You might be juggling work and study, at home with a new baby, recovering from an illness or simply time-poor. Maybe you’re sick of trying to decide what’s for dinner week in and week out. Or perhaps cooking just isn’t your thing.

You could settle for eating toast or takeaways, but an increasingly popular alternative is to use a meal delivery service.

On this page:

• The meal delivery services we’ve tested
• Should you consider a meal delivery service?
• Food box delivery services – a user guide
• Prepared meal delivery services – a user guide
• How costs compare to supermarket prices
• How easy is it to cancel a subscription?
• Meal delivery services and food safety

What is a meal delivery service?

Meal delivery services are businesses that prepare ingredients for chosen recipes or provide meals that get delivered straight to your door. With easy-to-follow recipes or simple heating instructions, these services are marketed to consumers who need convenience. They reduce the amount of grocery shopping you’ll need to do, take the stress out of meal planning and meals can be ready with minimal preparation time. 

There are essentially two types of meal delivery services: 

• food box (meal kit) delivery services and 
• prepared meal delivery services. 

The meal delivery services we’ve tested

Our testers ordered and cooked food box meal kits from Dinnerly, Everyplate, HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, Pepper Leaf and QuiteLike in 2026. 

They also ordered prepared meals from Chefgood, Gourmet Dinner Service, Nourish’d, Providoor, Soulara, The Dinner Ladies, THR1VE, and Youfoodz. Prepared meals were last tested in 2024.

We rated the services for ease of ordering, presentation and temperature on delivery, ingredient freshness, recipe accuracy, taste and appearance and more. 

We also list prices, which are how much we paid for meal plans at the time of writing. For meal kits we purchased a family box which included three meals for four people. For prepared meals we purchased seven meals. Delivery is included in the price we list in our reviews, however, discounts applied at checkout are not included. 

For the food box meal kits we tested you can spend anywhere from $90 to $152 for the three family meals, while seven prepared meals can cost $87 to $201. It’s worth keeping an eye out for promotional price reductions and discount vouchers as they can offer significant savings, at least for your first order.

Best meal delivery service

To see the full results, take a look at our meal delivery services review.

Food box delivery services

Dinnerly

Meal choices each week:

• Over 100

Delivery area:

• ACT, NSW, QLD, VIC, TAS, SA, WA

Good to know:

• Affiliated with Marley Spoon and is the cheaper meal kit option. 
• Recipe cards provided in the box. You can choose to go paperless easily in your account settings. 
• Ingredients are combined in the box, so you’ll need to sort them into meals. 
• Only 2- or 4-person meal options. 
• Pantry items (that the recipe assumes you already have) are listed in the full ingredient list but are marked with a small asterix which isn’t immediately obvious. 
• Food options for lunch, dinner, sides, snacks, drinks and desserts.
  

Everyplate

Meal choices each week:

• 27

Delivery area:

• NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, WA
  

Good to know:

• Affiliated with HelloFresh and is the cheaper meal kit option. 
• Option to cater for 2, 4 or 6 people. 
• Option to add a fruit box, drinks, desserts and snacks to the meal kit. 
• Check what pantry staples you’ll need – they may not be regular food items you have in your cupboard or fridge. 
• Ingredients for all meals are combined in the box, so you’ll need to sort them before cooking.
• Senior and student discounts are available.
  

HelloFresh

Meal choices each week:

• Over 55

Delivery area:

• NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA, ACT

Good to know:

• Option to cater for 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 people.
• There’s food options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks and desserts. 
• Caters to a range of dietary requirements such as halal, paleo, vegan, keto and gluten free.
• There are many recipe filter options, such as protein type, kid-friendly, allergens and cuisine type.
• Ingredients for each meal are placed in separate bags for easy access to the ingredients. 
• Discounts are available for seniors.
• In previous years some members have commented about the lack of fresh produce, portions not being uniform and poor customer service. This year our experts encountered some chilled products measuring outside the safe temperature range.
  

MarleySpoon

Meal choices each week:

• Over 150

Delivery area:

• ACT, NSW, QLD, VIC, TAS, SA, NT, WA

Good to know:

• It has one of the largest number of weekly food choices of the food box services we reviewed. 
• Ingredients for each meal are placed in separate bags for easy access to the ingredients.
• Option to opt out of printed recipe cards and go paperless.
• Food options for lunch, dinner, sides, snacks, drinks and desserts are available to add. 
• Only caters to 1, 2 or 4 people.  
• Caters to a range of dietary requirements, such as vegetarian, calorie conscious, carb conscious, low sodium and high protein.
• There are many recipe filter options, such as protein type, price, cook time and dish type.
  

PepperLeaf

Meal choices each week:

• 17

Delivery area:

• ACT, NSW, SA, VIC, QLD

Good to know:

• Meal plan options are available for 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 people (minimum order requirement for one person is four meals).
• Free seasonal fruit added to the first two boxes when you sign up.
• Ingredients are divided into paper bags and grouped based on the recipes.
• Fewer meal options to choose from compared to other services.
• If you accidently add too many meals to your cart, you are unable to delete individual items. You’ll need to empty the cart and start again.
• The recipe card is OK, ingredients are not highlighted and there are multiple steps to follow in each. You need to keep flipping the card over to check ingredient quantities as they are not listed on the same side as the method.
• No list of equipment, so you need to read through the recipe to find out what is needed.
  

QuiteLike

Meal choices each week:

• 30

Delivery area:

• NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT

Good to know:

• Only caters for 2 or 4 people. 
• Add-on grocery options for lunch, dinner, sides, snacks, drinks and desserts.
• Recipes are easy to follow with not too many steps.
• There are meal options to cater to dietary needs such as pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan and meat-free. 
• Ingredients are divided into paper bags and grouped based on the recipes. 
• The recipe card is also accessible online.

