ottawa foodies

Just need to pick your brains......

We are thinking with our busy lives that we might try getting a food delivery service, but not the ingredients, the actual meals. This would be for the busy weeknights when we go straight from work to the gym and get home at around 7:00. We then need to shower and THEN prepare/cook/eat dinner. We just end up eating something fast (i.e not healthy) or if we cook from scratch then we end up eating too late at night.

Obviously since we are fairly health concious AND foodies of course :P), we want a company that prepares tasty and healthy food.

I found this place called The Red Apron - www.redapron.ca/

I have read through their whole site and really like what I hear. They try to use local ingredients and/or organic where possible and the meals sound amazing. We figure we could try it for a couple of months and see if we are saving any money or at least breaking even doing it this way.
When you figure in how many times we just stop and grab St-Huberts or order a pizza because it's fast, it might end up not being too expensive coupled with the fact that we will need to buy less groceries.

My questions are these:

1. Has anyone ever heard of/tried Red Apron?
2. Does anyone know of any similar companies in Ottawa that I have missed?

I also found:
-Zen Kitchen that does something similar but from what I understand they are only vegetarian/vegan.
-Home gourmet that looks good as well but does not seem to be exactly what I am looking for and seems a bit pricier
-In the Zone (meals modeled on The Zone diet) - I would rather use a smaller outfit that sources locally
-Chop Chop Catering - they cook the food in your home during the day while you are at work - not really what I am looking for either

Anyways, hope someone can give me some input.

Thanks!

ksw I haven't tried Red Apron but this topic came up in the forum awhile ago in the "Where to Cook?" thread. I'm not sure how to make a link to it (unless Fresh Foodie is lurking and can help me out?) but some of the suggestions are as follows:

Dinner by Design
dinnerbydesignkitchen.com
I actually visited their location in the Merivale Mall a few weeks ago just to size them up and noticed they have alot of single size meals (bonus for me) but also tons of family size meals too if that suits your needs. I prefer making my meals from scratch so benefitting from their weekly freezer orders wouldn't really be of interest to me. But they do have a refrigerator on site with some meals already made up so you can buy just one item to try it if you want. Plus their meals look really yummy.

Supper Works
www.supperworks.com

Marvelous Mouthfuls
www.marvelousmouthfuls.ca

Time Saver Foods
www.timesaverfoods.com

Fresh Foodie since there seems to be an interest in this service do you think it would be worth making another tag?...

A friend has used Red Apron as they lead very busy lives and are quite careful of what they eat. They have been quite pleased with the taste and quality but have said it is not cheap food. I've tried one dish and it was very good.

KSW - Although I haven't used any of these services, I have been collecting names. As Pasta Lover said there are a variety of services available, some come to your home to cook, some have a site where they cook and you can pick up, and some you go to and cook for yourself (all the prep work has been done for you).

I would have a lot of questions (especially about menu)... and I know some places won't sell by the dish, but rather by a BLOCK of meals. Two others in the Ottawa area seem to be:

Gourmet to Go
www.gourmettogo.ca

and

Dinner Essentials
www.dinneressentials.ca

As for Red Apron, I have heard of them and I believe they do things a little differently (such as the delivery option). Everything I've read about them seemed more high-end especially their commitment to using local suppliers. Their website shows their options as:
3 meals for 2 = $ 102 ($ 17 each)
3 meals for 3 = $ 144 ($ 16 each)
3 meals for 4 = $ 180 ($ 15 each)
9 meals for 1 = $ 105 ($ 11.66 each)

And the minimum purchase is one weeks worth. Seem's somewhat pricey, but then compared to the other types of places, I believe the food might be better and the financial commitment smaller overall.

OK, just to side track a bit, but have you considered just making a big batch of something on the weekend and eating leftovers? I'm sure these places make great food, but I'm sure they are probably also pretty expensive.

Also have a look at Parma Ravioli Parma Ravioli on Thursday and Friday after work. Their ready-made meals get frozen and go on sale for half price. But actually based on what someone posted above, I'd say their full-price is still cheaper than what you are going to pay at one of these places, so just walk in and buy a crapload of anything that's got a tomato-based sauce and you are probably good to go. We love the ready-made meals here, especially when they are half priced!

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring.

I prepare meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Temple Israel, and deliver between 4 and 8pm. Meals are packaged for four and include a salad to start and something sweet for dessert for $47.99.

All the meals are healthy and made without additives, preservatives or MSG. I eat them too!

View the menus at: www.MyChefAtHome.ca

There you have it the perfect solution, someone you know who is a Foodie. Sounds like a great match.

Hey Oli ... Since you prepare your meals at Temple Isreal, are any of your products Kosher ?

We've used Red Apron extensively last year and were very satisfied with the service, never a missed delivery and very tasty food. Well packaged with clear instructions. Highly recommended.

Temple Israel has a "kosher style" policy. I was surprised how relaxed it is. No meat with dairy (but they don't worry about seperate dishes), no pork or shellfish. I abide by these, even when I really want to put cream in the mashed potatoes.

I worked at a kosher kids camp in the Muskokas for a couple of summers while I was at University, and there we had a mish-ke-ya (I can never spell that - the rabbi's agent in the kitchen). We had completely seperate everything - walk-ins, counters, ovens, even tea towels and a neutral zone for veg prep so that it could go into either meal. The real challenge was baking desserts for meat meals. To this day I notice if anything I buy has a kosher mark. I think after all that training I am much more careful than they require I be. :~)

Wow - thanks for all the great suggestions.

Looks like what I thought were pretty good "key word" searching skills on the internet were not so good after all. How did I miss so many places?

I will check out all the suggested sites and re-think how I will go about this. If we do decide to go with Red Apron, it's nice to hear some positive feedback about their food/service.

F&T - that's what I like about Red Apron is that they do single servings and/or dinner for two which is exactly what we need. A lot of other places seem to do blocks as you say for larger families. What I liked about Red Apron also is that it's only for 3 nights a week (Tues,Wed,Thurs). Then you are free to make your own meals the other nights when you have more time. Plus the bonus that they deliver and leave it in your backyard in a cooler. Perfect! Dinner waiting when I get home from the gym :)

ZYM Yes, I considered doing that but there are a few drawbacks:
1. I would have to cook it myself
2. I would have to cook it myself
3. I would have to cook it myself

Do you sense a pattern here - haha! :):):) Yes, I am LAZY!!! Plus I am not a creative cook but love to eat creative food and the other main reason is that we are never around on the weekends (busy, busy, busy!!!) which leads to the reason of why we need this service to begin with.....

Just to point out that you don't need to cook the ready-made meals yourself. The ones that I suggested from Parma Ravioli. You just toss them in the oven or MW. Maybe that is your definition of "cooking" though, I dunno.

ZYM - sorry, I was referring to the part about making a big batch on the weekend and freezing it.....

Parma ravioli is a great idea and although I am not a huge fan of pasta, it would be worth it to get a couple at least to throw in the freezer for when I have a carb craving :):)

You should check kijiji for a personal chef.

People we know have meals delivered weekly by someone who advertised there and it has worked out well.
The food is organic, if that's important to you.

Check the previous websites - may not have to actually cook

"Don’t have time to come in to SupperWorks but want to make sure that your freezer is full of our delicious entrees? We’ll prepare your meals for you to pick up. More free time, same great food!"

of course additional charges apply.

You can also check this otrmeals.com/

...and the award for oldest thread ever resurrected goes to....

:)