My Food Bag

As people struggle with becoming more and more time poor, many are looking at ways of trying to outsource some of the more menial or everyday tasks that while being essential, are not necessarily tasks that require your own input or even valuable time.

Chicken and pesto spaghetti

Chicken and pesto spaghetti

A growing trend is to outsource grocery shopping and there are many excellent on-line companies offering that service.  But it’s not just the grocery shopping that’s time consuming; a lot of energy is also spent trying to source recipes, work out menus and decide on what to put on the table that evening.

Delivered chilled

Delivered chilled

My Food Bag is an on-line business that not only delivers groceries but also provides everything you need to make five meals for the week using local seasonal products with free-range sustainability.  Not only do you not need to go out to shop, you also don’t need to plan menus or enter into that crisis stage where you just can’t think of what you’re going to cook for your family that evening.

A folder to collect the recipes

A folder to collect the recipes

Using My Food Bag is very simple.  There are four food bags to choose from including ‘classic’, a food bag that will feed two adults and two older children, ‘family’ for two adults and two or three smaller children, ‘gourmet’ for two adults, and ‘my own’ for a single adult.  Additionally there are fruit boxes that can be ordered.

The week's recipes

The week’s recipes

All you have to do is choose your food bag and a couple of days before your order is delivered you will be advised of the menus for that week.  Your order is delivered on a Sunday (there is no charge for delivery), and a text message will alert you to the time your order will be delivered.

The week's delivery

The week’s delivery

I was invited to try the My Food Bag service.  I selected the ‘classic’ food bag and a few days later my order arrived exactly when I’d been advised it would be on my door step.  The meat, fish and a couple of other items requiring refrigeration were all packed into a cooler bag where they were certainly well chilled.  I was very pleased to see that a lot of the meat was free-range and that the chicken was chemical and hormone free.

Fresh, local produce

Fresh, local produce

The remaining produce was packed into two bags and included a handy folder that’s divided seasonally to file the recipes.  There were five recipe cards for the five meals we’d be cooking that week including fish tacos, a chicken and pesto pasta, an Asian stir-fry with pork mince, grilled steak with potato salad and a green salad, and Lebanese lamb with tabbouleh and pomegranate hummus.

Making the stir-fry

Making the stir-fry

I was really impressed that the meals weren’t at all dull and boring and nothing like the ‘meat and three veg’ we all grew up with.  Lots of cuisines from around the world were represented and there were some gourmet ingredients included that made the meals quite special.

Sweet ginger and chilli infused pork and vegetables with jasmine rice

Sweet ginger and chilli infused pork and vegetables with jasmine rice

I have to say I found the service extremely convenient and it was a joy to not have to worry about what to cook that evening and not have to find the time to fit in shopping for ingredients for the nightly meal.

Lebanese lamb with bulgur tabbouleh and pomegranate sumac hummus

Lebanese lamb with bulgur tabbouleh and pomegranate sumac hummus

The recipes are created by Nadia Lim and every week, she and her team of chefs and nutritionists dream up inspiring, easy-to-cook dinner recipes.

Grilled chicken and roast cherry tomato pesto spaghetti

Grilled chicken and roast cherry tomato pesto spaghetti

I was concerned we might find ourselves on a bit of ‘portion control’ and feared we might be on some sort of a lean diet but at almost every meal we had more than enough to eat and on a couple of occasions we even had some leftovers.

Crunchy fish tacos with Asian coleslaw

Crunchy fish tacos with Asian coleslaw

The vegetables and herbs were all incredibly fresh.  I didn’t need to worry about anything not lasting the week.  There was only one item I was a little disappointed with and that was the tomatoes.  I usually buy vine-ripened and the large tomatoes I received weren’t vine-ripened and I felt lacking in a bit of sweetness and flavour, and the punnet of cherry tomatoes I received weren’t yet ripe enough to be eaten.  However, I have no fault with anything else that was delivered.

Sweet ginger and chilli infused pork and vegetables with jasmine rice

Sweet ginger and chilli infused pork and vegetables with jasmine rice

Just about everything you need to cook the night’s meal is delivered however, it’s a good idea to read through the recipe ahead of beginning the cooking process as there is the odd ingredient that isn’t included.  These are all basic pantry items found commonly in most Australian homes like olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, wholegrain mustard and honey.

Lebanese lamb with bulgur tabbouleh and pomegranate sumac hummus

Lebanese lamb with bulgur tabbouleh and pomegranate sumac hummus

The other excellent feature of the My Food Bag experience is that there’s no waste.  Quite often I cook a recipe that has leftover bits and pieces and then for the rest of the week I struggle to work out how to incorporate those ingredients into a recipe.  But with My Food Bag absolutely nothing is wasted.  In the ingredients I was sent there was a cucumber and a third of it was used in one recipe and another third in another recipe and the final third in an additional recipe.  It was the same with all the ingredients including the lemon where the rind was used and then the juice over two different recipes.  Not only is waste minimalised but savings are produced from a lack of waste.

