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Cheat eats: home-delivered meals put to the test

We road-test the meals that come straight to your door.

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Ready and waiting: A My Food Bag delivery.
Ready and waiting: A My Food Bag delivery.Supplied

The home delivered meal is not a new concept. The first thing Alexander Graham Bell did after patenting his talking telegram machine was order two large pizzas and a 1.25 litre Coke. Light n' Easy has been delivering portion-controlled stroganoff in Australia since 1986 and online companies like Delivery Hero and Menulog will facilitate dumplings straight to your door.

Consumers want more from home delivery in 2014 than honey prawns and a Pepsi. Healthy eating is big business. Look at the popularity of lifestyle gurus Michelle Bridges, Sarah Wilson and Pete Evans. At the same time the rise of "gourmet" food shows no sign of slowing down after it planted itself in Australian lounge rooms during the first season of MasterChef.

We also would prefer to interact as little as possible – with the phone, internet, or another human being – to place an order. There's My Kitchen Rules to watch and gym selfies to be taken, if you don't mind.

Raspberry and pistachio frangipane tart from Dish'd.
Raspberry and pistachio frangipane tart from Dish'd.Supplied
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National home-delivery companies are answering the call for healthy food that doesn't taste like lettuce dipped in face wash. International meal-kit companies like Hello Fresh and My Food Bag have made a proper stab at the Australian market in recent months and we're also seeing businesses like Dish'd take frozen food to a new level.

I figured it was time to take a closer look at some of these "cheat eats".

Hello Fresh

Coquilles St Jacques from Dish'd.
Coquilles St Jacques from Dish'd.Supplied

Hello Fresh and My Food Bag are based on a similar concept. A bag of measured ingredients is delivered to your door (each week's menu is a surprise). You the cut up some potatoes, grill a steak or two as per the included recipe card and – voila! – dinner's on the table and it's fresher than any home-delivered Thai.

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There's a good chance you have heard of Hello Fresh by now, even if you weren't sure what it is. Their marketing has been aggressive. I have received no less than five Hello Fresh $30 vouchers in the last six months (note the cheapest weekly option on the website is $59 which gets you three vegetarian meals to feed two people).

Hello Fresh doesn't include pantry staples like olive oil, sugar, and salt in their weekly bags, which is fair enough (neither does My Food Bag). They do include spices, herbs, condiments, and cheese measured into little tubs and sachets. All good if you don't have any parmesan, say, but if you do have a good quality block of it in the fridge, I reckon you'd be more tempted to use it than the Hello Fresh supplied one. Once you start that practice though, you end up with cupboard of little cumin bags and passata jars that will likely never get used.

Fare from Eat Fit Food.
Fare from Eat Fit Food.Supplied

Cookability: Simple recipes that pose little challenge to anyone that's cooked a chicken stir-fry or spag bol at least once in their life. Most recipes take 30 minutes or less to cook, are written in a friendly tone and smattered with handy hints.

Dish examples: Dill prawns with rice noodles; soy steak with sweet potato mash.

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Meal appeal: For the most part about as interesting as a chicken stir-fry or spag bol too. Will commend the zippy Portuguese seasoning used on some chicken-thigh skewers. And that we're baking fennel and apple to accompany pork cutlets one night. Will not commend the use of powdered vegetable stock in a minted zucchini risotto.

What's good: Ingredients are well measured so there's little food waste. Recipes are inoffensive enough that picky eaters in the family won't put up too much of a fight, and the food is nutritious without being too diet-conscious.

What's not so good: No choice in what you're eating for dinner that week. All the individually measured condiments, oils, seasonings, and similar mean there's a lot of non-food waste. Less chance of leftovers for lunch the next day.

Value for money: Reasonable.The non-vego meals work out to be about $10 per person. I found this to be more than what a similar meal would cost at a supermarket, less than ordering it takeaway. A little bit more food would not have been unwelcome.

Suitable for: Young couples who like their food but dinner isn't the main focus of the evening (Game of Thrones is) and time-poor families.

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Rating: 2.5/5

My Food Bag

It sounds like a brand of horse feed, I know. My Food Bag hit Sydney in July and plans to launch in Melbourne October 10. It has the options of a Gourmet Bag for couples, a Classic Bag tailored towards families with teenagers, and a Family Bag that's suitable if you have younger tykes running around.

I found cooking with My Food Bag and Hello Fresh a cathartic experience. Everything is already measured – you just have to chop a bit of meat and veg. You know how in cooking shows the chef will have all his spices measured out into little white bowls waiting for their turn to shine? I always think that's a great idea but never do it and end up whipping out the Dolphin torch halfway through cooking to locate fennel seeds in the bowels of the pantry. You don't have that problem with meal kits.

Cookability: There's more components to the recipes than the Hello Fresh offerings but there's still no need to sous-vide. If you do all the prep beforehand, it's a hassle free experience.

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Dish examples: Roast beef sirloin with mini potatoes and baby vegetables; lamb skewers with lemon pepper potatoes, mint yoghurt, and crispy pita salad.