Cost (including delivery)

• One-off subscription box (3 meals for 4 people): $165

Meal choices each week: 

• 15 

Ingredient/nutrition/allergen details: 

• Recipe cards detail what you’ll need including equipment, what’s provided by the company, cooking time and any allergen information as well as the spice degree of the recipe. 

 Delivery area: 

• ACT, NSW, VIC 

Packaging: 

• We rated the packaging as very good as most of it is recyclable or reusable. 
• Reusable herb bags are used to help keep produce fresh. 
• Insulated padded bags can be recycled in your curbside recycling bin. 
• Ice blocks can be reused otherwise the gel can be drained and the satchel can be recycled with soft plastics. 
• Company offers to pick up the rubbish. 
• Simply leave the box with insulated cool bags and ice blocks out the front and they’ll collect it when your next order is delivered. 

Good to know: 

• Limited menu selection. 
• The method on the recipe cards could be improved and we found recipe times to not always be accurate. 
• Two recipe cards were missing from our delivery and were accessed online. 
• Some of the ingredients weren’t fresh and one meal was not great tasting or well-presented. 
• Ingredients are divided into paper bags and grouped based on the recipes. 
• Caters to special dietary needs; gluten free, dairy free, nut free options and vegetarian. 
• Options to include lunch, sides, snacks, fruit, alcohol (cocktails, wine and beer). 
• Caters for 2, 4 or 6 people.
• Check pantry staples you may need for the recipe, they may not be regular food items you have in your cupboard or fridge.
  

Prepared meal delivery services

Providoor

Number of meal choices each week:

• 30

Delivery areas:

• NSW, VIC, QLD

Good to know:

• The service and delivery was excellent. 
•  Meals are frozen. 
• Delicious meals but only part of the meal is provided in most cases, sides like vegetables, rice, noodles and pasta are needed to complete the meal. 
• No contract or subscription, pay as you go. 
• Very good heating and cooking instructions are provided. 
• Other items such as bundles, entrees, desserts, sides, to share small bites, desserts can be ordered. 
• Some meals need to be defrosted before cooking and some meals can take up to 40 minutes to prepare.
  

The Dinner Ladies

Number of meal choices each week:

• 72

Delivery areas:

• NSW, ACT, VIC, QLD, SA

Good to know:

• The Dinner Ladies provide frozen home cooked meals that are generously sized and look presentable. 
• No contract or subscription, pay as you go. 
• NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider. 
• Dinner meals are available with 3, 4 and 6 serves. 
• A small amount of preparation is required and in some cases some meals might require you to have pantry staples like pasta, rice, vegetables or eggs. 
• Very good cooking and heating instructions are provided. 
• Some meals need to be defrosted before cooking and some meals can take up to 40 minutes to prepare.
  

Gourmet Dinner Service

Number of meal choices each week:

• Over 52

Delivery areas:

• NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT

Good to know:

• Meals are frozen.
• The service and delivery was excellent. 
• Delicious meals although portion sizes are small. 
• No contract or subscription, pay as you go. 
• Other meals such as Entertaining, Family, Salads, Side dishes, Desserts, Finer foods, Meal boxes and Christmas meals can be ordered.
• NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider. 
• Some meals need to be defrosted before cooking and some meals can take up to 40 minutes to prepare.
  

THR1VE

Number of meal choices each week:

• 40

Delivery areas:

• NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT, WA
  

Good to know:

• Healthy meals with low carbohydrates. 
• There’s a good variety to choose from with a quick turnaround on delivery. 
• Other meals such as snacks, drinks, desserts, soups and bundles can be ordered. 
• Individual meals only (no family meal options) and meals can be frozen. 
• NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider. 
• You can either subscribe or do a one-time purchase. 
• Meals are only OK in taste and appearance.
• Heating instructions are limited.
  

Chefgood

Number of meal choices each week:

• Over 40

Delivery areas:

• NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, SA, TAS

Good to know:

• Good variety of meals to choose from with chef-inspired meal choices. 
• The service and delivery was only OK as meals were delivered early and left outside for 8 hours – temperatures were above the safe range. 
• Portion size is only OK. 
• Presentation is lacking, not all meals looked appetising. 
• Other meals such as breakfast, snacks and drinks can be ordered. 
• NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider. 
• Heating instructions are limited.
  

Nourish’d

Number of meal choices each week:

• 20

Delivery areas:

• QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, SA, TAS

Good to know:

• Meat dishes have a limited amount of meat. 
• Meals are only OK in taste and appearance. 
• Service and delivery is very good. 
• NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider. 
• Other meals such as breakfast, sides, snacks, drinks and desserts can be ordered. The meal categories include: Breakfast, Soul Foods, Snacks & Sides, Drinks and Next Week’s Meals. 
• Regular, large and extra large serve size meals are available. 
• Individual meals only (no family meal options) and meals can be frozen. 
• Heating instructions are limited.
  

YouFoodz

Number of meal choices each week: 

• 60  

Delivery areas: 

• NT, QLD, NSW, VIC, ACT, WA, TAS, SA

Good to know:

• Meals were only OK – the presentation didn’t look very appetising with unevenly chopped vegetables and the protein was cut into small pieces and usually covered in a sauce. 
• Some foods had mixed together in the container and flavour was acceptable but not fresh-tasting. 
• Instructions for heating were not suitable for all microwaves and there was no standing time so food was mostly under 60°C. 
• The service and delivery was very good. 
• Meals are available in some supermarkets and there’s a lot of variety to choose from. 
• Snacks, desserts, fruit boxes and soups are also available to order. 
• Individual meals only (no family meal options)
• Meals can be frozen.
• There’s an app available to download to manage orders.

Soulara

Number of meal choices each week: 

• 39 

Delivery areas: 

• NSW, SA, VIC, ACT, QLD, NT, WA, TAS 

Good to know: 

• Meals looked bland and not very appetising. 
•  Presentation was lacking. 
• Medium and large-sized meals are available however we found the serving size of the medium meals to be very small. 
• 100% plant-based and vegan friendly. 
• Other options like snacks, drinks and bundles are available. 
• Heating instructions are limited. 
• NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider. 
• Individual meals only (no family meal options)
• Meals can be frozen.
  

