In this series, Newshub Lifestyle editor Sarah Templeton will compare some of the food delivery boxes on the New Zealand market. In this instalment, it's the My Food Bag Classic box.
This was the second week of a My Food Bag box, this time the classically named 'My Food Bag Classic for Two'. You can take that to mean 'average', 'normal', etc. This is the OG box, the bar to which all others attempt to match up.
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Having said that, I feel like sometimes it might be forgotten amidst all the trendy ones like 'Gourmet' and last week's 'Heat 2 Cook 2'.
Its $129.99 for four meals for two people, which is on the cheaper end of the scale. But that doesn't mean the quality is out the window. In fact... This one might be my favourite.
I know this is a big claim, and rest assured it's not one I make lightly.
For one thing - I am sick of salady-type bowls and crusted things. The same goes for my very patient boyfriend, who has been forced to eat more spinach through this series than he ever has in his life.
I just wanted simple, good food. A balanced plate that would leave me snoozing soundly.
And with My Food Bag Classic, I got it.
There was pasta. There was steak and chips. There was fish with quinoa - very #healthy. There was a crispy chicken bowl (with a life changing sesame dressing that I would have drunk if it wasn't portioned out perfectly).
We kicked things off with the steak and potato frites with a little béarnaise and honestly it was just all just delightful. The male of the house cooked the steaks out on the barbeque and we put on tunes and it was great. We felt satisfied but not stuffed.
The portions, in fact, were so large that we had actual LEFTOVERS on several of the days, ready for lunch the next day! I mean of course I completely overestimated how much pasta two people need, and we ended up with enough to feed an entire small Tuscan town - but again, lunch leftovers!
This is budgeting in its most delicious form. I couldn't believe it.
Now it wasn't all golden pastures of eating. As with the last box, the instructions on the recipes were slightly overwhelming. And assumptive again - the lemon mayo, which seems to be a key component of the fish dish, required 1/3 of a cup of mayo which I simply did not have. Is mayonnaise something everyone has? Is it weird not having it in the fridge? Asking for a friend.
But these are small quibbles and let's be honest, reflect more on me and my pantry organisation than Nadia Lim and her court of subjects at MFB.
This box felt convenient enough to be easy everyday fare, but cheap enough not to break the bank. Big fan.
Newshub.
