Healthy Meal Delivery [Food/Vendor]

2015 Sep 28
Hi All
I hear so much about Red Apron but their delivery area is outside of where I work (near Greenbank and Hunt Club) and where I live in Barrhaven and going to their place of business for dinner does not make sense for where we live.
I am looking for a company / individual who can prepare and deliver weekly meals (3 - 5 days a week) for 2 people. We work long hours so just want to relax when we get home so would prefer not to have a chef in house. Any suggestions are welcome, so far all I can think of is Farm Boy to pick up. Healthy food is a priority. Thanks to everyone who replies!

2015 Sep 29
NOD You could always try Supperworks: www.supperworks.com I believe you have to go to their premises to prepare your ingredients and take them home but they have locations in Kanata and Nepean if that would help. They had a booth at the National Womens Show a couple of years ago and mentioned that in exceptional circumstances they will deliver (post surgery, just had a baby, etc.) - maybe if you explain your circumstances they can make an exception?...

There are other places like Dish Catering and Credible Edibles although I am not sure if they deliver - you would have to call first.

Alternatively if you are near somewhere that sells prepared meals (like Parma Ravioli or Thyme and Again) you could always buy a few meals and toss them in the freezer.

2015 Sep 29
Toric's restaurant has a "store" where they sell frozen dishes for single and larger portions.

I've bought a couple items and they are always good.
I had a chicken pot pie,pasta sauce,soup and all were good.
I was told they can deliver if you spend a certain amount or make some arrangement with the chef.

Cedar's grocery has a lot of prepared items they make in store and I'm sure many would freeze ok. But they are open until 10pm every day.
I was told that Cedar's grocery can do delivery,but not sure how that works

Not delivery, but Whole Foods sells a lot of prepared frozen items from local restaurants.
They look really good,but have not really gotten around to trying them.

Why not order from a delivery place-like a local pizza or whatever restaurant?
Many have healthy items- just depends what you order.

Boston Pizza has a very good menu for ordering online and you can even choose your items they day or week before.
Their kids chicken fingers are baked and good,get them w a salad instead of fries.
Or they have many other healthy items.

Swiss chalet is fairly good and has quite a few healthy items on the menu- maybe skip the fries and get salad,baked potato, vegetables,rice as a side.
-not a fan of their 1/2 chicken but their kids pasta w tomato sauce and chicken or w shrimp is really good and a huge portion (you can only get it for take out or delivery if you are an adult).

2015 Sep 29
Have you contacted Red Apron directly? They might be able to work something out. Or have some suggestions of a personal chef. Algonquin College culinary arts program, might have some leads for you too.

2015 Sep 29
Great idea to contact Red Apron as my place of work is so close to their boundary and they may make an exception. I will look up Cedar's Grocery, Torics, Parma Ravioli and Thyme and Again. Thanks for those suggestions! I am over the top to have received these great comments.

2015 Oct 3
I do not see a way to edit my post here?
But I was looking for something on Todric's site and it says they deliver with a minimum order!

todrics.com/frozen-entree.html

Ready-Cooked Frozen Entrées

We know that healthy eating contributes significantly to our general well being. But in today's hectic world, there's very little precious time for cooking delicious and nutritious meals every single day.

Why put up with crowded restaurants? Todric's restaurant and catering has created a wide range of healthy frozen dishes and nutritious products that contain everything you need to eat right, at a great quality/ price ratio.

Simple and practical, Todric's restaurant and catering products can help you win the race against the clock when mealtime comes around. Just heat as directed, and enjoy.

A fail-safe fallback when there's nothing in the fridge, with Todric's restaurant and catering products everyone can choose their own meals. You can eat on the run, snack fast and healthy, and enjoy good food at home and at work. Todric's restaurant and catering products are homemade in our own kitchens. Prepared by a chef and his skilled professional team, all of our products meet the highest hygiene standards. Todric's recipes are enhanced by selected ingredients, and do not contain chemicals, additives or preservatives. Our flavourful dishes are placed in single-portion containers to reduce waste. They are then frozen at peak freshness to preserve flavour and nutritional quality for weeks and even months.

Our products can be delivered to your door at a time that is most convenient to you (minimum order require). If you prefer, you can also pick up your order at our restaurant 7 days a week.

To place an order call 613 321 0252 or send us an email at info@todrics.com . We will send you our most recent selection list to help you place your order. It's that simple!!!

*I have tried one of their pasta sauces, also a individual frozen chicken pot pie and that was really good! I would get one again when I go to their restaurant.

They also have some jams and sauces that they make and sell and pretty much every time I go there I buy at least one jar of jam.
I know they have apple butter sometimes,make a peanut sauce (have not tried,but sister loves it always asks for some),chutneys, strawberry jam and a lot of others.

2015 Oct 15
I read your post, and I want to tell you,I have Low Calorie meals from Calorie Care because their food is healthy, hygienic and certainly quite tasty. The meals are well-cooked and are delivered in spill-proof packs. The meals are fresh and I feel great eating healthy meals every day. It's been one and half years since I have been taking their meals I am very satisfied with their service. Since I have felt its effects, I have recommended Calorie Care meals to my friend and as well.

2015 Oct 15
Where I can find great Calorie Care meals in the local?

2015 Oct 15
It looks like the only address listed on their website is in Mumbai... I think I will stick to my favourite Ottawa places.

2015 Dec 4
I have been to Red Apron recently. Looked into their delivery service for my parents with my sister and I paying for some meals but I think they are just outside the delivery area since they only go to Blair and parental units are just east of Blair. Ask about the nutritional information or sodium level and they do not provide that and say they salt to taste which mean for the high salt Canadian average.

Found they had a very good selection of frozen meals for 1 for $9.50 per person and meals for 2 from $17-21 plus pies, etc. Also fresh meals for 2 of the week for $17-21..

Brought their extra braised short rib last night and some prepared frozen meals. Tried the short rib braised in wine and it was good although I was a bit dubious when I opened the container and it looked more like gravy than a wine sauce. Some of the veggies (brocolli) was slightly burnt even before reheating and a few pieces of cauliflower were too crunch/raw after reheating but the peas and carrots are fine. Very generous serving of meat but only 2 pieces of short rib and the rest are brisket and there were more brisket than short rib so should be more accurately called short rib and brisket braised in wine. The barley risotto was okay. Only comment is that that salt content seems fairly high since my mom complained of thirst after the meal and had to drink a lot of water. This is quality food but with the parents needing a low sodium, low fat, diabetic diet, Red Apron only an occasional choice.


2016 Jan 4
My parents are on low sodium, low fat and diabetic diets. It is becoming more difficult for them to cook at their age and the Meals on Wheels for their area are coming from St. Louis Residence in Orleans which is pretty horrible. I am interested to find more decent food options for my parents which I will pay for sometimes and the focus is more on the price / quality ratio than straight price and ability to get detailed nutritional information so I can keep an eye out on sodium and fat especially. Sugar too but that is lower in priority.

I am asking for more suggestion of meal delivery or take out service now that Richard Hintonburg kitchen has closed last year. I used to be able to ask Richard about the nutritional stuff or what to stay away from or go to but he closed their retail storefront and only does catering these days.

Things I have tried or heard about
1. Red Apron for both their fresh take home, frozen meals (individual ones $9.50) and meals to your door ($35-40 meal for 2 plus delivery). Quality food but when asked about nutritional info I was told they salt to taste and often my parent hit the water afterwards due to saltiness.
2. Cuisine and Passion - decent take out stuff from Marc Miron but same thing about lack of nutritional information although they sometimes say this might be better than that choice.
3. Epicure - take outs have tried a few small items and while decent the lack of nutritional information and any feedback on that direction had been a concern.
4. I have been hitting the cafeteria for takeout when I take my parents to Ottawa Hospital or Heart Institute for appointments. Heart Institute have frozen soup and frozen meals but soup despite them saying have no added salt have soup bases that are high in salt. Was able to get turkey dinner for all the trimmings at Ottawa Hospital on carling Thursday before Canadian thanksgiving for $9 / meal.
5. Chef's Plate meal kit delivery service which I am ordering semi regularly after trying them on a 2 free plate or 50% off deal from facebook. Been sending some friend who might like the service the 4 free plates offer.. Quality food and I can get nutritional information from them and adjust by using less oil, sauces, etc. $10.95 / plate
6. Culiniste meal kit delivery service which I have seen and it looks interesting but more hurdle to find 3 meals I like per week out of 6 of which 2 are vegetarians. $9-$10 per plate depending on the plan your choose.
7. Timesaver frozen foods - got recommendations and pretty reasonable at $7 for frozen entrée and $5 for soup. Waiting for some free freezer space before placing a larger order to get a good selection and justify the $5 delivery charge. Can get detailed nutritional info for their meals but have to do conversions since the give info per 100g rather than per serving.
8. Thyme and Again - tried a few small things but same lack of nutritional information
9. Farm boy - sometimes they would take the time and look up information such as ingredients, etc for sausages and some prepared foods and they have hot and cold buffets.
10. Whole foods - have tried both their buffet and their catering for a vegan holiday meal - pretty decent food but not detailed on nutritional info.

2016 Jan 4
Have you ever considered hiring a personal chef? S/he could make, say, 5 dinners for 4, then package them up into 10 dinners for two or however you would like them packaged. This could work well mainly for frozen meals. I can't imagine that this would cost more than take out from some of the places you mentioned plus you could instruct them as to salt, fats, etc.

2016 Jan 4
I was going to suggest the same as FF or if you have a connection with Richard ask him if he would be willing to make a batch of a few different items. Depending upon how busy he is, he might go for it

2016 Jan 4
11. Tried Supperworks but they used full salt and full fat stuff except if you specify glutin free broth it is reduced sodium. Good think it they have the nutritional information at least in terms of sodium but cannot remember about fat. I found they basterdize the recipes a little too much and sometimes I can buy already prepared food which I don't have to do anything than reheat for similar price.

2016 Jan 4
Yeah my brother in law cooks stuff for them Sunday night and send it with my sister and the chinese grocery they get for them at T&T and I do their regular shopping. Usually he makes enough for sunday dinner and another meal.