Should you consider a meal delivery service?

����Vlog home economist, Fiona Mair and kitchen expert Chantelle Dart, have seen the evolution of meal delivery services over many years of testing and have  found a lot to like in the services we’ve reviewed.

“Meal kit services like HelloFresh and QuiteLike are predominantly marketed to time-poor families. But they can also be a great way for anyone to learn how to cook,” Fiona says.

They’ve found that the recipes are generally simple and relatively easy to follow, the ingredients are already portioned, there’s usually a utensil or tool list of what you need in your kitchen, plus a list of the pantry staples you’ll need. 

“After a month of preparing a few meals from a meal delivery service you’ll have a repertoire of recipes under your belt that will give you confidence to shop and cook for yourself. You’ll also become familiar with flavours and cuisines that you may not have tried before,” she adds. 

When it comes to prepared meal delivery services like YouFoodz and Soulara Fiona says, “these are convenient for people who are time poor and not so interested in cooking a meal”. 

You’re usually receiving single-serve prepared meals that only require heating in the microwave. You can even make a large order which will help to reduce the price and stockpile them in the freezer for later use.

Meal options

Chantelle says a big point of difference between these services is the range and variety of meals they provide.

“Some services do really well in catering to a wide variety of customers,” she explains.

Services that allow you to filter based on your specific needs and offer extras in terms of lunch, snack and dessert options, might win over time-poor customers who are looking for a service that does it all.

Some companies even offer “premium” meals for an additional cost. Chantelle says, “this can feel misleading to consumers who initially sign up with a set idea of how much their meals will cost for the week”.

PepperLeaf and Marley Spoon are the only services to specifically cater to one person, but there are minimum order requirements. Marley Spoon has a minimum spend of $49.99 and you’ll need to order at least four recipes with PepperLeaf.

Food box delivery services – a user guide

Benefits

• minimal food waste
• easy to follow recipes
• ingredients are pre-measured

If you enjoy cooking but meal planning gives you a headache, you’re lacking inspiration and sick of always cooking the same boring staples, or you find it hard to make time for the weekly shop, then food box delivery services such as HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, Dinnerly, Pepper Leaf and QuiteLike can be a good option. Each week these subscription services deliver recipes and the precise quantity of the predominantly fresh ingredients you’ll need to cook them.

There’s minimal food waste associated with these types of services, as you’re being supplied with the exact quantities of ingredients required for each recipe. This is particularly beneficial with ingredients you’re unlikely to use frequently. For example, if a recipe calls for a pinch of paprika, that’s what you’ll get in the box. You don’t need to buy a whole bottle that you’re unlikely to use again. 

The recipes are designed to be simple and easy to follow, and cooking with pre-measured ingredients means you can turn the meal around in less time than if you were starting from scratch. Many of these services also aim to use locally sourced Australian ingredients.

Tips and traps

• When using these types of services you’ll need to have a range of everyday ingredients which frequently feature in the recipes. These include pantry staples such as soy sauce, white vinegar, salt and pepper, honey, oil, butter, milk, eggs, flour and sugar – so it’s worth checking what they are and whether you have them before your first delivery so you’re not caught short.

• When signing up to these services, some companies will collect personal information upfront before you can even view what’s on offer. Dinnerly for example, will only let you view menu choices once you’ve entered all your details including credit card information. In other cases only a minimum amount of details are needed initially and card details are only required once meals are selected. 
• Subscription-based services usually have pre-selected meals they have chosen for you. If you want to customise your order you’ll need to remember to delete the pre-selection meals otherwise you could find yourself being charged for them. 
• The amount of packaging (each pre-measured ingredient comes in its own bag or container) can be a deterrent. 
• Choosing a delivery window where you’re likely to be home to collect it soon after delivery is important for ensuring food stays within the safe temperature range.
  

Prepared meal delivery services – a user guide

Benefits

• Minimal preparation required
• Can stockpile meals and keep in the freezer for future use

Services such as Youfoodz, The Dinner Ladies, Soulara, Providoor and Nourish’d sell predominantly fully prepared meals. Ordering is simply a matter of choosing from the range of meals displayed on their websites, and the chilled or frozen meals will arrive at your door in a coolbox on your nominated delivery date.

Tips and traps

• The meals from some of these services focus predominantly on the protein component, with nary a vegetable in sight. They suggest you add a salad or vegetable side dish – and usually offer these to buy – but this will obviously bump up the total cost. This is worth bearing in mind when comparing meal prices. 
• Some of these services offer a good selection of freshly prepared, chilled meals, while others sell predominantly frozen meals. If this difference is important to you, make sure you’re clear on what they’re offering before you order. 
• The chilled meals on offer are usually “wet meals” like braised meats, curries, pasta, stir fry, rice and stews that are usually covered in a sauce or gravy. This is so the food doesn’t dry out when heated in the microwave and so each component can heat as evenly as possible. Fiona says, “these types of meals that are soft with minimal texture are foods you could quickly become sick of. You may not want to be eating them week on week”. 
• Other services like Providoor and The Dinner Ladies provide ready-made meals that are frozen and have options to serve 1–4 people. In some cases these meals aren’t complete and you may need to finish them off with pantry staples like pasta or rice and may want to add a salad or vegetables to complete the meal. Heating instructions may require an oven, cooktop or microwave but these options allow for a variety of textures which in some cases lead to better flavour.
  

How costs compare to supermarket prices

Food boxes

In the past we’ve compared the price of a HelloFresh box with the equivalent ingredients needed to make the recipes from Coles and Woolworths. 

We found you don’t actually pay much less at a supermarket, and sometimes you pay more once you factor in delivery costs if you’re ordering online. 

But in reality when doing your weekly shop you’re more likely to take advantage of special offers or buy larger packs which are better value for money – a 1kg tub of Farmers Union Greek Style natural yoghurt (70c per 100g) rather than a 240g tub ($1.42 per 100g), for example. And as long as you end up using the leftover ingredients before they reach their use-by or best-before dates and need to be discarded, then it’s cheaper to do the shopping yourself.

Prepared meals 

Some services like Youfoodz and Soulara are available to purchase in select supermarkets. If you can find them in the supermarket you’ll be taking away the delivery cost which is added to any online orders. 

How easy is it to cancel a subscription?

While some of these services are easy to order from, the same can’t always be said for when it’s time to cancel the subscription. 

Chantelle says, “some companies design their cancellation process in a way that can be confusing for customers”.

The most important thing is to make sure you cancel your subscription before the necessary cut-off date. “Failing to do so will result in you being charged and another order being placed,” she says. In December 2025, the for allegedly misleading consumers over subscriptions.

Some other points to be mindful of include:

• The web page might be overcrowded with offers and deals and the cancellation button is not always prominent.��
• In most cases customers will be asked to select a reason as to why they are cancelling and may need to confirm the cancellation multiple times.
• Take the time to read through all of the selections and make sure you follow through to the end.
• If you’ve successfully cancelled you should receive a follow up email to confirm the cancellation and your account status should say “not active”.

And unless you unsubscribe from all emails and communication, be prepared to continue to receive emails and texts with special offers to entice you to reactivate your account.

Meal delivery services and food safety

With lots of chilled items involved in meal delivery services, it’s important  to ensure perishable items like protein and dairy stay adequately chilled. 

The food temperature danger zone is 5°– 60°C, as bacteria multiplies most rapidly within this temperature range. 

Meal delivery companies are responsible for maintaining safe food temperatures, preventing cross-contamination during packing, maintaining hygiene standards, clearly communicating allergen information and ensuring packaging is secure against tampering. 

Each service provides cooler bags and ice packs in their boxes, but delivery windows vary and boxes can potentially stay outside for an extended period of time before they are collected.

You’ll usually receive a text with tracking details the night before and some send another text once the box has been delivered.

Consumers also share the responsibility of minimising the risk of foodborne illness. Chantelle says it’s important to collect your box as soon as possible after delivery to ensure chilled items stay within a safe temperature range. “This is especially an issue on a hot day,” she says. 

Ensure you:

• Inspect the food on arrival: Packaging should be intact and items should feel chilled. Raw meats and dairy should be sealed well so as not to come in contact with any fresh ingredients.
• Store foods as soon as possible: Ensure you refrigerate or freeze perishable items immediately.
• Discard defective items: Any items that arrive warm, leaking, with damaged seals or past their use-by date should be discarded. If there are any issues or if food appears unsafe, contact the manufacturer.
• Choose an appropriate delivery window: Choose a time when you are likely to be able to take the delivery immediately or soon after. In warmer weather food can quickly go into the danger zone.

Are meal delivery services suitable for kids?

If you’re planning on using a meal delivery service to feed a family that includes young kids, you might want to proceed with caution. While many of the meal delivery services offer “family” or “kid-friendly” options, meals aren’t always guaranteed to win over a fussy toddler. 

“Most companies have a wide variety of meal options, making it more likely for you to find a meal your child likes,” says Chantelle. 

“EveryPlate also has ‘little chef’ recipes, marketed as family-friendly to promote getting the kids involved in the cooking process.”

“Once you’ve found meals your kids enjoy, you can save them as a favourite to re-order,” she adds.

The post Meal delivery services compared: HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, Youfoodz, The Dinner Ladies and more appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• Best fast food chains for vegetarians and vegans
• Beware animal by-products
• Cheese as a protein source
• Choosing healthy vegetarian fast food
• Types of vegetarian diets

Almost 2.5 million Australians have a diet that’s all or almost all vegetarian, and it’s estimated that around half a million are vegan.��

It’s relatively simple to eat healthy vegetarian or vegan food at home, but what are your chances when eating out?��

The continued rise in popularity and prevalence of plant-based meats and cheeses has certainly given vegetarians and vegans more options in fast food restaurants – most notably in pizza chains.��

But don’t make the mistake of assuming the vegie meal will be the healthiest option on the menu – or even that it’ll be suitable for both vegetarians and vegans. And some of the big name chains still don’t give vegos a look-in.

Best fast food chains for vegetarians and vegans

We look at the online menus of the top 10 most visited fast food restaurants in Australia, according to Roy Morgan, to see which offer the most vegetarian and vegan meal options.��

We also check out how healthy they are compared to regular menu items and suggest how to avoid less healthy vegie fast food.

Most options

Grill’d

Grill’d offers a choice of alternative proteins for its burgers such as the “meat tasting, plant-based Beyond Meat pattie”, a pea protein plant-based patty and a more traditional Garden Goodness vegie patty – all of which are vegan.��

It has nine vegetarian burgers as standard on the menu, but clearly states that you can build your own, which opens up the options for vegetarians and vegans.��

While it offers plenty of fresh salad ingredients with each burger, each burger contributes a decent chunk of kilojoules and sodium towards your daily intake. You can opt out of mustards, mayos, sauces and cheeses if you want to lessen the load.

Domino’s

Domino’s offer vegetarian and vegan options on its menu with multiple choices in both. The healthiest of the vegie options still make a sizeable contribution to your intake of kilojoules, saturated fat and sodium, so limit the number of slices you eat and opt for veg-laden rather than cheese-heavy toppings.��

You can reduce your kilojoule intake by more than half and saturated fat intake by about 70% by eating a slice of Vegorama with a classic base (traditional range) instead of The Big Cheese (New Yorker range), for example.��

Subway

Subway’s menu lists a vegetarian Mediterranean panini and three vegetarian fillings in the form of a sub, wrap or salad – Smashed Falafel, Veggie Patty and Veggie Delite.��

The latter two are both vegan as standard, but the Smashed Falafel is served with tzatziki which vegans would need to ask to leave off. Of course you can customise your sandwich or salad with any combination of ingredients – just avoid the Old English-style cheese as it contains animal rennet.

Noodle Box

The Noodle Box menu indicates which meals have vegetarian-friendly sauces, and suggests swapping the protein for tofu in these meals to create vegetarian options.��

All except one of these sauces (satay) are also vegan, so if you swap out the egg noodles for other noodle varieties (ho fun or vermicelli, for example) these meals are suitable for vegans too.��

There’s no nutritional information other than kilojoules on the Noodle Box website to allow us to properly compare menu items, but if you’re counting calories, be mindful of portion size when choosing.��

A regular special fried rice contains 73% more kilojoules than a small (5737kJ vs 3313kJ), for example, and is 66% of an average adult’s recommended daily intake.

Nando’s

Nando’s gives you the option to substitute a vegie patty or plant-based protein for the chicken in all of its burgers, wraps and salads, resulting in a dozen or so vegetarian options.��

Three of the six salads are already vegetarian, but these – and many of the burgers and wraps – include cheese and/or dressings that contain dairy/egg, so if you’re vegan, you’ll need to ask for them to be left out.

Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut’s vegetarian offerings include plant-based chicken wings (with a choice of five vegan sauces), one pasta and seven pizzas – four of which are vegan.

Like Domino’s, even the healthier options push the boundaries with kilojoules, saturated fat and sodium. So again, if you’re looking to make healthier choices, limit the number of slices you eat, avoid cheese-stuffed crusts and opt for toppings with more veg and less cheese.

You’ll be eating 25% less kilojoules if you choose the Vegan Deluxe pizza (original pan crust) over the double-cheese-topped Veggie Sensation (original pan crust), for example.

Some options

McDonald’s

McDonald’s core food menu lists two vegetarian options – McVeggie and McVeggie Deluxe burgers – neither of which are vegan.��

The vegie patty contains potatoes, peas, corn, carrot, onion and cheese, and is served in a bun with lettuce, pickles and a sauce (the Deluxe has added tomato and a slice of cheese).��

Both are lower in kilojoules and saturated fat than a Big Mac, but they contain a similar amount of sodium which is more than half the recommended daily intake.

Hungry Jack’s

Hungry Jack’s advertises its Rebel Whoppers as “100% Whopper, 0% Beef”. But while the patty is meat-free, the cheese contains animal rennet, so the Rebel Whopper Cheese isn’t suitable for vegans or vegetarians.��

This “patty made from plants” may present as fairly healthy, but the Rebel Whopper has as many kilojoules and as much saturated fat as a regular Whopper and 36% more sodium.��

For a limited time only, Hungry Jack’s is also offering a Vegan Whopper Cheese, which is 100% vegan (including the cheese).

Fewest options

KFC and Red Rooster have no vegetarian (let alone vegan) primary offerings.

So unless you’re happy to cobble together a meal by ordering sides like fries, mashed potato, coleslaw, corn cobs, peas, dinner rolls and/or garlic bread, vegetarians are better off eating elsewhere.

Nutrition notes

The average Australian adult consumes about 8700kJ a day, with a suggested daily dietary target of no more than 24g saturated fat and 2000mg sodium.��

But these targets vary depending on your gender, size and activity level, among other things, so requirements for many people will be much lower.

While we note that many chains offer the flexibility to customise menu items to suit dietary requirements – replace meat patty with plant-based patty, leave out cheese or mayonnaise, for example – we’ve focused on what’s clearly stated on the menu as being on offer.

Beware animal by-products

Strictly speaking, foods that contain animal by-products such as gelatine, animal-derived rennet and animal fat are a no-no for vegetarians (see Types of vegetarian diets).

Cheese in particular is a potential minefield for herbivores as it commonly contains animal-derived rennet, and we came across several in fast food restaurants that vegetarians need to avoid:

• the parmesan cheese at Pizza Hut
• the Old English-style cheese at Subway
• the cheese in certain Hungry Jack’s Whoppers (including the Rebel Whopper Cheese which has a vegan patty).��

Cheese containing animal rennet might not be in menu items specifically flagged as ‘vegetarian’ – although the Rebel Whopper Cheese’s selling point is that it’s “100% whopper, 0% beef”, which would surely appeal to a vegetarian or vegan customer.��

But it’s good to be mindful of this if you’re building a sandwich or pizza from scratch, or substituting or adding ingredients to menu items when ordering.

Cheese as a protein source

Fast food chains are often guilty of creating a vegetarian meal by simply replacing the meat protein component of the dish with cheese. The result can be tasty, but it also bumps up both the salt and saturated fat content of the meal.

Pizzas are prime examples. Eating just one slice can contribute a sizeable chunk to the maximum recommended intake of both salt and saturated fat, but chewing through two or more slices can break the nutritional bank – don’t even contemplate ordering the cheesy crusts!

Cheese can even play havoc with a salad, boosting the saltiness of a regular bowl of greens to less than desirable levels.

Protein sources such as lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts and tofu are higher in fibre, antioxidants and other protective phytochemicals – without the sodium and saturated fat of cheese.

But while vegie offerings using protein-rich plant sources such as lentils, chickpeas or tempeh can be nutritious, highly processed versions such as commercial plant-based meat patties and nuggets can have more in common with their mainstream fast food counterparts than with the plants they’re derived from.

Choosing healthy vegetarian fast food

Accredited practising dietitian Kate Marsh has these top tips for choosing the healthiest vegetarian fast foods.

• Be mindful of cheese overloads – steering clear of cheesy pizzas and salads and removing the cheese from burgers will help keep salt and saturated fat to a minimum.
• Avoid deep-fried vegie foods (spring rolls, fried tofu, tempura vegies) – these can be as fatty as meat-based items.
• Keep in mind that creamy sauces and dressings can also bump up the kilojoules, saturated fat and sodium.
• Look for alternative protein sources on the menu, such as lentils, chickpeas, tofu, soy beans and other beans or nuts – not just dairy and vegies.
• Add a vitamin C-rich food to your meals such as citrus fruit, tomatoes, a green salad, capsicum, salad sprouts or berries. Vitamin C improves the absorption of iron, so it’s particularly beneficial when you’re getting your iron from non-meat sources where it’s less readily available.
• Wholegrains such as quinoa, barley, cracked wheat, brown rice and wholegrain breads add valuable nutrition to vegetarian meals.
• Tailor your order to your own requirements. Often you can ask them to remove the meat (and cheese if you’re vegan), use wholegrain instead of white bread for extra fibre, hold the sauce, mayo or other dressings to further reduce fat and salt content, or even ask for extra veg or salad to get more vitamins and minerals.
• Opt for the smallest serving size to help keep your kilojoule, saturated fat and sodium intake in check.����

Types of vegetarian diets

According to , there are four main types of vegetarianism:��

• Lacto-ovo-vegetarian – people who do not eat any meat and seafood, but include dairy foods (such as milk), eggs and plant foods
• Lacto-vegetarian – people who do not eat meat, seafood and eggs, but include dairy foods and plant foods
• Ovo-vegetarian – people who do not eat meat, seafood and dairy foods, but include eggs and plant foods
• Vegan – people who avoid all animal foods and only eat plant foods. Read our top tips for a healthy vegan diet.

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Remember Dougie? Pizza Hut’s everyman delivery guy of ’90s television commercial fame? He’d arrive, all smiles, with a tower of boxes in one arm and a large Pepsi in the other. He represented your local, odd-jobbing neighbourhood lad who might have a joke with your dad, flirt with your sister and pocket a tip, if it was his lucky day.

Back then, ordering-in was special. Maybe for a gathering with mates, a lazy family Sunday dinner or a little splurge when you were feeling flush.��

These days, meal delivery is far more prevalent and accessible, and Dougie has been superseded by a fast-moving race of two-and-four-wheeled delivery drivers fuelled by the gig economy.��

So what’s behind this big shift, and what’s next for fast food delivery? We take a look at how we might be ordering our pizzas in the not-so-distant future.

‘Narrowing the gap’

In a device-driven world where everything is on-demand, narrowing the gap between purchase and delivery is where the battle for your stomach will be won.��

There’s a limit to how fast a human can safely deliver your wonton soup, so to fulfil your order the quickest, companies are turning to new technologies to ensure dinner is at your door before Netflix has even loaded.

Voice and AI assistants

With many households now functioning with voice-activated assistants, the way in which we order food is perhaps the first step to faster and more bespoke delivery services.��

Menulog managing director, Ben Carter, believes voice will be one of the biggest trends in online food delivery in the next few years.��

“We’re still in the early days for how we use voice technology and usage of voice remains highly transactional,” he says, adding that Menulog is “looking at how we can integrate voice into our existing offer – such as voice augmentation in our apps or the use of voice technology to enhance customer service.”

As AI and machine learning becomes more advanced, your food preferences and habits will be stored in-app and even pre-empted by your home assistant.

Perhaps on Tuesdays, when the family arrives home late from various extra-curricular activities, your AI will know to automatically place an order for three large supreme pizzas with extra pepperoni, which will arrive moments after you pull into the drive.

“As artificial intelligence continues to advance, predictive ordering will enable us to know what customers may want to eat before they do! In the next five to ten years, we’ll see all technology in its infancy now, come together to create an even more seamless, technology-led online ordering and delivery experience,” says Carter.

If it all feels a little too terrifyingly dependant on machines, just remember, it wasn’t too long ago that we were alarmed at the idea of virtual banking. Now we happily make purchases with our smartphones and rely on robots to direct us safely to our destinations.��

Virtual restaurants and dark kitchens

The growth of online delivery marketplaces has been so vigorous that restaurants are struggling to accommodate the demand in their kitchens.��

But from this pressure has come a new, virtual restaurant model that exists only to deliver food. Established breakfast or lunchtime businesses can rent out their unused kitchens in the evening, and new ventures can trial their wares without huge overheads.

Once you remove diners from your restaurant, you also significantly reduce a large cost in expensive fitouts and wages. These types of delivery-only businesses are sometimes called ‘dark kitchens’ or ‘ghost kitchens’, and make use of existing space within restaurants or shared commercial kitchens.

Deliveroo has launched its own dark kitchen precincts, called Deliveroo Editions, which are easily accessible by their delivery riders.

Regular restaurants need to adapt quickly as third-party delivery drivers clutter the footpath and counters pile up with orders. These dark kitchens are the immediate solution, along with the design of restaurants becoming more delivery-focused.

“A number of our restaurant partners have set up new, online-only brands utilising existing kitchen space and using the opportunity to test new business opportunities without needing to invest in a new physical space,” says Denman.��

“It also means that chefs and owners have an opportunity to stretch their creative muscles and move outside their comfort zones.”

The downsides to innovation

When your home speaker intuitively orders your dinner to be delivered by drone from a diner-less restaurant, what and who are the casualties?

The human cost

It’s no secret that a number of services have come under fire for lax ethics in regard to their third-party drivers (a worrying trend throughout the gig economy). And as the industry continues to grow, this problem isn’t going to simply disappear. Ibisworld describes the amount of regulation across the industry as ‘light’ and projects this trend to continue.

It’s an issue we look at in our guide to food delivery service apps, where we explore how the system allegedly limits the rights of drivers if they have any professional and financial grievances, and doesn’t put them in the best position to negotiate.

Drivers claim there’s limited regulation around pay, safety protections and benefits such as superannuation.

As a result, we chose not to recommend any of the services in our review of food delivery service apps.

In addition to these sometimes-shady practices, another worrying factor is the loss of human jobs to drones.��

What does that mean for us as a society? Dougie has been replaced by a bot. You might save a few dollars on a tip, but what’s the cost in the loss of human interaction?

When technology goes wrong

Another issue to consider is the vulnerability of automated delivery technology and the capacity for error when your Maccas order is taken out of human hands.��

Mishap and misadventure could mean huge losses in food spoilage and delayed delivery, resulting in increased customer complaints.��

Drones are also fairly hackable. Even though it’s unlikely that a tech-savvy, Big Mac-loving teen would have access to the technology required to hack a drone midair, the risk is still present.

And don’t forget, your favourite delivery service stores all of your data, including bank details and address, making them potential targets for opportunistic hackers.��

As we’ve seen, food delivery services are incredibly fast adopters of new technologies, but this also leaves them vulnerable if they don’t keep on top of security.��

“The increasing sophistication of cyber threats also requires industry operators to continuously adopt new digital security requirements to prevent data breaches and mitigate attacks from malware,” says an Ibisworld report.

What happened to going out for dinner?

The future of food delivery seems to suggest we’ll all be hibernating in our lounge rooms, shunning human interaction, while chowing down on chow mein made and delivered by robots.��

It’s probably not that bleak. We are social creatures, after all, and although the cult of convenience may be growing, most of us still enjoy an experience.

But whatever the future holds, rest assured, thanks to new technologies, your dinner will be delivered quickly and conveniently. Maybe even by a holographic Dougie.

The post The future of food delivery services like Uber Eats, Menulog and Deliveroo appeared first on ����Vlog.

Each food delivery service receives a������Vlog Expert Rating made up of:

• ease of use (50%)
• food options (25%)
• special dietary requirements (15%)
• order tracking (10%).

Ease of use

We assess how difficult it is to set up an account, browse for a meal and place an order. This includes:

• installing and initialising the app, including setting up an account and payment method
• user interface, looking at how the app organises search results and allows you to filter, which we do by assessing the number of cuisine filters (including special dietary requirements), their accuracy, and any other search options such as price range and user ratings
• restaurant information
• meal information, including how easy it is to browse the list of dishes from a food outlet, and information provided about the dishes (including photos)
• how you order the meal.

Order tracking

We ordered the same meal from a restaurant that offers ordering and delivery through every app in our review. We do this to assess information, features and functions that the app provides after you order a meal, such as:

• cooking updates, including ETA
• delivery updates, including ETA
• whether the service uses its own drivers/riders, or a driver/rider supplied by the food outlet
• what sort of driver/rider information is available
• whether or not you can cancel the order in-app.

We don’t assess food quality or driver/rider delivery time due to the number of variables involved, many of which exist outside the food delivery service’s control. This would ultimately be an assessment of the food outlet and delivery drivers, which is not in our review.

Food options

We assess the number of options available in each app, by entering a delivery address in Marrickville, Sydney, as it’s known for its broad variety of cuisine options. We also conduct the same search in Cairns, as this is one of a handful of regional cities where every service in our review operates.

More food outlets within the service’s search proximity equals a higher score.

We search for meals across a broad range of cuisines:

• City (Marrickville):��Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, burgers, pizza, fast food, Italian, American, breakfast, Indian, sandwich, seafood.
• Regional centre (Cairns):��burgers, pizza, seafood, Asian, fast food.

The locations are selected based on population density, a broad range of food options, and locations where all services are in operation.

Our test was conducted on 16 April 2019 in the early evening, when food outlets were likely to be open for dinner.

The specific number of outlets available on each app fluctuates constantly, depending on location, partnerships with the app, changing hours, unexpected closures and more. Broad results are consistent, however, so our results can be used as a general guide to which services have the most (or least) options.

Special dietary requirements

This is assessed using the same method as the food options score, within Sydney.��We select criteria based on common and available health, social and religious-based dietary requirements. These are:��vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher and gluten free.

The post How we review food delivery service apps appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• What is a meal kit delivery service?
• What is food waste and how big is the problem?
• Surely I'm not wasting that much food?
• Which services did we try?
• How does the delivered meal kit reduce food waste?
• ��What about the packaging?
• Vegetarian options, free range-ness and prices
• The verdict

Due deliverance

On Sunday night I opened the fridge to see two clean and bare crisper drawers, devoid of the usual bendy carrots, shrivelled ginger or brown, pockmarked eggplant. Far from panicking at starting the week without groceries, I knew that within 12 hours the drawers would be stocked with perfectly portioned ingredients for four tasty dinners that I would never have dreamt up while wandering the supermarket aisles.

My family tried meal box delivery services from five companies for five weeks. It’s been a tasty food journey, but one of the unexpected results was a discernible drop in household food waste. No longer do half-used bunches of coriander and unloved leftovers languish in my fridge waiting to be committed to the compost – I’m now cooking chef-like meals and we are lean and efficient food consumers.

Or are we? As I pull apart the cardboard box to wedge it into my recycling bin, and shove more of the plastic-wrapped gel packs into my freezer, I wonder if these kits have shrunk my eco ‘foodprint’ or enlarged it?

What is a meal kit delivery service?

Meal box delivery services are a newish disruptor in the grocery and meal delivery markets. Usually an online subscription service, each box is delivered to your door packed with chilled, fresh, perfectly proportioned ingredients and recipe cards for two to five meals.��

Meal boxes offer a variety of gourmet, simple-to-cook, fresh and nutritious meals and they can help address the problem of food waste. They’re big business, too. The Australian market in 2016 was estimated by food industry consultants Technomic to generate around $94.5 million in consumer spending. ��

What is food waste and how big is the problem?

Food waste is a social, environmental and economic disaster in this country and across the modern world. It’s been estimated that Australians throw out four million tonnes or $8 billion worth of food per year (a staggering amount when you consider that Australia’s foreign aid contribution for 2016/17 is $3.8 billion).

Australians waste 361 kilograms of food per person per year and food rescue charity OzHarvest tells us this equates to tossing out 20% of the food we buy.��And it’s not just Australia that has a problem, OzHarvest reports that approximately one third of all food produced around the world for human consumption is wasted.��

Food waste has a significant environmental cost in terms of greenhouse emissions.

