion and pollution.

Why Use a Delivery Service?

There are many benefits to having fresh organic vegetables delivered to your door:

You can reduce your single-use plastic consumption.
They are quick and easy to order.
You save time by having fresh organic produce delivered straight to your doorstep.
You can select which vegetables are delivered.

By choosing to use an organic vegetable home delivery service, you are choosing to shop ethically. Companies such as ourselves believe that everyone who is part of the process is treated fairly and with respect. As a B Corps verified business, we run a company with the highest ethical standards.

With so many organic vegetable home delivery services available, eating healthily and ethically is achievable. No longer do you need to wander around supermarkets selecting vacuum-packaged vegetables. There is a massive drive to be free from waste. In supermarkets, there is a huge choice of vegetables available all year round. However, this isn’t environmentally sound. With your organic vegetable boxes, you will receive seasonal vegetables that taste better and suit our diets for that time of year.

Fancy a roast squash? 7 facts to make you go ‘gosh!’

16 October 2019

Why we love organic squash

Butternut, pumpkin, hubbard, dumpling – whether you’re a summer squash person or a winter squash person, there’s an organic squash for everyone and for every occasion. It’s the best nosh, a squash!

At Pikt, we’re enjoying the crisp Autumn weather (OK, the soggyAutumn weather). What makes it even better is this is the season for warm-your-cockles soups and hearty stews. Sorry, we just made you hungry, didn’t we?You’re in luck: squashes are affordable, delicious and easy to get a-hold of this time of year. But we know some of you are daunted by these varied veggies. So, we’re here to demystify the squash with some fun facts.

The basics

Squashes are one of the world’s oldest known crops, with some sites in Mexicoestimating they’ve been a staple crop for over ten thousand years.

The word ‘squash’ is an adapted version of the word ‘askutasquash’ meaning ‘eaten raw or uncooked’ in Narragansett Native American. Sounds crunchy…

Squashes come from the Americas, but can be grown pretty much anywhere as they just need a temperate climate, full sun and good soil – and, of course, organic is best!

Checklist for choosing your catering food suppliers

7 facts about squashes

1. There are many kinds of squash

There are hundreds of different squashes, from the tromboncino, which is long and green, to the patty pan, which is yellow and shaped like a flying saucer.

2. Squashes, gourds and pumpkins are all in the same family

The squash is part of the Cucurbitaceae family, and is closely related to the cucumber and the watermelon.

3. Yes, you can eat the skin

The skin of a winter squash is often perfectly edible, such as with varieties like the delicata squash. For our thicker-skinned friends, try roasting or par-boiling the veg and then scooping out the flesh with a spoon.

4. Red, orange and yellow colours are because of carotenoids

Carotene gives carrots, tomatoes and mangoes their warm hue, and the same applies to many types of squash. This means they are a great source of provitamin A and anti-oxidants.

5. Summer squash keeps you beach-body ready…

Summer squashes, like courgettes, are high in water content and low in calories. Perfect for a healthy snack!

6. … And winter squash is fibre-full!

Winter squashes, like butternuts, are low-fat but packed with nutritious fibre to keep you feeling full for longer.

7. ‘Pompkin pudding’ is the first recorded pumpkin pie recipe

Whether you enjoy a Pumpkin Spice latté or think pumpkins should only be for carving on Halloween, everyone can agree that pie is the bomb-dot-com. Amelia Simmons wrote the ‘American Cookery’ book in 1796, and though she didn’t invent the pumpkin pie, she did write down the recipe, here.

Our favourite squash-tacular recipe: vegan butternut squash soup

Getting a bit chilly? Are you in the mood for a warming stew or a nice bit of soup? It doesn’t get easier than this soulful bowlful from Madeleine Olivia. With three main ingredients and a touch of seasoning, you are minutes away from a scrummy, veg-packed dinner. Just looking at that picture has our mouths watering.

And for pudding? Well – pumpkin pie of course! Order your Autumnal veggies here and share your recipes with us on Twitter @PiktFresh.

Should employers provide breakfast at work for free?

12 September 2019

We’ve all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But, should businesses be responsible for providing it? Maybe. Nearly half of adults in the UK skip breakfast at least once a week, resulting in low energy levels and a lack of motivation as the workday wears on.

Breakfast at work is a big thing in the startup community, and it’s not just to attract young talent. It’s certainly a nice idea. Still, there are some challenges you may want to think about before jumping on the bandwagon.

The drawbacks

Giving your employees a free meal five days a week can become an expensive undertaking, more so if your organisation employs more than a handful of people.

