Local organic veggie bags in Copenhagen 🥬
Comparison of seven options in Copenhagen to get a weekly assortment of organic, seasonal and locally* produced vegetables
Introduction
Several options exist in Copenhagen to get a weekly assortment of organic, seasonal and locally* produced vegetables (and sometimes other products like fruits, etc.). This article compares seven of them. If you find an error or have any suggestion, do not hesitate to contact me. Note that this article focuses on people living within Copenhagen city (+ Frederiksberg), but some of them delivers further out on Sjælland.
* depends on the service, see details in individual sections
Summary Tables
Practical criteria
| Name | Pick-up day | Membership Fee | Price of weekly veggie bag | Free pick-up locations in CPH | Home delivery option |
|---------------|------|------|-------|-------|-------|-----|
| Birkemosegård | Thu | - | 199kr. | 16 | Yes (49kr.) |
| Brinkholm | Sun/Mon | 250kr. (deposit) | 150-225kr. | 1 | Yes (50kr.) |
| Fællesgro | Depends on pick-up location | * | 150kr.* | 6 | No |
| Grim | Tue* | 50kr. | 95-195kr. | 1 | Yes (40kr.)
| KBHFF | Wed | 200kr. | 115kr. | 8 | No |
| Løs-Market x Svaneholm Gods | Fri | - | 199kr. | 1 | Yes (49kr.) |
| Årstiderne | Tue/Wed | - | 199-279kr. | - | Yes (free) |
* see details/subtleties below
Environmental criteria
| Name | Type of entity | Form of agriculture | Own production | Production location | Distance from Copenhagen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birkemosegård | Family-run farm | Biodynamic (Demeter) | Yes | Sjælland | 105km |
| Brinkholm | Cooperative farm | Organic | Yes | Sjælland | 75km |
| Fællesgro | Private partnership with local producers | Organic | No | Sjælland | < 60km |
| Grim | Private company | Organic (and sometimes biodynamic) | No | Denmark and EU | < 3,000km |
| KBHFF | Member-owned co-operative | Organic (and sometimes biodynamic) | No | Sjælland, Fyn & Islands | < 200km |
| Løs-Market x Svaneholm Gods | Private partnership with local producer | Organic | No | Sjælland | 52km |
| Årstiderne | Private company | Organic | No | DK, EU and World | < 10,000km |
Birkemosegård
https://torsdagskassen.birkemosegaard.dk
Birkemosegård is a farm in Sjællands Odde that has been family owned during 4 generations since 1906, and biodynamic (Demeter) / organic since 1968.
Besides their local production and boutique, you can order their own-produced goods online in two ways:
- Their Torsdagskasse can be order every week for 199kr. before Tuesday 23:00 to be picked-up on Thursday the same week at one of their 16 partner locations in Copenhagen from 16:00 and 18:00
- Retail shopping online, delivered either on Thursday together with the Torsdagkasse, or delivered at your home address on Thursday or Sunday for 49kr. and for order over 600kr.
Brinkholm (Landbrugslauget)
Brinkholm is a farm with 300 year history located in Karise (Sjælland, 75km from Copenhagen by bicycle), which was bought by a cooperative of 500 people in 2002. It is now run as an organic cooperative farm (you can become a member – 5000kr./share), where 23 ha are used for cereals to produce flour, 1 ha to produce vegetables, along with honey and beer production.
From their website, you can order 3 different types of bags. Their content change from week to week and they often contains some fruits:
- Tryggevælde Kassen (S): 10-12 types of greens for 3-5 people- 150kr.
- Karise Kassen (M): 7-8 types of greens for 2-3 people- 175kr.
- Stevns Kassen (L): 6-7 types of greens for 1-2 people- 225kr.
Brinkholm delivers every two weeks (uneven week numbers) in the entire Copenhagen-Frederiksberg area:
- For free, at Meny on Borups Alle in Frederiksberg
- For 20kr. at a selection of other places in town. Either some shops, or specific streets:
- Bronshøj: Havrevej
- Nørrebro: Helsekostbutikken Natur & Sundhed, Nørrebrogade 57 or Helsekostbutikken Frøken Øko, Heimdalsgade 14
- Nordvest: Bispebjerg Park Allé
- Amager: Prøvestens Allé
- Vesterbro: Kihoskh, Sonder Boulevard 53
- Valby: J.P.E. Hartmanns Alle
- Vanløse: Limfjordsvej
- For 50kr. at home on Sunday or Monday
The first time you order, you open a subscription and pay a 250kr deposit (to cover for possible payment default), but you are always welcome to add extra produce in your order (e.g. flour, eggs, beer!) or change your subscription by writing to a specific email address before Wednesday 12:00.
Fællesgro
Fællesgro was created by the same people behind ØsterGRO (2014-) and their rooftop restaurant Gro Spiseri (2017). ØsterGRO's membership is limited to 40 members and they quickly reached a state where you had to get into a waitlist that could take years to clear.
With Fællesgro, you know have access to 3 producers, which deliver in different parts of the City.
The harvest season is from June to December and split into two half-seasons:
- June-September (Week 23 to 36)
- September-December (Week 37-50)
You can pay for one half-season at a time, which corresponds to 2100kr. and can choose when comes the time to pay for the next round, whether to continue as a member or not. This corresponds to 150kr. per bag.
