Over the past few years, the world of food delivery services has gone far beyond a burger and chips via UberEats. There is more variety than ever when it comes to ordering food online, and we’re here to show you the best of it!

Fruit and veggie box deliveries

If you live near a main suburb or a city centre, it’s likely you’ll have access to produce box delivery services. Produce delivery boxes are a great way to access fresh, seasonal produce at a fraction of the price. Typically, delivery costs between $7-$10 and we recommend ordering a few days in advance.

Lettuce Deliver takes home the gold in the produce box category for Sydney-siders. They’ve been in the game for over 20 years and have established strong relationships with growers and producers. Some produce box delivery companies will go to wholesale markets and then sell on to customers, which is fine, but you do end up paying a bit more. Many offer extras like eggs, milk and bread in addition to other pantry and personal care items.

The Fruitful Boxes is another Sydney-based superstar, who does a good job of getting the freshest produce from the market to your door. There’s even a pub down the road from them selling fruit and veggie boxes – a nice innovation!

Doorstep Organics have a great selection of organic, gluten-free, vegan, locally made, and international products – they also get bonus points for offering same-day delivery if you’re on a time crunch.

Moving from the fridge to the pantry, online stores like Catch sell packaged foods like protein bars, tinned tuna, pasta and snacks, as well as household staples like olive oil and honey.

Local delivery services

Supporting your local farmers, suppliers, and stockists always gets a tick in our books!

Harris Farm does all of this really well. They offer fresh, local produce, along with an amazing selection of staples and eco-friendly products. Another road to take is looking into whether your neighbourhood* grocer, butcher, or cafe offer delivery services – you might pay slightly more than your average chain supermarket, but we think it’s worth it if it’s within your budget.

Naked Foods are another local company that stock bulk wholefoods, all of which are on offer for delivery or click and collect (which means you can shop and pay online, then visit the store to pick up your haul).

*A hot tip to keep in mind is to give yourself plenty of lead time between order and delivery – local supplies won’t have as fast a turnover as your bigger supermarket chains.

Recipe box delivery services

Recipe boxes have gained popularity over the years as they save time and reduce food waste. These services produce pre-portioned ingredients and recipe plans, which encourage you to experiment with cooking meals outside of your regular rotation.

HelloFresh is at the top of this game, and with good reason! We trialled their recipe box and opted for three meals* a week for two people – this lets you choose three meals out of 15 different options. At $70 a week for three meals, it evens out to about $11 a meal per person. This is slightly more than we’d usually spend on a home-cooked meal, but this figure pays for HelloFresh to buy the produce, recipe development (make sure to keep the recipe cards), and the delivery – so at the end of the day, it’s a good investment. Another thing to add is that when we trialled this particular recipe box, it was easy to make one meal stretch from dinner to lunch by adding extra veg (like spiralised zucchini or grated carrots). So if you go down this route, you can halve the cost per meal.

Dinner Ladies deserve a mention before we go, as they cut out an additional step and deliver freshly cooked dinners straight to your door. Some of their meals come fully prepped and just need heating, while others require a bit of finishing off or assembly. Oh, another plus? There aren’t any lock-in contracts, so you can order once a week, once a year, or anywhere in-between.

All in all, meal delivery services are a great way to shake up your usual meal rotation and like other subscription-based services, you can take a break or cancel your service if needed.

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