INFORMATION
PAMPHLET
INFORMATION ABOUT US
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
JRR Tolkien
What we offer
We have put together a box of goodness for small families. This includes some healthy, fresh
products for you to enjoy on a weekly basis delivered to your door every week.
At present, we have five options available consisting of the following in different quantities:
Farm-fresh, free-range, grass-fed milk
Locally-made cheese from awesome fresh cow/sheep/goat milk
Free-range, grain-fed eggs
Organically grown fresh fruit & veg
Artisan bread
A surprise product or two
How we work
Because we love our planet, one of our main focus areas is sustainability and the impact on our
environment. We therefore have chosen packaging with a very small carbon footprint (for more
info see the section of this document on packaging!) – and then we go one step further – we reuse our packaging as far as possible in order to minimise the effect on our environment.
With your first order, we will require a deposit of R350 to cover your empty crate and glass bottles
– this is just in case anything gets broken, damaged or lost. Once you pay for the deposit and your
first week’s order, we will arrive on the next Thursday or Friday with a box of healthy and delicious
goodness for you! The following week when we deliver your next box, we will collect the nowempty crate and bottles and take them back with us. These are then thoroughly cleaned and
sterilised and are re-used for the following week’s deliveries.
In order to deliver your box in any given week, we will need to have received your order and
payment by 11am on the Tuesday. Orders can be made by phone, sms or email. We work on a
monthly subscription basis, payable in advance. You can select fortnightly delivery or even one
delivery a month if it suits you!
If you have selected to take a one-week trial to check us out first, please be aware that we will still
collect your empty box and bottles the following week – but if we aren’t bringing another full box
with us, then we charge a collection fee of R50. This collection fee is added to your initial invoice
and is reversed and allocated against your deposit if you decide to subscribe.
In the inexplicable event that you ever decide to stop enjoying the goodness that The Munching
Mongoose has to offer – the only possible reason we can think of is that you’re leaving town - you
can just return the empty crate and bottles to us in their original condition, and we return your
deposit. Or, if you love your box and bottles as much as we do, you get to keep
them and we just use your deposit to buy some more.
Pricing and Box Options
We currently have the following options available :
Standard Boxes:
Mini Bag
5-6 Veg/Fruit Items
1L Milk
6 Eggs
1 Cheese
1 Bread
1 Surprise Product
Cost: R479 per week
Midi Box
5-6 Veg/Fruit Items
2L Milk
12 Eggs
2 Cheese
1 Bread
1 Surprise Product
Cost: R575 per week
Maxi Box
8-9 Veg/Fruit Items
3L Milk
18 Eggs
2 Cheese
2 Bread
2 Surprise Product
Cost: R779 per week
Special Boxes:
Banting Box
5-6 Veg/Fruit Items
2L Milk
12 Eggs
2 Cheese
1-2 Surprise Product
Cost: R685 per week
No-Veg Bag
2L Milk
12 Eggs
2 Cheese
1 Bread
1 Surprise Product
Cost: R429 per week
Our Mongaggle Members also get a few extra goodies in their boxes from time to time, just to
keep things interesting!
All of our options work on a monthly subscription, payable in advance. We automatically renew
your subscription month-to-month, but we send out reminders so you always have the chance to
let us know if you want to change anything or if you will be away for a specific delivery day.
If you are wary of just signing up for an entire month for a product that you have never tried
before, then you can opt for our one week trial instead. We’ll only invoice your for one week with a
empty box and bottle collection fee, and if you love us you can change to the monthly subscription.
At the moment, we can only accept EFT and Snapscan payments, but we are in the process of
setting up new systems for orders and payments – as soon as they are up and running, we will let
you know!
If you have signed up for the month subscription and paid for your month in advance and then
realise that you’re going to be away, don’t worry, we just “pause” your deliveries for the time that
you are away and continue when you’re back. Please just make sure that you give us enough
notice! If you haven’t let us know by the Tuesday of the week in question, then we will have
already ordered all of the goodies for your box – in that case, we don’t waste the box, we donate it
to one of our charities and get you a tax certificate for the donation.
Caring for Others
“Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.” Dorothy Day
We feel that helping others is a very important part of why we are on this planet. We therefore
have a donation project in place for a wonderful orphanage called Abraham Kriel Children's Home.
We provide them with food boxes every month so that they too can enjoy healthy eating!
We donate a set amount every month in the form of food boxes, so you have already helped us to
do some good in the world, but if you would like to do more, you also have the option to buy a box
at the end of every month and have it donated to Abraham Kriel. If this interests you, send an
email to [email protected] and we will send you more info on how to get
involved.
As an added benefit, we can arrange for you to receive an annual tax certificate for your donation!