The harvest is distributed each week at 6 different locations:
- Vesterbro: H15, Halmtorvet 15, Thursday 16-19
- Nørrebro: Kølsters Tolv Haner, Rantzausgade 56, Tuesday 16-19
- Østerbro: Hahnemanns Køkken, Sankt Kjelds Plads 14, Wednesday kl. 16-19
- Grønttorvet: Skuret i Grønttorvsparken, Thursday 16-19
- Carlsberg Byen: Gasoline Grill, Bryggernes Plads 1, Tuesday 16-19
- Dyssegård: Mylius Erichsens Allé 38, Wednesday 16.30-19
When subscribing, you need to choose a delivery location which will be fixed for the entire period. The three producers they work with deliver specific delivery locations.
Grim
Today, according to Grim, about 1/3 of fruits and vegetables are thrown away due to overproduction, unreasonable beauty standards (they refer to EU's Marketing Standards for instance. See European law here) and inefficiencies in our food system. To fight against food waste, the concept fishes for that doomed share of the production and distributes it in the form weekly boxes to environmentally conscious Copenhageners: mostly the overproduced (41% according to their website), but also the ugly (grim in Danish) ones (scratches on the surface [22%], too big or too small [26%], etc.).
They propose three box sizes, from "Mini & Mean" (95kr) to "Big and Beastly" (195kr.), and 2 delivery/pick-up option:
- Pick-up at one of their 4 CPH locations
- Grim's HQ in Nordvest (free), Frederiksborgvej 59, Tuesdays: 15:00-19:00
- Amager (+20kr.): Cobra, Asger Jorns Allé 9, Thursdays: 16:00-18:00
- Nørrebro (+20kr.): Globalhagen, Fælledvej 12, Thursdays: 16:00-18:00
- Vesterbro (+20kr.): Staldtkøkkenet, Staldgade 10, Thursdays: 16:00-18:00
- Delivery at your doorstep (+40kr.), either Tue, Wed or Thu depending on your postcode.
You need to subscribe to a regular ordering schedule (and for a 50kr. initial fee), but it is fully flexible: you can stop anytime, or skip as many boxes you want (before Friday 23:59).
Grim's produce are organic (and sometimes biodynamic), and a lot of them are in Denmark, but some are also located in other European countries, to "ensure best quality and a nice variety in your boxes"
Københavns Fødevareselskab (KBHFF)
Københavns Fødevarefællesskab (KBHFF) is a member-based and member-driven food co-operative, meaning that everyone is simultaneously:
- a (co-)member: to become a member, you need to pay a 100kr. entry fee, and the membership renewal fee is 200kr./year, requested every year on the 1st of May (even if you've just signed in in the spring).
- a co-worker: you are asked to contribute 3 hours per months (by either taking a shift or being part of a working group), which corresponds to 1 shift per month
- a co-owner: everyone can influence the life and decisions of the coop
As a member of KBHFF, you can buy a bag of organic fruit (55kr.) and/or vegetables (115kr.) every week, as well as other products such as flour, honey, vegetable oil, jam, apple juice, etc.
The service runs all year long and a weekly vegetable bag contains typically 6 to 8 locally produced, seasonal and organic vegetables.
KBHFF works with several producers located on Sjælland, Fyn or the islands, as shown on the map below:
There are 8 locations in Copenhagen where you can need to go physically to get your bag, on Wednesdays between 17:00 and 19:00:
- Amager, C/O Foreningshuset, Sundholmsvej 8
- Frederiksberg, C/O Solbjerghjemmet, Søndre Fasanvej 16
- Nordvest, C/O Karens Hus, Bispebjerg Bakke 8
- Nørrebro, C/O Kafax, Korsgade 19
- Sydhavn, C/O Karens Minde, Wagnersvej 19
- Vanløse, C/O Hus Forbi, Jernbane Allé 68
- Vesterbro, C/O Oehlenschlægersgade Skole, Oehlenschlægersgade 55-57
- Østerbro, C/O Randersgade skole, Randersgade 38
Løs-Market x Svaneholm Gods
https://www.loes-market.dk/svanholm
Løs Market is a unique concept in Copenhagen of packaging free groceries. Their current shop in Vesterbro (there are plans to open new places in Østerbro and Nørrebro) offers a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, liquids (oil, vinegar, wine, ...), cereals, rice and pasta, even more food categories, personal hygiene and home cleaning products.
Everything is at least organic, if not biodynamic and can be bought free of any kind of packaging i.e. loose (løs or i løs vægt). The produce come from Denmark whenever possible, but that's not always the case and you will find produce from overseas. This is due to the market availability of loose produce at the quantity corresponding to essentially a single store for the moment, the owner's quality standards, and the wish to serve most of the usual groceries list of Copenhageners.
Besides this general concept, Løs Market also has a webshop, which has been offering since 2020 a weekly veggie bag through a partnership with Svanholm Gods, a country estate in the west of Copenhagen, producing its own organic food.
The veggie bag contains 10 different vegetables and costs 200kr. It can be ordered from the website before Tuesday 20:00 for a delivery Friday the same week between 13 and 19 at the shop in Vesterbro:
Saxogade 77
1662 København V
Årstiderne
Årstiderne is one of the oldest concepts as it was created in 1999. Today, it is known for proposing a huge amount of different boxes of fully ready-to-cook menus (ingredients and recipes) delivered at your doorstep. Everything from 1 to 5 people and 3 to 5 days, and for different profiles from pescetarian to 500-calories and world food lovers.
They also propose a number of vegetables, fruits or mix bags. For instance, the small veggie box costs 199kr. and the big mixed box costs 279kr. No subscription, online order, delivered for free at your home. You can choose to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday, and if you're not home, the box is left in front of your door.
They source only organic produce, except for wild caught fish for which there is no organic standard. Even though they have Danish suppliers, especially for certain varieties that are rather specific to Denmark, they have one of the broadest network of non-local producers, see example below:
