When you get older, it can be so tempting to just eat the simplest things. For many years my mother just cooked the same sort of things every day – potatoes, green veg and some form of meat, be that sausages, liver, chops or whatever. It is simple and nutritious, but frankly, lacking in cullinary excitement that someone of her age should manage. When family members began to see a pattern of not very much variance, they decided that drastic was needed. Recently introduced to the country, the new food delivery boxes were an absolute boon! There are several on the market and they are a very clever way to introduce folk to new flavours, or old flavours but cooked in a new way.
The boxes are purchased on a subscription service, so having signed Mum and Dad up, we got the meal choices up on screen and we suggested selecting a few for a ‘trial’ period. There was such an amazing choice too. The beauty of the scheme is that each meal comes with the main meat or protein product, vegetables and all the accomaniments & ingredients. The herbs and seasonings, sauces and glazes come in individual serving sized packs. There are full colour instruction cards with a main photo of the finished dish, showing how it should be plated up to best advantage, alongside which are smaller pics of the individual ingredients so the cook can see what to look for in the main transport box.
All the meals are supplied well packaged. Frozen or chilled items are packed in insulated ice bags so that they can wait in the porch for a couple of hours, nothing will spoil. These have absolutely transformed the parents – they cannot wait for the family visit to order the next set of meals!