A box landed at Casa Adora last week from Remolonas.com – a wonky fruit and veg box from Spain, mixed and changing week to week by design, so this wasn't something I could turn into a single recipe. So this is a proper Remolonas review rather than a recipe: who they are, what they actually do, and whether the box itself holds up.
First impressions were good. Everything arrived well boxed, with two RecyCold cool packs doing their job properly – genuinely useful when "delivered to rural Jaén in summer." Ordered and on my doorstep within 48 hours.
So what is Remolonas, actually?
Remolonas Foods is a Valladolid-based startup (founded 2021, commercial launch 2024) built around a food waste box subscription model and a simple, slightly maddening fact: supermarkets reject huge volumes of perfectly good fruit and veg every year – not because anything's wrong with it, but because it's the wrong size, an odd shape, mislabelled, or simply surplus to a contract. Remolonas buys that surplus directly from producers at a fair price, then sells it on to subscribers in mixed boxes at a meaningful discount – somewhere in the 40–50% range against supermarket prices, by their own figures.
It's not just fruit and veg, either. Subscribers get access to a pantry shop too – oils, tins, biscuits, snacks – running short-dated or overstocked lines from proper, recognisable brands (Helios and Pastas Gallo both get a mention as partners) rather than anything obscure.
A couple of things pushed this past "just another veg box" for me. About 60% of their staff are people with disabilities or otherwise at risk of exclusion from the job market – a deliberate hiring choice, not a footnote. And on the institutional side, they've picked up some real outside recognition: a spot on Spain's Top 101 innovative startups list for 2025 (a programme backed by ENISA and the Ministry of Industry and Tourism), plus a mention at the Premios Alimentos de España for food innovation. Worth being precise about what that means, though – it's recognition and a startup accelerator place (via Mercadona's Lanzadera programme), not government funding as such.
What was actually in the box
Right, the actual point of this Remolonas review – what was in the box: oranges, two melons, lemons, nectarines, a punnet of dark plums, tomatoes, a whole iceberg lettuce, celery, carrots, potatoes, and beetroot – which, fittingly, is remolacha in Spanish, about as close to the brand's own name as produce gets. Plus a few pantry extras dropped in: tinned chickpeas, mini biscuits, a strawberry-and-white-chocolate bar, and a bag of pipas.
Nothing arrived bruised, nothing was anywhere near its last day – it just wasn't uniform, which is rather the point.
Worth knowing before you sign up
A few things worth flagging before wrapping up this Remolonas review. My own experience was smooth, but it's fair to say it isn't universal – a scan through customer reviews turns up some genuine complaints about delivery time slots not being honoured, and the odd damaged item in transit. Worth going in with reasonable expectations on a system that's inherently a bit "whatever's surplus this week," rather than treating it like a precision grocery order.
First-time subscribers get 30% off, bringing the Super Box down from €21.90 to €15.33. On top of that, my box included €9.25 worth of extra product, for a total value of €24.58. Shipping is free on orders over €19, so this qualifies comfortably.
Verdict
For anyone already inclined to wonky photos and proper food over uniform, photogenic perfection – which, regular readers, is rather the house style here – this wonky fruit and veg box is an easy fit philosophically. Good packaging, properly fast delivery in genuinely difficult conditions, and a model that's hard to argue with: paying producers fairly for food that would otherwise go to waste. I'd use them again.
For more reviews like this Remolonas review, visit my Reviews page.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef
