If you love fresh fruit and vegetables it is a good idea to find out if there’s a local veg box delivery scheme operating in your area.

And, as these schemes get more and more popular, the answer will probably be ‘yes’.

Veg boxes deliver a range of fresh, locally-sourced (and often organic) vegetables to your door. They usually come direct from a local grower or from an organisation that brings a number of local growers and producers together.

If you are at all interested in good food, there’s nothing better than getting hold of a stack of veg that you know is fresh and ready to eat but that has not travelled hundreds of miles in chillier lorries and containers. In addition, ‘fresh’ will usually mean that the vegetables have been harvested in the last few days rather than four to six weeks ago.

In your veg box you’ll receive a range of seasonal produce with some suppliers supplementing content with imported produce during quiet growing seasons.

Don’t worry if everything doesn’t look quite as perfect or as soil-free as the uniform vegetables you’ll find on supermarket shelves. It just goes to show that this is real food you’ve got your hands on.

Seasonal variety means you will perhaps discover new, less common vegetables. This could include beetroot, celeriac, butternut squash, broad beans, sweet potato and many others, depending on the time of year and where you live.

And, if you’re not sure how best to cook something, a visit to a few specialist websites or a trip to your local library to pick up a few cookery books will set you on the right path.

So, enjoy experimenting with and cooking new types of vegetables. After all, the more of them you can add into your diet, the better and healthier (and more delicious) your meals will be.