I have found some somewhat ready to eat stuff or things that can be extended easily that is not too bad diet wise.

1. PC Blue Menu Lasagne
2. PC Cabbage rolls
3. Maple Leaf beef in red wine sauce which I add veggies such as potatoes, carrots, onion, etc to make 20-30 min beef stew.
4. Lou's Pulled turkey reheated and put in buns with coleslaw with half low fat mayo and half yogurt.
5. Seasoned Pork tenderloin with microwave sweet potatoes and nsa corn.

I am planning to do a beef stew from scratch tonight and send it to them and can probably make either chili or spaghetti sauce for their freezer. But when I do a big pot of something, my dad complains that they eat it for a long time lol.

I might check with Richard a bit later when I can get my parents to work down their freezer a bit.

2016 Jan 5
Todric's can probably customize food with gluten-free, low or no salt.
No idea on the cost.

The table has some frozen foods- no idea of nutrition though,
Whole foods has a lot of frozen meals- all the nutrition should be on the packages.
-only thing is the frozen items there are expensive.

MM meats seems pretty good,but since the store near me went out of business I have not been there this year.

2016 Jan 5
You might want to check the labels of M&M meats first though or at least check their website - I'm pretty sure their nutritional info is posted there. I buy products from them from time to time and they seem to be really high in sodium.

2016 Jan 7
Yeah the MM foods near me went out of business and I did go to another one recently and the ones I checked were not so great nutritional / diet wise, especially sodium and sometimes fat. I might check the pot roast one since someone said it was good and I saw it on sale a few times at around $14-15 for 2 lbs.

2016 Jan 7
There are a few vendors at the Landsdowne Farmer's/Sunday/Winter/Craft/Something Market you should check out. I have clue zero who will be there week to week but last time i was there in early Dec two or three vendors were doing low-everything soups and stews that were surprisingly tasty.


2016 Jan 7
Cedar's grocery makes some soups, the one I bought last week did not seem salted at all,
it was made with at least 10 kinds of vegetables and barley.
A 1l glass jar was $7.

I was told they change their soups all the time and I will be trying more of their soups.
Cedar's does make a lot of homemade dishes, but no idea what is high in salt as they do not list nutrition.

MM meats did have some good frozen items- like the plain vegetables, some interesting desserts.
But I did not like too much how they have a lot of chicken products from asian countries.
I would prefer to eat Canadian chicken and meats if possible.

I did try some rice bowl that was made in Thailand or something. It was good, but not too sure how the food standards are there.

*I did/do like the strawberry shortcake ice cream bars and the apple blossoms.
-even though the ice cream bars are really unhealthy

2016 Jan 8
PTR, I have seen a low sodium chicken orzo soup for $7 or 8 at FarmBoy that was pretty decent in sodium but I can just make one in about 20 mins I guess with salt free chicken broth onion/carrots/celery and some noodles or pasta. I would prefer something a tiny bit more interesting at that price point.

At M&M, I had looked at their dessert profiterole a while back and the fat contents were pretty extreme. I found too much fried or high fat stuff at M&M and I felt bad the last time I was there asking to see about 5 things and non were great for restricted diets. Having worked for 4 months in Malaysia on a project, great food but I would be a tad concerned about food safety in the region, especially China from what a friend what worked there for 10 years told me.

The apple blossoms are good but high pastry to filling ratio so high fat and high sugar. I would prefer to get the sugar free blueberry pie or sugar free apple pie at farm boy.

OSM, have not been to Landsdown in a while since parking is a bit of a b**** but maybe I will do a combined Whole foods and Lansddown market run this weekend.

2016 Jan 9
Have anyone there tried the ChefX delivery service and if so what you think of it? I like the idea of getting a recipe from a local chef I like but now they are down to 1 meal kit and 1 prepared meal from les Fourgiere... The price point is a little higher at $39 for 2 than Chef's Plate and closer to more casual eating out price. Might still be good value for the right menu item or chef..

2016 Jan 12
I did ChefX for one delivery and thought it was good.
The quality of the food was great too and nice printed instructions.

Meat sizes were ok- no leftovers on that, but a lot of the veg side dish leftover.

The bad, they printed out my address wrong and did not contact me and finally when I did reach someone I got my box at something like 9pm on a Sunday.

I ended up making both meals that night as I only cook stuff for dinner every second night.

Also I found there was a lot of prep for all the vegetables= having to cut a rutabaga or some other hard to cut veggie.
I have pictures somewhere if I can find them, not sure where they are on my pc,so will update later today..

2016 Jan 12
Lol I cut some rutabaga this am for beef stew along with potatoes onion baby carrots and parsnips. Rutabaga being rounder is the hardest to peel and chop

2016 Jan 12
I took advantage of Chef's Plate 40% off offer for this week and got three meals. We had the first one tonight, which was called Fish Khao Soi, or, in English, fish in a coconut curry broth. It also had fresh wonton noodles and Chinese spinach. I have posted two pictures, one showing how the ingredients came and the second, one of the finished bowls. I am very impressed. The package came this afternoon and it was very well wrapped with three ice packs that were still frozen. The dish itself was delicious. Still to enjoy are Spanish-Style steak (it is a strip loin) with smashed potatoes and a watercress salad and the third is turkey meatballs with fresh spinach fettuccine and lemon butter sauce. The latter dish also has marinated artichokes in it. Notwithstanding the fact that we have a big freezer full of food, I have been surreptitiously eyeing next week's offerings.