Grilled chicken and roast cherry tomato pesto spaghetti

Grilled chicken and roast cherry tomato pesto spaghetti

I found My Food Bag to be an excellent and extremely convenient service that delivers interesting and varied ingredients that make exciting and nutritious meals.  For Drew and Alfie, their favourite meal of the week was definitely the crispy fish tacos with the Asian-inspired coleslaw.  For me it was the chargrilled sirloin steak with warm parmesan potato salad, tomato wedges and green salad.  It’s fantastic to be able to add these recipes to my collection.

Crunchy fish tacos with Asian coleslaw

Crunchy fish tacos with Asian coleslaw

My Food Bag is definitely a service I would use again and I believe a service like this is so convenient and handy for those who are time-stretched, those who are looking for a bit of menu inspiration, and those who want to eat nutritionally balanced meals.

Hotly Spiced and Crew received a complimentary Classic My Food Bag.

 

Comments

  1. This sounds like an excellent option, especially during busy weeks or ones when you’re not feeling so hot.

  2. What a clever idea. Iit does seem a bit expensive for me although you do have to at for convenience. The portion sizes do look generous, do they tell you what the portion size of the protein is? Our standard by Canada’s Food Guide is 75g but I generally go with 100g. Can you request specific meals (if you loved a dish from last week? Or what if you dislike a specific ingredient? I wonder if they do allergen free boxes too? Many of my friends are gluten free or have a nut allergy. It does look like they’ve put together a classy kit and the recipe cards look very professional. Your review was very well done Charlie.

  3. This sounds like a great idea. The toughest thing for me is coming up with meal ideas. I eat lots of vegetables, but my husband doesn’t. He likes a lot of meat. I don’t. Therein lies the problem.

  4. Another Kiwi import – Charlie 😉

  5. Hi Charlie, there is a similar service like that here in America, have not tried it myself.

  6. I love these guys they are awesome. I am about to give some as gifts. Everything they use is of such high quality. I have tested a few now and this one is the best and no waste!

  7. Sounds like an excellent service.

  8. At that price and all the limitations, why on earth bother . . . ? Making a wonderfully healthy and exciting main meal takes but almost 20 minutes after all . . . why on earth let others make their living at your expense and not do it as well . . , 🙂 !!

  9. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. We found the portions really large-they could have fed 3 or 4 in some cases!

  10. We have a similar opportunity locally—perfect idea for new parents, busy families! And I love the idea of no waste 🙂

  11. I have a couple of friends who have begun using a service like this. They also really like it.

  12. I’ve tried a similar delivery service and I have to say it was so nice to skip the grocery store visit and have someone else plan the meal! Looks like My Food Bag provides a variety of dishes. Looks good!!

  13. What a fun concept! I can see where this would be a real time saver for loads of people. And great for people who aren’t all that inclined to cook at home — with the food right there, and recipes just begging to be used, how can one resist?

  14. It’s interesting how many of these companies are popping up. I am glad you had a good success with it – it must be nice to know it’s there to turn to now if needed.

  15. I LOVE and appreciate all of these options!
    I’d love to order EVERYTHING)))!!! xx

  16. I think I would love not having to even think about what to serve! How great to have someone else make the decisions, and then to have everything delivered fresh and easy…I’d be thrilled! What a delicious service!

  17. We have that in New Zealand, and it has just started in our area, might have another look at it. Have a great weekend 🙂

  18. I’m quite a fan of these services. I find the tedium of deciding what to prepare each and every day enormously frustrating.

  19. As eating out becomes more expensive and less healthy, this sounds like a very reasonable option. I dread grocery shopping, and often arrive home with things difficult to pair together. I’d do this.

  20. This sounds great. There are some similar services in the uk but I’ve never tried them, perhaps I should. Let’s hope they’re as good as yours. GG

  21. It’s incredible how many competitors there are now in this marketplace. The pork with veggies and rice looks super tasty.

  22. If you know there’s a particularly busy week coming up for all the family this is a great idea. It’s nice to see that quality and quantity haven’t been sacrificed – it all looks super healthy and easy too. Win, win 🙂

  23. I would love a service like this here in South Africa. I would use them in a heartbeat.
    Fabulous looking meals.
    Have a super weekend Charlie.
    🙂 Mandy xo

  24. I guess I’m different than most of the others in that I like grocery shopping. I like to see what is the freshest in the market, what might be on special, etc.

  25. Looks like a fab service, we used Hello Fresh to get us through the winter, it was wonderful. Now the warmth is here, I feel inspired again. But perhaps next winter I will look at this. 🙂

  26. Interesting. Fascinating, really, as I live in a place that doesn’t have these options–and it seems like every errand I run takes hours, no matter what. I find it interesting indeed how our modern world is evolving so quickly–what is gained, what is lost. I, too, am time-poor, and I don’t even have a regular job as such. I can only imagine the struggle for full-time working mothers, wives, or partners.

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