You also need to offer a fair range of options to meet everyone’s dietary requirements. Not only that, but nut or pectin allergies are something to be aware of if you’re serving certain cereals or fruits.

The morning’s casual start might impact productive morning work hours. Breakfast could become one more logistical problem to worry about as a manager or business owner.

It’s not just about logistics. There’s the responsibility for food waste and packaging, which needs to be recycled or composted. With the environmental impact that all that plastic could have, it’s important to explore sustainable alternatives, and to guarantee that you’re ordering the right amount.

Why, then, is it even worth considering? As it turns out, it’s an idea that could pay for itself – and then some.

Getting your money back

A few things happen when employees get a proper breakfast. First and foremost, it improves their performance. The University of Oxford’s Charles Spence notes the impact of a square meal in the morning:

‘The decision about if and what to eat and drink at the start of the day has been shown to have some profound effects on our health, well-being and cognitive performance.’

– Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford.

The proof is in the pudding (or Weetabix). Jay Hum, a project manager at software giant, Pivotal, has seen free breakfast sync the schedules of his team and boost their energy levels throughout the day. Their solution to prevent it from running into work hours? They hold their company-wide standup meeting immediately afterwards to signal the start of the workday. In his words, ‘we think it more than pays for itself’.

The mental benefits

The biological boost is just the start. Research has shown that when people eat with others, they’re happier. This won’t come as much of a surprise, but happier workers tend to be about 12 percent more productive, while those that are actively unhappy are ten percent lessproductive than average. It’s an investment in promoting positivity at the office.

Employees also get the chance to chat with coworkers they might not see on a regular basis, encouraging collaboration and a strong company culture. As if you needed another statistic, the evidence shows that when coworkers are friends, they’re likely to be two times as engaged with their jobs.

Enough waffle

All in all, a free breakfast seems to be well worth the initial hurdles it might present. We’ve thrown a load of statistics at you, but if you’re looking for an even deeper dive into the ROI of a free breakfast then check out Expert Market’s number-crunching guide. If you’re more into quotes, here’s an endorsement from the wildly productive journalist, John Gunther:

‘All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.’

(Before we forget – if you just want to order some fruit for your team, why not get a box of organic delights, delivered straight to the office.)

How to choose a fruit and vegetable box delivery service

9 September 2019

Imagine what your life would be like if you had delicious, nutritious and varied produce delivered straight to your door.

Well, when you use a fruit and vegetable box delivery service, that fantasy is a reality.

We manage so much of our life online now, so why stand in line at the supermarket when you can get your food delivered? It just makes sense to go online to get your fresh produce.

But, as more providers spring up, how do you choose the best vegetables box delivery service?

We think we can help you there.

Although it’s not rocket science, there are a few important factors to consider.

In this article, we’ll cover these factors and take a closer look at why getting produce delivered is so appealing and, frankly, makes shopping at a supermarket look a little outdated.

Sound good? Great.

Let’s jump in.

First things first – should you buy organic?

You’re no doubt aware that buying organic is a priority for many chefs and households across the country. The organic food industry has now grown to a whooping £2.33 billion.

This is because organic food has many compelling benefits.

These include:

Reduced impact on the environment because no pesticides are used
Greaterfreshness because less preservatives are added
Free from GMO–genetically modified organisms (GMO) exist in non-organic food and have, well, question marks around them

Naturally, Pikt is leading the charge with organic produce, so if you want to go organic, you’re already in the right place.

Flexibility – some services lock you in, others, not so much

Some vegetable box services tie you into subscription plans whereas others don’t.

If you’re confident with a service, then lock in and don’t worry about it. However, if you’re looking for something a little more flexible, a service like Pikt might be best for you. It’s easy to buy food as you go with Pikt so there’s no need to lock in with a long-term subscription if you don’t want to.

And, as we pride ourselves on being ethical and honest, we don’t apply fixed costs. With Pikt, you can mix and match your produce and only pay for what you want.

Convenience (we’re all busy, and there’s always something else to be doing)

The modern world is a busy place. And, if you run a household, you’ll be used to spinning many plates.

This makes the convenience of vegetable box delivery very appealing because in only a few minutes you can log in and order your food.

No problem.

It’s a strong advantage over the supermarkets because when you shop online, you save your most precious asset – time.

Now, all vegetable box delivery services ship to your door, but at Pikt, we always try to go the extra mile, so it’s easy to choose when you want your food delivered when you order from us. And, with our field to fork speedy delivery service, you’ll always get your produce fast and in good condition.

Nutrition – for your home and for your office

A vegetable box delivered straight to your door makes being healthy a cinch.