2016 Jan 12
Oops. Second picture of the finished dish.

2016 Jan 12
The dishes look amazing! I heart that pasta dish:)))
Debating trying the service, value wise is it cheaper to just buy the ingredients directly from local shoppes and try recipes?

2016 Jan 12
I paid $39.42 all in for six meals - three meals for two people. Based on what we had tonight that price was well worth it. Everything has been premeasured and it really is a hassle free way to cook. Is it worth $20 per meal? I haven't decided, the other two meals will likely help me decide. Last night, for example, we had a very simple meal of scallops and Greek salad. But, the scallops cost over $25 and the ingredients that go into a Greek salad aren't cheap these days either, so last night's dinner would have cost well north of $30. Now, scallops are in a different price range than say, ground turkey but considered on a per meal basis, $20 doesn't look so bad. Plus, there is no waste which is another plus. I'll post the other two meals here as well. If you do decide to try them, let me know via PM as they have a referral thing going on.

2016 Jan 12
Thanks:) great summary, I'm curious to try

2016 Jan 13
Chefx meal from last year.
This was:

My second meal from Chefx Maple Soya Glazed Salmon with Pink Grapefruit, Parsnip, Greens & Toasted Hazelnut.
The recipe was quite good,I do not usually make things that have so many sauces..

This meal was good, but having to make so many sauces from scratch was very time consuming.

2016 Jan 13
My other Chefx meal was chicken.
I really like the vinaigrette and have made it as a salad.
It was not really a vinaigrette as there was many tomato halves-more like a salad or salsa than anything you would put on a salad.

*I really tried to make my meals look nice. Hopefully that worked ok....

2016 Jan 13
We had the second dinner tonight which was billed as Spanish-Style Steak with smashed potatoes and a watercress salad. Ingredients pictured below. The instructions said to cook the steak over medium high heat for 4 minutes per side for medium rare. I did it for 3 minutes. We thought the beef was a bit tough, but flavourful enough. Once thing about this type of service - it seems to me you try some things you wouldn't ordinarily try and that is not a bad thing. First Spanish style steak I ever had and the first time I have eaten a watercress salad.

2016 Jan 13
Finished dish.

2016 Jan 15
FelineFan,

I pulled the trigger on Chef's Plate facebook offer in Dec early Dec and got 2 free plates so 2 meals of 2 for $27.90.

If you have used my referral link on the 1st post of this thread
Forum - Chef's Plate Meal Delivery Service - 4 free meal referral
which is this link below
www.chefsplate.com
or you can use the coupon code 2mealsFromMaryH you would have got 4 free plates and your 3 meals of 2 would have come to $21.90 since delivery was free :D Or you could have gotten 2 meals of 2 for only the $6 delivery charge.

The fish curry did you did looked very interesting on their website a couple of weeks ago but when I mailed Chef's Plate for nutritional information, it has 21.8 g of sat fat out of 29.8g of fat and 2749mg of sodium per serving which more sodium than a person should have in 1 day and mom should eat under 40-45g of fat and less saturated due to pancreatitis so had to pass since I was planning to get it to cook for my parents and they are on restricted sodium, fat diets and they are diabetic. The Spanish steak was interesting until I saw the potassium was 1602mg since my mom need to watch potassium too where my dad is taking potassium tablets lol..

I been emailing Chef's Plate customer service and also posting on their facebook that they really should post their nutritional information on their website but I don't think they have found it important enough and enough customer asking / complaining to make changes to their website. Also sent an email to their customer service commenting that the menu creation person really should not do a meal has more sodium that a person should have in a day, let along a meal.

If you like Chef's Plate service but are concerned or check the nutritional info on food you eat, please add your comment on their facebook since I am trying to push them to give full disclosure of nutritional info like Missfresh out of Montreal and look more into their high sodium for menus.

As to the value, I can only talk about Chef's Plate so far. I think their vegetarian meals are not worth it as much since my sister having a 4 free plate referral from me have not found 2 vegetarian entrees she liked enough to pull the trigger when the cost to her is only $6 total and 30-40 mins cooking time for each meal, let along $11 per meal. Simiarly for the ground meat meals for me.

I ordered the BUFFALO MOZZARELLA GNOCCHETTI last week and my mom really liked it and she loved the buffalo mozzarella.
www.chefsplate.com
I bought real buffalo mozzarella before but I think I used it in caprese salad and I have bought tre stella boccacinos (sp?) and used it on pizza but she really like the one that came with Chef's Plate vs the others. I found the same brand in Loblaws for a little over $7. This will be the one I buy from now on. But if I add up the ingredients, even with fresh pasta from Fetticine, I think it would cost me $13-15 rather than $22. The meat ones tend to be closer and less of a premium, especially if they have a more complex side dish with more ingredients to be added.