Meal appeal: Better than expected as the meal pics on the recipe cards are up there with the worst food photography I've ever seen. There's a decent amount fresh herbs and spices and, gosh darn it if chicken and bean enchiladas aren't exactly what I want to eat during a Tuesday night Netflix binge.

What's good: I was a big fan of the quality of meat used and My Food Bag's commitment to source produce locally. Thumbs up to grass-fed, free-range beef from Belmore Meats and Mirrool Creek lamb. There's good diversity to the menu and most of the dishes are similar to what I'd cook midweek when I don't want to think too much.

What's not so good: Again, there's a concern with waste because of all the individual packets. I'd suggest one large packet of chilli flakes is better for the environment than thirty small ones, regardless of how recyclable the material is (it is recyclable, by the way). Again, you don't choose the meals each week.

Value for money: A single meal in the My Family Bag is about $7 to $9, depending on how many mouths there are to feed. A meal from the My Gourmet Bag equates to just under $19 per person. I can cook some swell dinners for me and my girlfriend if given $38 to go nuts with, but I also hate going to the shops after work.

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Suitable for: Upwardly mobile, twentysomething couples keen on MasterChef. Small families with fussy eaters under 10. Share-houses of law students – everyone throws their money in each week and takes it in turns to cook. Sounds like a grand idea to me.

Rating: 3.5/5

dish'd

Jacques Reymond, one of Australia's greatest French chefs, is now creating frozen meals. A cause of head-shaking for some, a reason to celebrate for others.

Dish'd is a bloody efficient operation. I ordered a few of the almost 200 items online and they were snap frozen, placed in a box with dry ice, and at my door in the next day.

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Cookability: Can you turn on an oven and take something out of a box? Congratulations, you're a chef.

Dish examples: Heritage raspberry and pistachio frangipane tart with butter shortcrust pastry; cod en papillote; porcini mushroom and black truffle pappardelle.

Meal appeal: I'm making the call: these are is best frozen meals I've ever had. Of course, at the end of the day they're still frozen meals so let's not get too excited.

What's good: Opening a box filled with dry ice and feeling like an evil scientist.

What's not so good: The off-chance a child or pet could get in strife with the same dry ice if you're not home when the box is delivered.

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Value for money: Meals are comparable in price to similar frozen items from the supermarket but taste much better. Free delivery for orders over $80. Huzzah!

Suitable for: Single folk who work late. Twentysomethings who arrive home from the pub late.

Rating: 3.5/5

dishd.com.au

Eat Fit Food

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These guys are all about healthy eating. There's a 10 day detox menu, a five-day cleanse program and a bunch of individual paleo, gluten-free and dairy-free meals all waiting to be delivered fresh to your home or office.

Cookability: Have not encountered anything involving more than a quick zap in the microwave, if that.

Dish examples: Barbecue pork with choy sum, bok choy, brown rice, and orange sesame dressing; lamb meatballs with tomato sage sauce, silverbeet, green beans, and carrot; ocean trout confit with red pepper crust, eggplant puree, and buckwheat salad.

Meal appeal: It's healthy and it tastes good. I dig.

What's good: The Eat Fit Food fairies deliver your meal overnight so there's a new cold bag on your doorstep each morning. You can also choose what you want at the beginning of the week, or be surprised.

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What's not so good: You'll pay for the privilege.

Value for money: A lunch or dinner on the Healthy Eating menu will set you back $20.50, a breakfast $13. Then there's a $7 delivery fee per day. Order breakfast and dinner each day of the working week and you're up for about $200. While it's awesome to open the door and find breakfast waiting for you like you're living in a hotel, I'm not sure if it's $200 worth of awesome.

Suitable for: Healthy living diehards with more income than time.

Rating: 4/5

eatfitfood.com.au

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Gourmet Dinner Service

Some meals are frozen, some are vacuum-sealed fresh, all are composed of good quality produce. Choose your meals each week online, add to your cart and hit the "order now" button for home delivery in an insulated box. Delivery days and prices depend on your location.

Gourmet Dinner Service is all about well-prepared food you want to eat. There's little focus on healthy eating, although that's not to say the meals aren't nutritious. Best see its sister company Dietlicious if you're keen to trim some baby fat.

Cookability: Easy enough. Some zapping, simmering, baking, and grilling, mostly for reheating purposes.

Dish examples: Veal cassoulet with beans, pumpkin, vermouth, and white wine; beef burgundy in red wine, garlic, and fresh herbs.

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Meal appeal: I'm appealed. Well seasoned, gutsy fare.

What's good: When it says a meal serves two people, it will serve two people, not one and a half. Great range of choice on the website.

What's not so good: A couple of dishes were a tad stodgy. This can probably be avoided by ordering something different online.

Value for money: About $89 for three days of dinners for two people. At $15 a meal I think it's reasonable for the quality and convenience.

Suitable for: Older couples. If you had a relative that lived alone and found it difficult to cook, this might be a winner too.

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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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