When you go to the supermarket, everything is there to distract you, and it’s easy to pick up that bag of crisps at the checkout. Not so when you get your fruit and veg delivered.

It’s also an easy way to make your office healthier. Fruit is nutritious and full of natural sugars that will give your staff a boost in energy and productivity. And don’t just take our word for it – there’re clear scientific links between productivity and nutrition. So, why not get fruit delivered to your office?

Price and value (shipping is never free)

There’s no getting away from the fact that price influences all buying decisions and vegetable boxes are no exception.

So, how do you go about choosing which is the best value for you? Well, you always pay for the shipping, (we like to be up front about that) because, the truth is, free shipping doesn’t exist.

Ultimately, you tend to get what you pay for, and for organic, natural and fresh produce, we think you’re already in the right place.

Shopping in a more ethical way

There’s nothing wrong with turning a profit, but when a business’ goal is only profit, things don’t always work out for the best. However, you’ll be buying from a not-just-for-profit business when you buy from Pikt.

That’s because, as a B Corps certified business, Pikt has proven itself as an organisation that runs to the highest ethical standards.

And it’s not a straightforward certification to complete, so you can be sure that every business that’s B Corps certified has worked hard to hold itself to a higher standard.

B Corps covers:

Governance
Workers
Community
Environment
Customers

So, if you want to care for the environment and help make a positive difference in the world, shopping with a B Corps certified business is a step in the right direction.

What selection of food does the service offer? (The power of trying something new)

Sometimes, we’re all guilty of getting a little complacent with our cooking – we drag ourselves to the supermarket and pick out the same foods without thinking about it.

Sound familiar?

Well, it’s easy to get out of your food rut when you order online and have food delivered to your door.

You’re not spending time driving, finding parking, walking around a dreary supermarket – you’ve got time and space to explore and discover new foods all from the comfort of your home.

It’s just easier to take in the choice and experiment when you’ve got time to do it.

This means that enjoying a breadth of food is easier with vegetable box delivery services. But different services offer a different range of foods.

At Pikt, we focus on food that’s fresh, organic and natural – because that’s what matters to us and that’s what we love.

Food that’s fresher (and always arrives in good condition)

A vegetable box delivered to your door is the best way to ensure you eat food that’s fresher. Food left to sit on a shelf in a supermarket simply struggles to compete.

And when you also go for organic food that’s not been covered in nasty pesticides, you’ll get the freshest, high-quality produce.

Fresh food is great, but some delivery services prioritize it more than others. At Pikt, we get food straight from the fields to your door, as fast as possible, to maximise freshness. And with our fast delivery service, you’ll always get food that arrives in good condition.

What packaging does the vegetable box delivery service use?

With everyone and their dog aware of the negative impacts of plastic on the environment, looking at the packaging your food comes in is another important consideration.

At Pikt, we’ve done our best to make our packaging as environmentally friendly as possible. It’s part of our mission to make a better impact on the Earth.

As ever, making the decision on what you buy depends on your values. If you’re not fussed and just want the food delivered to your door, don’t give it a second thought. But if you want to order from a business that’s ethical in how they approach everything that they do, including packaging, then Pikt might be the service for you.

Choosing your vegetable box delivery service – have you Pikt a winner?

There’s a lot to consider when deciding on a service to deliver your produce.

They all have the same advantage of being more convenient than shopping at the supermarket. However, between vegetable delivery services there are important differences to consider.

For example, do you want food that’s organic? And are you willing to pay a fixed cost for your vegetables? Also, do you want to buy from a business that’s B Corps certified?

These are important questions, and we’ll leave it in your capable hands to choose the vegetable box service that suits you best.

That said, if you feel like you’re already in the right place, and Pikt is the service for you, you can click here to start filling a vegetable box with us.

12 fascinating onion facts (and the best onion bhaaji recipe)

31 July 2019

Our love of the humble onion has deep roots.

It’s the basis of so much of our cooking, and the start to every good recipe:

‘Step One, chop an onion’.

There’s also a range of onions to suit a variety of dishes.

Spring onions grow in warmer climates and have a sweeter taste. White onions grow in colder weather and are named after their colour. And don’t forget the close relatives of the onion: the leek, the shallot and the chive.

Honestly, it’s hard to know where we’d be without onions. And, because we love them so much, we’ve dug a little deeper and put together a few onion facts you probably didn’t know.

12 eye-opening (and tear inducing) onion facts

Fact 1: Cutting onions makes you cry because of the release of a compound called allyl sulphate, which irritates your eyes. To lessen the effect, you can put your onion in the fridge for half an hour before you cut into it.