As to Chef's Plate vs prepared meals / take home food, a lot of take home food are say $9 -11 per serving at Red Apron and $10-12 at farm boy of meal with 2 sides. I would pay the $1.50 more over Red Apron frozen meal since it is fresh and I can control what goes into it so be sure it is suitable for reduced sodium reduced fat. I would also pay the $.50-$2 for refridgerated take home from Red Apron since I can control and make it fit my parents diet and the trade off is 30 mins cooking vs 30 mins driving to pick up and reheating. I think it is better than some of the $10 meals at farm boy but Chef's plate has only 1 side typically where farmboy you get to choose 2.

Ingredients on some of the non-vegetarian meals on Chef's Plate with more complex sides I have had are more in the 75-85% range I think for ingredients and might be more if I take the potential wastage of larger quantity you would have to buy of some ingredients and the likely wastage into account.

The real saving is if you are pressed for time since ingredients are there and premeasured and the bonus is you sometimes try things you would otherwise not try or would not try well. I had freekah last week with the Chef's plate mediterrean salmon and liked it. I have been eating more ancient grains but the freekah I cooked before was not very good and this was better (but had to cut olives and feta way back due to sodium). My dad ate the kale salad 1st week and really liked it due to the cranberries. 2 out of the last 3 times I cooked kale he did not like them and only one time way back where the kale salad he liked also had cranberries lol. I think the time saving is worth something to me too. I cooked a beef stew for my parents and it took me about 2 hrs for the beef on the weekend and another 1hr chopping the vegetables and adding it to the stew on Tuesday am and cooking it so 3 hrs total for say 6-8 servings.

I am trying Miss Fresh next week on 5 meals of 2 since I am actively looking for a healthy meal kit delivery service to cook a few meals a week for my elderly parents and it has been 2 weeks since I can find 2 let along 3 healthy and interesting meals from Chef's Plate, finding only 1 good choice. They hated meals on wheels out of St. Louis Residence for east end and stopped earlier last year after about 18 months. I tried the prepared food route which was Richard's Hintonburg kitchen and more recently Red Apron which I tried on different things. Red Apron while having quality products, they cannot provide nutritional info and their salt to taste is far too salty. With my dad in hospital at Montfort now, I might have to do more than the 2-3 meals I was planning next week for mom or both of them. Issue I have with MissFresh is that you can only choose 3 or 5 meal plans and for the 3 meal plan you don't get to choose which 3 out of the 5 and you might not like all their choices. They said the functionality to choose recipes is coming mid-Feb.
www.missfresh.com/en/menu

If you want a referral link to MissFresh for $30 off (which would get 3 meals of 2 down to $39 the same price as groupon deal) pm me or check the chef's plate thread at the beginning of this post at a more recent post at the end of that thread. I have stopped buying groupons and similar stuff unless I am going to use it immediately since I had several expire and some establishment did not want to honor the paid value.


2016 Jan 15
Food Travel, thank you for a very informative post. I will take a look at Miss Fresh and will PM you if I am interested. If I am, I may wait until I are able to pick the meals I want. Each to their own, but for us, strictly vegetarian dishes are out.

You may be interested in what I saw at the Heart Institute today. I was waiting for my husband to pick me up and wandered into the cafeteria. There is a freezer there and from it they sell frozen meals. They did not have nutritional info but being a hospital they should have it readily available. They also had frozen soups, mushroon, tomato and I forget what else. They were $4.99 a litre and had the nutritional value listed. The sodium levels were very reasonable and looked to be around 300 mg. Per serving. One of them had sodium content of somewhere around the 220 mark.

We finished the last of the Chef's Plate dinners tonight and comments on that follows.

2016 Jan 15
Here are the ingredients for the turkey meatballs over fresh spinach fettuccine and lemon butter sauce.

2016 Jan 15
We did not care for this dish. Part of the problem is that as we were eating it we concluded that while we both love spinach, we don't like it as an ingredient in the pasta itself. However, I would be tempted to make this again using both artichokes and fresh spinach but regular pasta. I held back a bit on the lemon juice and was glad I did as half of it was enough for us. We found the turkey meatballs lacked flavor and needed more oomph.

In summary, I would order from them again. The servings are generous, the food is of excellent quality and I love how everything is pre-measured. I would not order three meals in a week but I would order two. It is nice to try something new once in a while. Another benefit of this is that there is no food wasted.

The best meal, hands down, was the fish dish. I could eat that every week. Despite the sodium content, largely due to, I suspect, the soy sauce.

2016 Jan 16
Hi felinefan,

Yeah I am in and out of the Heart institute with my Mom every few months so have taken home stuff from the heart institute cafeteria including several fresh and frozen soups, fish cakes and a few other frozen meals. Pretty reasonable prices.

You can get a large container of the soup of the day for the same price of the frozen soup too if you ask, they will bring out one of the plastic containers for you. If you said it is 300mg of sodium for the soup than that information is new and great development! I had a conversation last year with one of the cooks and the very nice guy tried to help me work out the sodium level on the soup of the day but one thing is that the soup base they use contains salt so their comment that they do not add salt is not entirely true. I tried to nudge him to investigate if their food service provider have no salt added soup base.
My last trip to Heart institute in Dec went long since the doctor ordered extra blood test and xray for Mom and had to pick up dad too after his abdominal Ultrasound so did not stop at any cafeteria that day lol.

