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Meal kit food boxes are everywhere. If you’re like me, you haven’t considered them because you have picky kids and, even though life is way too busy, you also like crafting dinners (most of the time.)
When Goodfood reached out to me to ask if I was interested in trying a box and doing a bit of an ambassadorship with them, I did some research.
Of the big three meal kit companies, Goodfood appears to be the only one based in Canada. Chef’s Plate was a Toronto start-up but has since been purchased by HelloFresh SE, headquartered in Germany.
All of these meal kit companies tout the same stories – sustainability through recyclable packaging, customizable plans and delivery dates, fresh local-ish ingredients, and delicious-looking recipes. One looks as good as the other, so supporting the “most local” option made sense to me.
Scroll to the end for my thoughts on the meal box, or keep reading to learn more about Goodfood.
A bit of Goodfood background:
“We won’t serve anything that we wouldn’t be proud to serve our families at Sunday dinner,” stated Jonathan Ferrari, co-founder of Goodfood.
Ferrari and his longtime friend Neil Cuggy started the company in 2014 after a lifetime of interest in the food supply chain.
“We always thought about ourselves as really differentiating by getting food on the table but making it exciting. Because Montrealers know how to do food. We were able to create really interesting recipes by just going to the market, finding a couple interesting things, putting them together in a dish and then serving it to friends and family at a dinner party,” Cuggy explained.
Goodfood prioritizes fresh, local and seasonal ingredients in their meal kits, noting “it’s what’s best for our customers, our communities and the environment.”
“When people really care about where their food comes from and how it’s grown, it creates better food. It’s so much more flavourful. It has a better impact on the environment because it’s coming from somewhere that’s closer to home,” Ferrari explained. “We’re also nurturing partnerships with farmers who are using the latest Earth-friendly technologies to do things like reduce water use and transportation times, and eliminate pesticides.”
The pair decided to use Good in their name to signal positive change, but since then have decided that “good” is not good enough. According to their website, the pair is on a mission to do better than good by making their meal kits sustainable from start (the recipe development stage) to finish (when your box arrives on your doorstep).
Here’s how they’re doing it:
- They source ingredients locally to reduce plastic and food waste and ensure you receive the freshest produce available
- They’re continuously improving the planet-friendliness of the packaging
- They’ve reduced the company’s carbon footprint by offsetting the emissions of meal kit deliveries
Goodfood outlines all its “good” work on the website’s Sustainability page. It’s too much to dig into here, so take a look: https://www.makegoodfood.ca/our-commitment
The meal kit:
When I signed up, I chose the Family plan. It’s designed for households with kids, and offers at least five meal options for the week. Families can decide how many meals they’d like each week (2,3 or 4), and what day they’d like delivery on.
Goodfood is an auto-subscription service and will send a curated box each week, so make sure you have an alert set, or watch your inbox for the reminder emails to choose your options or skip the week.
The cost of the meals varies per serving, and they also offer add-ons that you can include in your deliveries. From dips and drinks to candy to spices, there’s a large selection of pantry items for those looking for more convenience and fewer trips to the grocery store.
Check out some of the offerings here.
My thoughts:
In all the literature from Goodfood, they made it clear that deliveries may not be at your doorstep until possibly 8 p.m. (or 5 p.m. if delivering to a business address.) Because of that, I didn’t plan to eat from the box until the following day, but when I went outside at 8 a.m. on our delivery day, the box was already on my doorstep!
The box was huge and a bit heavy. But, it also had two delicious ready-to-make meals, plus two large ice packs to keep everything happy in there until it gets unpacked.
Choosing the meals was the hardest part of the entire experience. On the website, they offer 5 or 6 “suggested” meals to choose from each week, but there are many, many more options if you scroll further down the page.
Our two meals were both delicious and easy to make. One required a bit more work, and the other was messier to unpack, but both made enough dinner for the four of us that there were some leftovers.
As for the kids’ thoughts – I had to modify the plating of each meal. I have one kid who doesn’t like salad (but will eat lettuce and some raw vegetables), and the other one prefers burgers without buns, and rice “on the side” instead of a nicely plated meal. But they both ate the dinners, even if it was a bit less enthusiastically than I’d have liked.
I also shared a series of photos of both meal preps, which was easy and not very time-consuming, on my Instagram page (there are more photos than I’ve shared here.) The meals took about as long to make and cook as suggested on the meal cards. I did pre-prep my lettuce for our BBQ pork burgers because they sent a full head of leaf lettuce and I had left it in the fridge in the original bag for three days. Despite that, it was still crisp and delicious!
Final notes:
Goodfood is perfect for anyone who might usually stop for take-out on the way home because they don’t have the motivation (or didn’t make a decision in the morning) for dinner prep. When you choose your meals, each option shows you the estimated time it takes to create the meal, start to finish. Ours were very close, with only one person doing the meal prep.
The meals start at $12.99 per person, and are healthy, delicious, and easy-to-make. Goodfood also notes the calories and cost per serving on the menu choices page.
When you sign up, you get discounts on your first few boxes. I also have some boxes to give away, for anyone who would like to try it out at a very significant discount. Leave your email in the comments, or send me an email and let me know you want to try out a box!
And don’t forget to watch your inbox once you’ve started using Goodfood – they send emails each week to remind you to choose your meals, or skip your week, if necessary.
I’m not sure how often I’ll make Goodfood purchases, but I can see how this would be a great option for busy families and parents who work outside the home.
Visit Goodfood.ca and start your meal planning today!