Fact 2: The onion is part of the species of the genus ‘Allium’. Garlic is also a member of this group.

Fact 3: There’s evidence onions were used as far back as 5000 BCE as traces have been found in bronze age settlements in China.

Fact 4: European settlers brought onions with them when they started to settle in North America. When they arrived, however, they found that the native Americans already grew and used them widely in their cooking.

Fact 5: The average P.H. of an onion is 5.5. This makes it strongly acidic.

Fact 6: Ancient Egyptians worshipped the onion. For them, its spherical shape and the concentric circles within symbolized eternity.

Fact 7: Onions are healthy and nutritious. They contain fibre, folic acid, and are high in vitamin C.

Fact 8: Don’t feed onions to your dogs – they can weaken a dog’s red blood-cells. This leads to anaemia which in some cases can even lead to death.

Fact 9: The yellow onion is the most popular onion globally and makes up75%of the onions grown worldwide.

Fact 10: Onion breath isn’t great. If you ever do get some nasty onion breath, you can get rid of it by chewing fresh parsley.

Fact 11: Soldiers and athletes in ancient civilizations believed onions were a source of strength. The Ancient Greeks thought that rubbing it on the skin gave them more speed and power.

Fact 12: Historians and botanists have found evidence suggesting onions originated from central Asia.

Our favourite onion recipe: easy onion bhajis with tamarind date chutney

There’re so many great recipes that make the most of the humble onion.

Our favourite of the moment is this one: Easy Onion Bhajis with Tamarind Date Chutney.

They’re delicious warm and when dipped in the date chutney. It’s by Ania at the Lazy Cat Kitchen. For the full recipe and the easy to follow YouTube video that guides you through, head here.

Food fight: Junk food vs employee wellbeing

22 July 2019

Eating unhealthily increases the risk of unproductive time in the workplace by 66 percent. No, that’s not a misquote, you read that right. In fact, productivity losses due to health issues cost employers two to three times more than annual health care expenses.

But what’s the meaning of life if you can’t enjoy a burger with fries every once in a while, are we right?

Well, ‘every once in a while’ is rapidly turning into ‘every other day’. We live in an age of convenience. No longer are we preparing nutritious lunches for work on Monday. Instead we’re getting food straight to our desks, and the food we order is seldom healthy.

The harsh reality: Junk food is affecting wellbeing

Researchers found that people who consumed a lot of fast food and baked goods were 37 percent more likely to become depressed over a six-year period than people with the lowest consumption. Yikes. Mental health, though, is only the tip of the iceberg. One in every four adults in the U.K. is classified as obese, for example.

There’s no arguing that obesity and depression will lead to lower productivity, a lack of focus and a demotivated state of mind (science can back this up).

For your business (let alone your employees who might be eating themselves into an unhappy state of mind), that’s bad news.

Short-term convenience vs long-term productivity

We make decisions about what to eat as little as three times a day, every single day. It requires a lot of mental capacity to choose to be healthy, and oftentimes, we don’t put that time aside.

Consequently, employees opt for convenience food over nutritional value. It’s inexpensive and efficient, meaning we can keep our bums at our desks and get more work done. But the 10 minutes saved by choosing convenience food is made up by weaker workplace performance throughout the rest of the day.

As an employer, this is cause for concern. Sure, you might have a wellbeing strategy in place (nearly half of all businesses do), but is diet front of mind? These daily micro decisions are affecting you staff, and something needs to change.

Fortunately, healthy food is becoming as convenient as a Five Guys burger (which, if you ask us, is actually quite inconvenient. There are 15 toppings to choose from… 15!).

Delivering healthy food to the workplace

Food delivery boxes are on the rise. According to Royal Mail research, the subscription box market is forecast to grow 72 percent, from £583 million in 2017 to £1 billion by 2022.

But while meal kit providers are delivering healthy recipes to your home, the workplace lacks in convenient healthy food. And we spend more time at work than at home.

At Pikt, we’re bringing healthy food to the workplace, whether it be a one-time order, or more conveniently, a month-to-month subscription package. You choose your fresh fruit, and we’ll deliver it to your office for your team to feast on (and feast they shall).

According to research from the Health Enhancement Research Organisation:

Employees who ate healthily all day long at work were 25 percent more likely to have higher job performance.
Employees who ate five or more servings of fruit and veg at least four times a week were 20 percent more productive.
Those who ate healthily and regularly exercised were absent from work 27 percent less than those who didn’t.

Food affects felicity, and felicity affects productivity. Feed your employees well, and they’ll work smarter for you.

To find out more about Pikt, be sure to visit our website or continue reading out blog.