If you still have time on your parking meter the next time you are in the area, the Ottawa hospital cafeteria around the corner might be worth checking out too. I have bought pho there for my parents for around $5, Panini with salad around $5-6, and full entrees with sides for $7-9. The don't have full nutritional information but have calories and I think gives little heart symbols to healthy meals.

Good to hear your feedback to Chef's Plate from a foodie perspective. I agree that the food is very high quality and great for convenience. The time I cooked the sage butter turkey for my parents, I added an extra chicken breast and an extra simple side (can of corn) and feed me too so the portion are generous lol.

In case you cannot find enough meals in a week or really liked the look something and have guests expected, I found a work around to double up on a meal at Chef's Plate. You picked the meals including one you don't really want and then after setting it up for delivery, go back in and change the place holder meal for a 2nd one of the one you want. Downside is that if I was ordering a double to give to family, they only provided 1 recipe card with the 2/double meals for 2.

Yeah I probably would not order miss fresh again until I can choose the meals. Their gourmet and veggie split seems a little crazy, especially since you will be forced to buy all 3 veggie meals or all 5 meat meals or their selection of 3 meat meals. I pulled the trigger early since next week will be nuts and I really like the look of 4 of the 5 meals next week and would be interested to see how the clam pasta, bavette and quail would work out. Not that thrilled with Swedish meatballs but okay with it. If I was going to eat Swedish meatballs normally, IKEA has a great one and I don't have to cook!!!

The cassoulet with duck sausages and fish taco the following week looked good but not the other 3 in the core choice. They have all their recipes up with instructions and a few from this week Jan 11 such as veal roulades and quick eggplant moussaka which could not be ordered anymore looked very interesting so might give them a try myself when I have more time but a bit more of a effort to get all the ingredients together.


2016 Jan 19
Felinefan,

Were you the one on chef's Plate facebook asking about sodium? Did you get it from them? If not send me your email by PM and I can send it to you.

2016 Jan 19
Yes, that was me. I have asked them to send me nutritional information for this week's shipment. I got Pork Chops in a Fresh Herb Sauce, Beef Enchiladas with Whole Wheat Tortillas, Avocado and Cheddar Cheese, and finally Glazed Tilapia with Kumquat, Black Quinoa and Almonds. We are having the pork chops tonight. Everything looks wonderful. I have already placed an order for next week.

2016 Jan 19
Really liked the look of Tilapia with Kumquat, Black Quinoa and Almonds but that was the only 1 in my must have for this week and I saw 3 must have with miss fresh this week so pulled the trigger there to try them.

My parents are not the easiest people to cook for lol.. I often ask what they would like and they say anything is fine. Mom has different tastes than dad and sometimes I have to do 2 things to please everyone.

What are you ordering for next week? I was eyeing a couple of things at Chef's Plate.


2016 Jan 19
Steak and red wine pan sauce
Tunisian beef sausage ragu
Honey ginger chicken.

i'm hoping for some spice ie heat in the honey ginger chicken.

We had the pork chops tonight. It was very good although neither of us are big on eggplant.

2016 Jan 19
Pictures Please on the pork chop :D

uhmm I would not order anything Chinese from Chef's Plate or Miss Fresh tbh.. I do not do it often but I can cook Chinese although my Mom is much better at it than I am in that arena. Talking about taking coal to Newcastle for me to order a meal kit to cook Chinese for my mom lol..

2016 Jan 19
I am looking at Steak and red wine pan sauce also and at mustard crusted salmon with Isreali Couscous.

I know my mom likes Isreali couscous from a trader Joe's harvest grain mix I brought home a few years ago and I had picked up a few pounds of whole wheat isreali couscous for her last year or year before.

Sorry no heat on the honey ginger chicken. If you want some heat, either add some chili paste or cut up some hot chili pepper.

2016 Jan 20
Sorry, I did not take a picture of the pork chop dinner. It was the first time we had eaten bulgur and liked it very much. We like fish but not salmon for some strange reason which is why we ended up with the ginger chicken as the third meal. I will add some chilis to that dish. I will let you know
how we liked it. As mentioned previously, I am interested in trying Miss Fresh but will wait until we can pick what we want. It sounds as though they have very generous servings.

2016 Jan 20
If you liked bulgur, you should try tabouleh.

One of my quick go to dinner are pork tenderloin madallions with sides.

2016 Jan 21
Okay, I have compiled the list from this forum thread to the google doc

drive.google.com


2016 Jan 21
Thank you FT for writing up your compilation of various healthy take out and/or delivery meal options. Much appreciated. You have spent a fair bit of time on this!

2016 Jan 21
I didn't realize that there was a thread for Chef's Plate so I will post any of my future comments re: this service there.

2016 Jan 23
The meal delivery lists provided by CCAC and hospitals are pretty bare bones and not very up to date. Forced by necessity to research this.

Yeah mom a bit too fragile to cook often and dad is willing but not the best cook and not careful with oil, salt, etc. which they need to watch. His cooking ability is likely to deteriorate or need to be observed while he cooks due to his dementia. He does oatmeal for them in the am and I have laid in some simple frozen foods they do eat like PC blue menu lasagna, cabbage rolls, some frozen meals, pizza ingredients, ribs (occasional treat), pork tenderloin, lamb chops etc.

I have persuaded Mom to move into an apartment or condo this coming spring / summer with dad since the house is getting to be too much for them and dad is not always being sensible. She does not want to make the move to retirement residence yet. I will be careful and make sure they find something in the Good Companion meals on wheels delivery area and not under Eastern Ottawa Resource Center since they keep contracting St. Louis Residence in Orleans which is horrible.


2016 Jan 23
The Riverside Hospital has a cafeteria that is open Mon-Fri until 2pm.
Usually they have a meal made from scratch at lunchtime- but sometimes it is pre-made like stuffed breaded chicken.

But Wed last week they had roasted turkey w mash potato, every Fri they make fish and chips and they make their own breaded cod.
It does not seem salty,but does have a lot of breading.
If I get that, I end up leaving half the breadding.
Sometimes on Fri there is also grilled fish like sole,salmon,tilapia.

They have a printed menu they put up for the week.
Their pannini is always quite good. Yesterday it was roasted veg w cheese (it had eggplant,roast pepper,mushroom,swiss or other real cheese?).
Cost for the sandwich was $5

Roast turkey or whatever is the meal of the day is $7.
I walk through that building 2x a week and try to pick up lunch there.

Abbotsford House, the seniors centre across from lansdowne- they have some kind of seniors meal plan. I do not know too much about it,possibly it is eating there in person,but maybe they have other arrangements.

Also, the Swiss Chalet kids meals are quite healthy and a lot of food for 1 adult.
You can get steamed veg, baked potato,salad as a side. And the pasta w chicken- they just use chicken breast on it.
The dessert you can get the unhealthy chocolate pudding (w oreo cookie crumbs,gummi worms...lol) or apple sauce.
Apple sauce is good for you,so maybe get that.
I think the apple sauce is in a cup,like what you get at the store-so it is good for a bit.

*You can only get the Swiss Chalet kids meal for take-out or delivery. For eating in, the kids meal is only for kids.
Swiss Chalet does have pasta meals for adults,but you get so much LESS food and pay 3x more.
The adult pasta meals, no side dish, no dessert, pay extra for white meat I think, also more spices in the sauce.

2016 Jan 24
For Swiss Chalet, I have bought the chicken dinner for 4 before for $28 so a meal with some leftovers. I think once for something different I also bought a half rack of rib with the family chicken dinner.

Kids meal required the purchase of an adult entree. Do you think they will be upset if I order 1 adult meal and 2 kids meal for takeout lol..

It is a shame, I have now a month's parking pass for Montfort hospital good till Feb 12 but I am not a big fan of their cafetaria except for a few things and found they are not as careful on sodium. I have driven out to small Hillside farm boy for their single salad bar than the salad bar at Montfort after the 1-2 tries. Sometimes Montfort cafetarias have decent paninis made with real chicken breast, I think a chicken and mango one last week which was pretty good and with a small soup only 5.75 taxes in. I briefly saw a weekly menu last week but they seem to have discontinued that again since I did not see it this past week.

The only time my mom have appointment at Riverside is with her nephrologist and usually they don't schedule it around meal times :(


2016 Jan 24
Re: one adult meal and two kids meals. If they give you any flack tell them you are a single parent.

2016 Jan 25
For Swiss Chalet, I have never had any issue getting just a kids meal for takeout.

Also,on the bottom of your receipt there is always a survey and it used to be good for one free appetizer, but now it is just 1/2 price appetizer-which is ok,but not as good a deal.

Well, Riverside is an interesting hospital.
I hope you do all your laundry after going there. Last year they had bedbugs there.
Mostly in the basement/lower floor area.
How the heck does a outpatient hospital even get infested w bedbugs??

2016 Jan 25
Have not had Swiss Chalet for a few months now. Mom was getting tired of rotisserie chicken and been picking up from grocery store for convenience, trying my best to time it for they likely to come out and ask for one without the high sugar glaze..

My dad loves the skin of rotisserie chicken but it is a bit too fatty so been nuking the skins between paper towels, rendering out and blotting as much as I can.

Most normal patients do not go down to basement / lower floors so more likely mostly staff that goes down there.

2016 Jan 26
Ah, well I know staff lockers are there.
The cafeteria is there too.
You can also get in through the transitway to the basement to access the building.

For rotisserie chicken,I was told by the manager of the walkley rd Foodbasics that it is the same chicken they sell at Metro for much more.
-they are owned by the same company.

Some middle eastern places have charcoal grilled shrimp,chicken,beef- would that be a good option?

or what about a fallafel or vegetable pita- maybe get just a couple pc fried veggie- like eggplant, cauliflower and the rest healthy stuff like lettuce,tomato,tabouleh.
That seems mostly healthy.

2016 Jan 26
I had gone to the Middle Eastern Center on St. Laurant and picked up a few bits and pieces after a meeting at Cora's but did not see grilled shrimp but they had some pita stuff with chicken or beef there.

Well maybe they are done the same way but Metro you actually see the rotisserie and I can try to time it for when they come out to request they give me a chicken without the BBQ sauce they brush on which is full of sugar and other undesirable stuff when I asked one time and they showed me the container with the ingredienst and nutritional information. Also I can ask Metro how long the chicken has been out if I did not like the looks of them. At Food Basics I have only seen them already put out under the lamp with whatever they do to it already. I tend to go shopping at Food Basic occasionally when there is a good special there later in the evening and the chickens are pretty sad by then :(


2016 Feb 3
Okay I rework for a version 2 of the document and organized it a little better hopefully. Still have a few issues getting the page number to print out properly on the google doc.

This is now 10 pages in 5 sections:
A Grocery stores or supermarkets 1 page
B Packaged frozen meals 3 pages
C Meal Kit delivery 2 pages
D Take home Fresh or frozen prepared meals 2 page
E Personal Chef 1 page

docs.google.com


2016 Feb 13
Have anyone used the loblaws click and pickup or the walmart's similar service for grocery pickup? Also the walmart pantry orders.. If so would appreciate some feedback.


2016 Feb 14

Chef's Plate review:
This past week we had the Steak and Roasted Tarragon Potatoes, Chicken Carbonara and the Moo Shu Pork Stir Fry. I cooked the steak sous vide then seared it. That dish was very good but for a few very small tough pieces on the steak. The chicken was okay, we had a problem with the chicken. We thought we detected a slight off smell which probably influenced what we thought of the dish. I did not think the value for money was there. Lastly, the Moo Shu Pork was delicious but the recipe did not call for the sauce to be thickened so it was runny. I hope they offer it again but I would thicken it a bit with a cornstarch slurry. FT, can you tell me if the sauce is supposed to be runny?

All in all, I continue to be happy with what we have been getting.

2016 Feb 15
opps I did not notice that there were no corn starch in the Chef's sauce. My mom usually add some cornstarch and water to all meat (beef, pork, chicken) and marinate it for a little while say 15-30 mins if she can.

She usually cut the meat first, marinate it and cut the vegetable on a different board and saute the vegetable first before stir frying the meat and there is usually at least 15 mins of marinating there.

2016 Feb 15
FT, the Chinese recipes I have made in the past have all called for the meat to be marinated with a bit of cornstarch and soy sauce first. This then also helps to thicken the sauce. I plan on making this again and put a note on the card to marinate first. Thank you.

2016 Feb 15
yeah standard marinade is soya sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch and water.. My mom says the water is important...

2016 Feb 19

Chef's Plate review:
This past week we had the Steak and Roasted Tarragon Potatoes, Chicken Carbonara and the Moo Shu Pork Stir Fry. I cooked the steak sous vide then seared it. That dish was very good but for a few very small tough pieces on the steak. The chicken was okay, we had a problem with the chicken. We thought we detected a slight off smell which probably influenced what we thought of the dish. I did not think the value for money was there. Lastly, the Moo Shu Pork was delicious but the recipe did not call for the sauce to be thickened so it was runny. I hope they offer it again but I would thicken it a bit with a cornstarch slurry. FT, can you tell me if the sauce is supposed to be runny?

All in all, I continue to be happy with what we have been getting.

2016 Feb 27
Okay. Had to update some stuff and the Ottawa Take home and food delivery options V2 doc is now 11 pages.

drive.google.com

2016 May 27
Okay have anyone ordered from Chefx recently?

The meat/fish protein kit at $39.50 for 2 is priced too close to some restaurant prices to be attractive for me and the vegetarian kits at $31.50 is similar close to some vegetarian entrée pricing so not that great, especially since recently all the recipes seem to come from urban element rather than previously chef's of nice restaurants.

They have now introduced a salad kit which might be a tad more attractive for me at:
$16.50 for 2 people
$25.50 for 4 people or 2 x 2 persons kits
$34.50 for 6 servings or 3x 2 persons

So was wondering if anyone have tried it... Next week's offering might be interesting for me since it is Strawberry and Spinach Salad with Blue Cheese and Toasted Pecans.. I can get 2 kits and throw one to my sister / niece...




2016 May 30
Okay. Chefx reduced their pricing on some meals kits for Protein and veggie and now have a salad kit option only $2.50 lower and started offering a referral bonus now of $10 and people you referred gets 25% everything.

I am going to give them a try this week which mean if someone who used them before want a 10$ referral credit message me here with your referral link or code since I would like the referred 25% off that is available for this week and next week lol.


2016 May 31
Okay. The link here would give you 25% off..
chefx.refr.cc/C2VPFLT
This is only good till June 6th. Orders over $25 net gives $10 referral credit.

So that
* meat meal kit for 2 is $28.13
* Veggie meal kit for 2 is $20.63
* Salad kit for 2 is $11.63
* Salad kit for 4 is $19.13 (2x kits for 2 people) - if you want to split w/ friend
* Salad kit for 6 is $26.63 (3x kits for 2 people) - if you want to split w/ friends
* Le Fougères 'READY-MADE MEAL' 3 courses for 2 people - $35.63