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR BOXES
Yay! You have decided to get a box of goodies from us! But they’re all quite different from their
store-bought equivalents, so here is everything you need to know:
Fruit & Vegetables
We source all our produce from farmers who farm according to natural, wholesome and organic
principles – we would love to say that all our suppliers are certified organic, but unfortunately we
can’t. The reason is simple: most of our suppliers are just too small to comply with all the
requirements and red tape.
Our suppliers farm on far too small a scale to follow the strict rotation of plants and animals
required, and so they can’t be certified organic – but, they do use organic products to care for their
soil and each and every one was carefully chosen for being ethical and sustainable farmers who
use natural, biological and organic farming principles! We have two very specific requirements for
our farmers: no chemicals and no GMOs and if at least one of the words “ethical”, “sustainable” or
“organic” doesn’t appear in their description, then we don’t use them!
This means that our food is as healthy as we can find it, but, it also means that nature has a big say
in what we get. Organic produce is at the mercy of the seasons, the weather and from time-totime, the insect world. Because of this, we cannot guarantee the specific fruit & veg that will
appear in your box every week, we can only promise that you will get the value that you have paid
for! There is also always more veg than fruit on offer, this is because it is much easier to organically
farm vegetables than it is to organically farm fruit – especially in the Highveld. We are constantly
on the lookout for new suppliers and more options and when we can get organic fresh fruit we add
it to the box immediately!
Our organic veg does not always look as “perfect” as it’s store-bought counterpart – it is possible
that one or two of your veggies may have been a little battered by the elements, this means that
there could be one or two brown marks or shape defects. These will not affect that taste or
nutrition of your veggie – just chop the brown bits away and cook as per usual!
If, to our shame, you do find a completely unacceptable fruit or vegetable in your box please take a
photo of the offensive item with your mobile phone and send it to us as soon as possible, either as
an MMS to 079 529 4982, or as an email to [email protected] – we need to know so
that we can make it up to you!
Our fruit and veg has not been genetically modified for a longer shelf-life – that being said, a lot of
the original heirloom varieties are a lot stronger than you think! Some of them will outlive their
store-bought counterparts in your fridge – some of them, sadly, will not – but they make up for it
in nutrition and taste! To get optimum use out of your produce, please follow the following tips:
General: Before storing anything, remove any bands or ties and trim the leafy ends – just leave a
few centimetres to prevent the item from drying out. Most veg should go straight into your fridge
(with a few exceptions listed below) If anything does spoil, quickly remove it from the rest of your
fruit and veg – the spores will spread and infect all the others!
Apples: Although they do look lovely in a fruit bowl, apples are high ethylene releasers – this
means that they will spoil quickly AND spoil anything around them quickly too! Rather store them
in a fridge in a plastic bag or closed container
Pears: Pears are picked quite green, so they can be left out of the fridge for quite a while if stored
at room temperature. When the stems loosen slightly and you start smelling that lovely pear smell,
they are ripe and ready – they need to be eaten or moved to the fridge
Citrus: Citrus skins offer very little protection, so they dry out quite quickly, so they are best in a
sealed bag or container in the fridge
Bananas: Bananas, like apples, ripen very quickly – and ripen anything stored with them. They can
be stored in a fruit bowl if you are likely to eat them quickly. If in danger of over-ripening, put them
in the fridge – the skin will turn black, but the flesh won’t be affected. The upside of this fast
ripening is that they can be used to ripen your other fruit & veg – desperate for avocado and
they’re still too hard? Put them with the bananas!
Grapes: Grapes will last a week or two if placed in a paper bag in the fridge
Tomatoes: Store them on the counter, as tomatoes lose a lot of their beautiful flavour if stored in a
fridge! If you will be using them soon, then a sunny windowsill is ideal – it will hasten the ripening
process, but will also maximise the flavour!
Kale & Spinach: These can be kept out of the fridge if placed in a little clean cold water (like
flowers), otherwise, it’s best to keep them refrigerated
Potatoes: Love a cool, dark and dry place – a cupboard or drawer or box. As long as its dark and dry
they last for ages and don’t need to go into the fridge
Garlic bulbs: Keep garlic out of the sun – and the fridge – to prevent mould. A well-ventilated
covered place is best – like a basket or paper bag (not plastic). They should never be frozen as this
will alter both taste and texture.
Carrots: Trim the leaves – this drain nutrients from the carrot, so you don’t want them hanging on.
Carrots can be stored in fresh cold water in the fridge to keep them crisp, but storing them in a
paper packet should stop them from going soft – so long as the leaves are removed.
Cauliflower & Broccoli: Store whole in a paper bag in the fridge – stem-side down!
Milk & Cheese
Our milk is sourced from a grass-fed, free-range and family-run farm.
To explain our choice in milk, we should start by explaining how modern milk production works:
Most modern milk comes from cattle breeds that produce abnormally high levels of A1 beta
casein. Traditional breeds, such as Jerseys or Guernseys have A2 beta casein as their milk protein.
Newer breeds, such as Holsteins, have been bred because they produce higher yields, but at the
expense of their milk protein. A1 beta casein is much harder to digest and as a result can cause
disorders and allergies. So already, you want to be looking for milk from traditional breeds not new
ones! These new breeds are then fed a disproportionate amount of grain – nourishing milk comes
from cows being fed their natural diet: grass – the greener the better!
Milk is then homogenised. This is the process of mixing massive amounts of harvested milk from
several different herds and mechanically forcing the milk at high pressure through tiny holes – this
is to create a more consistent texture to the milk. Raw un-homogenised milk naturally separates
into different layers of fat density, which means it’s not as pretty to look at as homogenised milk ϑ
However, all you need to do is shake the bottle well before use and you get milk that looks more
like what you are used to! Back in the days when the milkman still delivered to your door, no milk
was homogenised – this meant that you could make your own skim milk: all you had to do was
skim the cream off the top of the milk before shaking the bottle – that way you get tasty natural
cream and fat-free milk! Since homogenisation is a mechanical process it does not affect the
nutritional content of the milk, but there is some debate as to whether the forced change to the
fat globule surface area could be the cause of milk-related allergies. What we know for certain is
that milk does not need to be homogenised in order to be nutritious or safe! Milk is then
pasteurised.
Pasteurization is the process of heating the raw milk to decrease bacteria and increase shelf-life.
There are two methods: high-temperature for a short-time and then ultra-heat for longer time.
The ultra-heat method extends milk’s shelf-life the most, and is therefore favoured by commercial
milk producers, but it also ends up destroying valuable enzymes, vitamins and minerals. In fact,
commercial milk often has to have vitamins and minerals added BACK to it after the pasteurisation
process – and these vitamins and minerals are not in their natural form, they are chemically
synthesised and have been added to replace the natural ones that were killed during the
pasteurization process! Without real, natural vitamin D your body struggles to absorb and use the
calcium in milk, making it far less valuable! If the milk has had its fat removed during
pasteurisation (skim or 2% milk) then it may have non-fat dry milk or milk solids added to it to
create a more desirable consistency. These forms of dry milk are high in free glutamic acids (MSG)
and oxidised cholesterol.
Modern milk carries the danger of possibly containing antibiotics or disease. Commercial dairy
cows produce up to four times as much milk as a traditional cow did a century ago – therefore they
are more prone to infected udders. This infection will enter the milk until the infection gets to the
point where it is noticeable, at which stage the farmer will remove the cow from the herd and
treat her with antibiotics. A good farmer will ensure that the antibiotics have completely passed
out of her system before re-instating her – but a lazy farmer will not – so some commercial milk
also contains traces of antibiotics.
The best and healthiest choice is raw, non-pasteurised, non-homogenised milk from traditional
breeds. However, since we cannot completely control the process of how the milk is bottled – we
have chosen pasteurised, non-homogenised milk from traditional breeds – our milk has been
pasteurised using the high-temp-short-time method that will kill harmful bacteria but not
completely destroy all the good stuff!
Our milk has a shelf-life of 4-5 days and must be kept in the fridge. Please shake well before use, it
may look a bit different to what you’re used to, but we guarantee it will taste delicious!
Eggs
Our eggs are sourced from free-range suppliers only. The chickens forage for the majority of their
diet and are only fed grain when necessary. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to source
organic grain in SA. So our eggs cannot be strictly classed as organic but they can definitely be said
to be natural and nutritious!
If you have purchased proper fresh, farm-raised, free-range eggs before now you may have
encountered the different intensities in the colour of the yolk. If you have not experienced it
before, it may come as quite a shock! The colour can range from strong and vibrant to slightly pale.
This colour is caused by one thing: diet. So we may from time-to-time supply you with eggs that
suddenly have pale yolks instead of the vibrant yellow – you do not need to worry, they are always
fresh and healthy! It just means that the farmer had to supplement the chickens’ diet with grain
that week! Once you have had these fresh, free-range eggs you will never again enjoy the often old
eggs you get in your local supermarket, and you definitely won’t worry what colour the yolk is!
Unlike store-bought eggs that are kept in cold storage to give them longevity, our eggs are never
more than two weeks old. You can test their freshness quite easily – drop (carefully) the unbroken
egg into a bowl of water, it should sink like a stone. If it bobs to halfway then its still ok, but near
the end of its safe-to-eat period and if it floats then dont even open it! Another test is when you
crack the egg into a pan or bowl, the yolk should stay intact – if it breaks or spreads, then the egg is
old! Please let us know immediately if your eggs are old or smelly. It does occasionally happen that
the eggs are harvested from older nests by mistake – these happenings are rare, but if you get old
eggs, please just let us know and we will notify our suppliers that they need to check their nest
harvest rotations!
You do not need to store your eggs in the fridge to keep them fresh. In America, eggs are sprayed
with high-power hoses to clean them. When eggs are sprayed with water, their porous shells allow
any bacteria on the outside to wash into the inside. This means that these commercially cleaned
eggs have a higher chance of incubating salmonella and therefore they have to be stored in the
fridge to prevent the growth of the bacteria. In South Africa, all of our eggs (commercial and
homestead) are rubbed clean only, so they might occasionally have a bit more nature on them
than you would like – but it means that they are safe and healthy to eat and can be stored outside
the fridge for up to a month!
Bread
Our bread is sourced from artisan bakers who use the Eureka Mills flour. Eureka Mills get their
flour from farmers who use biological, sustainable principles and non-GMO wheat - they use croprotation and have a no-till system, so they harvest by hand. The wheat is then stone-ground using
three rollers instead of the 14 steel rollers used by commercial mills – it takes longer, but it is more
natural and much kinder on the environment!
No components are abstracted from the flour and the flour does not get bleached. Eureka Mills
flour retains all its healthy wheat germ, fibre, natural oils, vitamins and enzymes making it
wholesome and nutritious and contributing to its shelf-life!
This marvellous flour is then bought by our local supplier who works their magic and produces
amazing artisan breads for us – baked by hand in good old-fashioned wood ovens for extra
tastiness.
None of our bakers use preservatives in their bread, so if you know you are not going to gobble up
the bread in the first two days, cut it into manageable portions, wrap them tight and freeze them.
If you sprinkle the frozen bread with a little bit of water and defrost it in a low oven, it will be as
good as new!
Allergies & Food Preferences
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that our produce is allergen-free. Because our produce is
sourced from so wide a variety of suppliers, there will be cases where it has come into contact with
nuts or peanuts, or something else that can cause an allergic reaction. If you do have any type of
food allergy, it is recommended that you rather don’t take a chance on our product – we want to
make people healthier, not cause them harm!!
If there is a specific fruit or vegetable that you really don't like, please let us know – we do our best
to make sure that you don't get items you don't like or can't have in your box. We can't guarantee
that we will get it right every time but we do try.
The “Surprise” Product
Every week we find a unique and fun product for you to try. They are all sourced from local farmers
and small businesses and we make every effort to ensure that they have used fresh and organic
produce to make their product!
We will include a little explanation of each product in the weekly newsletter, but if you ever want
to know something just give us a holler!
Please follow the storage instructions on the packaging and let us know immediately if any of the
products are a disappointment. And - if you absolutely love something - let us know so that we
can try to provide it on a regular basis!
Our packaging
We spent a lot of time and energy on finding packaging that is ethical and sustainable.
Our crates are from reclaimed wood and are hand-made by a local craftsman. The paint is water
based, lead free, low VOC and 70% organic. The sealer is water based, lead free and low VOC! Our
milk only comes in glass bottles if we can help it. As explained in the “How we work” section, we
purposely re-use our crates and bottles in order to minimise our carbon footprint as much as
possible.
Our Mini Bags and No-Veg Bags come packaged in natural hessian bags, made from natural organic
hessian right here in South Africa. Safe for you and for the environment. If you are part of our
office delivery scheme you can also opt to have the bigger boxes delivered in bags so that it is
easier for you to get your produce home.
All of our brown paper packets are sourced from Vegware SA. Vegware supply completely
compostable food packaging – both their paper and plastic products are 100% biodegradable!
Some of our fruit and veg comes from the farmers already packaged – and sometimes that
packaging includes plastic and polystyrene. This isn't ideal but it is unfortunately unavoidable
because of the following:
-The farms that are certified organic have to abide by certain packaging regulations (crazy, but
true)
-Some veg just can't be piled in a crate without packaging, it is too soft and sensitive and if it is
sent out in bulk without being protected it will end up too badly damaged
-The farmers that did investigate Vegware as an alternative like we did discovered that although
they do have wonderful compostable packaging, it is imported. This means that they have to
choose between the effect on the environment from local plastic and polystyrene or the effect on
the environment from burning the huge amount of fuel required to get the more green packaging
to them. Most of them have opted to use local plastic and polystyrene because these can actually
be recycled, whereas the burning of fuel cannot be undone.
Vegware are looking at producing their own, locally-made biodegradable plastic packaging and as
soon as they get that right, the whole packaging process can be re-evaluated!
Thank you
Thank you for taking this journey with us, for keeping yourselves healthy and for helping us keep
the earth healthy! We hope that every week you will look forward to your Munching Mongoose
box with great excitement and anticipation!