SlowBox: The CSA To Use In Korea

Slowbox is a service that delivers produce direct from local farmers to consumers throughout the country of Korea. I’m always on the lookout for ethically-sourced produce and I used to always head to local farmers markets like Mangwon Market since we lived so close. However, since moving and only having the large brand grocery stores within walking distance now, Slowbox has been an amazing option for us for more than a year now.

Slowbox is a community supported agriculture (CSA) program that sources their produce from small family owned farms around Korea and you can meet their farmers right on their Slowbox Instagram page.

Here’s what you’ll find in this article:

• What To Know About Slowbox Korea
• How Often Does Slowbox Come?
• Slowbox Size Choices
• Customizing My Slowbox
• Pros Of Ordering Through Slowbox
• Cons Of Ordering Through Slowbox

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.)

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What To Know About Slowbox Korea

Slowbox has four core values that it operates under:

• We will provide only organic, agricultural products, including non-GMO, native breeds, endangered heritage food.
  • Produce is grown without the use of organosynthetic pesticides and with the use of less than 1/3 of recommended amount of applied chemical fertilizers.
  • GMO, which stands for Genetically Modified Organism, refers to organisms that are created by artificial synthesis of unrelated DNAs and also the produce that are developed to possess genetic characters or DNAs that cannot occur by natural mating and/or recombination.
• We will create a sustainable delivery system, using minimal packaging along with eco-friendly wrapping materials.
  • We try our best not to use plastics. Leaf vegetables will be packaged in papers and root vegetables in used newspapers. In case of unavoidable plastic use, we use eco-friendly biodegradable plastics.
  • Nongmin newspaper company, a paper published every two days and tells stories of the Korean countryside and agricultural activities, donates newspaper copies to be used in packaging as it identifies with the intent of Slowbox.
• We will share the stories of local organic farmers, as well as global friends who support Korean farming communities.
• We will support various non-profit organizations working for Korean agriculture and farming communities.

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How Often Does Slowbox Come?

Slowbox can come once, every week or every two weeks and you can get a subscription for 1 month, 2 months, or 3 months. If you do purchase a three month subscription, you’ll also get a 5% discount. If you’ve got kids at home, get them to join in the unboxing. It’s been a great experience to unbox together and see what’s new. When we get produce that we’ve never tried before.. or she’s never tried before, it’s great to figure out what to do with it together and get the littles involved in the kitchen. Ava is more likely to eat what she’s never tried before when she’s helping to prep and cook it.

The boxes are sent out every Wednesday and are delivered to homes on Thursdays. In the case of holidays falling on Wednesday or Thursday, the schedule may be somewhat disrupted, but the Slowbox flyer which comes in every box has a section with notices where they let you know of any changes to upcoming deliveries.

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Slowbox Size Choices

Slowbasket has two options for customers that include a small basket or a grand basket. Here’s what to know about them and since we’ve tried both, I’ll give a short review so you know what you’ll get.

The Slowbox Small Basket

• Cost: W24,000 per week
• Notes: This box comes with 200 grams of tofu and 6 eggs.

This box is meant for 1 to 2 people but this works really well for my family of three including two parents and a small child. This one works well for us since we generally eat breakfast and dinner at home but not lunch.

The Slowbox Grand Basket

• Cost: W36,000 per week
• Notes: This box comes with 400 grams of tofu and 10 eggs.

This box is meant for 3 to 4 people and this is what we started with since we have three members of our family but we quickly realized that this was far too much produce for us week to week. Take into consideration how many meals your family eats at home and how big your kids are if you opt for this one.

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Customizing My Slowbox

When you choose your box, there are six categories: basic vegetables, seasonal vegetables, fruits, eggs, tofu, and processed goods. You need to choose to have at least two in your box and then you can add notes to your order when you’re wrapping up the ordering process. The options are all good and healthy so if you’re looking for something to help you stay healthy while you’re here in Korea, this is also a great choice for that.

What the categories entail:

• Basic Vegetables: 3-5 potatoes, onions, carrots, green onions, and garlic
• Seasonal Vegetables: 2-5 garden fresh crops in season
• Fruits: 1-2 seasonal fruits like apples, grapes, blueberries, plums, etc.
• Tofu: non-GMO, non-pesticide tofu
• Eggs: fertile chicken eggs from an animal welfare farm
• Processed Goods: 1 processed produce like juice, marmalade, dehydrated food, etc.

You can opt not to have an entire category all together though and this will mean that the amount of another category will increase to make up for it. For us, we tried at all at first but then the second time we ordered chose not to get the processed goods. Now, we tend to get a few more potatoes or a couple more fruits each week.

Check out Slowbox’s website to learn more.

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Pros Of Ordering Through Slowbox

• Direct From Farmer To Consumer
  • You can check out the farmers Slowbox is sourcing from via their Instagram page.
• The Cost
  • I think the cost of the boxes is pretty reasonable and since it’s coming right to my door, it makes it all the better.
  • Overall, I think I spend less month to month when I’m using slowbox since I inevitably pick up other random things when I head to the market myself. This keeps us pretty well in check.
• Free Shipping
  • Do note that free shipping is only available if you purchase a subscription.
• It’s Customizable
  • You can set your preferences or let them know about your dietary restrictions so they only send you what you can actually use and eat.
• Quick Response Time
  • There have been weeks where we’ll be out of town and so I can’t accept the box. I can easily message Slowbox via Kakao to let them know not to send and just move that box to the end of my cycle. Sometimes, I’ve had a couple broken eggs and I just take a picture and shoot it to them and they add extra eggs the next week. The Slowbox team is quick to respond and very helpful and accommodating.
• Reduced Trash
  • Slowbox uses cardboard boxes which you can send back so they can REUSE them again. Just collect five boxes, let them know, and they’ll send a bag and the postman will come pick up the bags again. As easy as that.
  • Less food trash. Because a lot of the farmers markets pre-package their produce and for whatever reason, they pre-package a lot together, I inevitably end up with food waste when some of the leftovers rot because we just can’t finish it all. With Slowbox, we never have food waste. Since we’re getting smaller amounts of a lot more, it’s easier for us to keep food waste to a minimum.
  • Slowbox tries to use as little plastic as possible. They only thing they wrap in plastic is leafy produce and actually, you can choose NOT to have your produce plastic packaged at all if you want too.
• Recipes
  • One thing I think is super cool about Slowbox is that they send out a little flyer with each box that features the names of all of the produce that you’re receiving. The flyer features one recipe each time that uses the produce in the box. This is super helpful because some of the produce has been some new to us that neither my husband nor I know what to do with it and there in comes the recipe to save the day.

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Cons Of Ordering Through Slowbox

• Need To Collect Boxes
  • For us, we just insert the boxes in a little pocket next to our fridge until we get five so we can send them back, however, if you don’t have space or live in a small apartment, collective five boxes to send back might not be easy.
• Surprise Produce
  • You don’t really know what will be in your box week to week. In 2019, Slowbox was sharing a monthly calendar so you could see what you’d be getting ahead of time but they seem to have stopped that as of 2020 or moved it and I can’t find it anymore so it’s just a big surprise.

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