Plan B Forum

We've discovered a great local "farmer's market" in a box. The Freshbox people put together a weekly bundle of veggies and associated goodies, available every Wednesday for pick-up at several local venues. Ours is at the Visitor's Cesntre at the University of the Free State. Fortunately for us, we've become friends with two UFS professors (Daniel & Mathilde) who live at the Boyden Observatory on the hill that overlooks our house. They pick up their own box and ours; we take it in turns to visit them to fetch it.

Here's the thing. The "Couples Box" contents are turning out to be a bit too much for the two of us. So today I placed an order for the "Singles Box" which costs R260. Here's what we get:

6 eggs; 1 artisan loaf of bread; 1 dairy (either yoghurt, cheese or butter); 4 potatoes; 4 tomatoes; 4 onions; 2-3 other veggies (seasonal butternut, corn, spinach, courgette, squash, green beans, carrots); 2-3 salad items (lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, avocado, seeds); 1 extra (herbs, spices, strawberries, lemons, nuts, oyster mushrooms).

The Couples Box was double the above, except for the bread and dairy. R260 today is just south of $18.

Where in da woild can one buy such bounty for $18 per week?

Amazing

Is $18 a lot of money to the average working family in SA? It seems like a great price, but can most afford that?

Good question. Yes and no. The average salary in SA is about R20,000.00 per month but that's deceptive. Unemployment is at 29%. Add those people who could work but are not currently seeking to do so, it's 38%.

Yes, because R260 is likely less than most could spend on food in a week. However, are available funds spent on healthy groceries in the first place?

No, because much is spent in convenience and spaza shops on more expensive (and less nutritious) foods. Of that, a significant amount is spent on alcohol, whether in cash liquor stores or local shebeens. Further, the majority cannot easily get to the pick-up places.

Much of the population lives too far away although not simply in physical distance. Given the costly transportation by a succession of taxis, they have neither the time nor the funds. The taxi "industry", mostly Toyota Quantum minibuses, is the mainstay for the poor previously disadvantaged.

Where we live, none of the black majority will travel into Bloemfontein for a Freshbox because there are neither buses nor taxis to take them. I pick up almost everyone I can on my way back and forth (three times a week) but they are on their way "home" for a weekend every three weeks or back to their local jobs. The black workers here at Maselspoort, for whom we could make pick-up and deliveries, eat for free. Farm-workers within our reach don't have the money; R15/hour is their minimum wage and R260 for veggies is very much not their idea of money well spent.