Up to 40% of the contents of the average household garbage bin is food and it’s been estimated that when it decomposes in landfill it generates the equivalent of 6.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. ��

But food waste isn’t confined to the household kitchen bin. On top of the 4.9 million tonnes of food households toss each year, another three million tonnes of food is binned at the commercial level. And hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food is wasted at the farm level – crops that are abandoned in the field, culled after harvest, or rejected at market for example. In fact, an estimated 20-40% of fruit and vegetables are rejected even before they reach the shops mostly because they don’t match the high cosmetic standards of consumers and supermarkets. ��

Surely I’m not wasting that much food?

If you think you’re above all this wasteful behaviour, consider the research published by the NSW EPA about which groups wasted the most food by volume.

• People aged 18-34 were found to throw out about 7.6 litres a week.
• Men waste more than women (6.3 litres per week compared to 5.6 litres).
• Households with an income over $100,000 waste more than those with a smaller income.��
• Families with children and shared households are chucking 7 and 7.1 litres of food per week respectively.

Which services did we try?

We tried boxes from Marley Spoon, HelloFresh, Pepper Leaf, Aussie Farmers Direct and Thomas Farms Kitchen. ��

How does the delivered meal kit reduce food waste?

A study of the operations of one of the largest meal kit producers in the US, Blue Apron, found the company threw out 5.5% of food, while grocery stores threw out 10.5%.�� The researchers found that 62% less food is wasted at Blue Apron’s facility and by its customers than the same meals cooked with ingredients sourced from the grocery store.

Blue Apron has a particular focus on reducing food waste, so its achievements aren’t necessarily matched by the players in the Australian meal kit service market. But the results show these services can create efficiencies.

Controlling the supply chain

Early in the supply chain, meal kit providers can plan what ingredients are needed through the design of a menu. They can buy the exact ingredients, in bulk, in season, direct from the suppliers.��

HelloFresh, the first company to launch the concept in Australia in 2012, told us their recipes are planned on a seasonal basis and they often source their produce directly from local growers and farmers. A company spokesperson said, “Having fewer intermediaries not only reduces waste, it means less time in storage or on display than food sold in supermarkets.

“This model…eliminates waste associated with speculative purchasing and deterioration.”

Using irregular sized produce

A Pepper Leaf spokesperson told us the company buys with the highest standards and minimum waste in mind – which might include buying very small items (e.g. small capsicums) that wouldn’t be acceptable to supermarkets. This produce isn’t subject to the scrutiny of a picky grocery shopper or the need to fit within a certain packing size.

Portioned ingredients

The Blue Apron study found that cooks threw out 7.6% of the food in Blue Apron meals, instead of the estimated 23.9% they would throw out to make the meal otherwise.�� If the recipe in a meal kit only calls for a few sprigs of coriander, two teaspoons of turmeric or one carrot, that is what most of the kits provide. But if I’m shopping from the supermarket, I’m likely to buy a bunch of coriander, a packet of turmeric and a bag of carrots.

Fewer leftovers

Post-cooking, there’s another potential cut in waste with the meal kits. Of the four million tonnes of food that Australians waste per year, it’s been calculated that 27% is in the form of leftovers. I bought meal kits designed for four people, to feed my family of five. The portions in all were generally quite generous but we rarely had leftovers.

Donating unused food

Aussie Farmers Direct and Hello Fresh told us that any food left over from their operations is donated to hunger relief organisation Foodbank. Marley Spoon donates their recoverable unused food to OzHarvest.��And a spokesperson from Pepper Leaf, which operates out of Melbourne, says, “All our green matter is collected weekly by a small herd cattle farmer.”

Transport and food miles

Comparing the impact of transportation of the meal kits with individuals buying food at the grocery store isn’t clear-cut thanks to the many variables like distance travelled, the vehicles and the load. Consider also the variations in food miles of products at the grocery store – has it travelled across the country or been flown in?

Personally, my own car use dropped while trying the meal kits as I no longer went to the supermarket weekly.

All of the services we used told us they try to source as much of their products as possible in-season and locally. HelloFresh packs all of its boxes in Sydney and they are shipped via refrigerated transport to ACT, NT, Qld, SA and Vic. The company maximises pallet loads and, as with all of the services, they deliver at night or during off-peak periods.

A spokesperson from Aussie Farmers Direct says, “Our franchisees deliver up to 130 homes in a single round, which works out to be around 5000 food kilometres saved by each round each week.” Aussie Farmers Direct has packing and distribution centres in Vic, NSW, Qld, SA and WA, and it aims to source as much of the produce as it can from within each state.

Pepper Leaf sources as much seasonal produce as possible from around Werribee and Gippsland and its packing facility is in Melbourne, delivering to metro Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.

Thomas Farms Kitchen packs its boxes in Mount Barker in South Australia and ships them to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Marley Spoon packs its boxes in Sydney and then they’re shipped to Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra. They do source some dry and canned goods from overseas.

��What about the packaging?

One look at my cardboard and paper recycling bin and it’s clear the packaging with meal kit deliveries is in excess of my weekly grocery shop (with or without reusable shopping bags).

Apart from Thomas Farms Kitchen, all of the services we tried packed their kits in cardboard boxes, with frozen gel packs for chilling, and some also have added insulation. The gel packs are re-usable in the home but you have to empty them to recycle them with soft plastics.

Thomas Farms Kitchen (TFK) uses polystyrene boxes, which are generally not recyclable in kerbside recycling. However, Simon Dennis from TFK told us that the boxes and gel packs are collected, cleaned and where possible used again.

Aussie Farmers Direct (AFD) said that if customers left the frozen gel packs out for the next delivery they’d pick them up, wash them and re-use them.

None of the services using cardboard boxes picked up and re-used them. Most services said they continued to seek better recyclability and biodegradability in their packaging, and tried to minimise packaging where possible. The boxes and paper are recyclable but only two services, Pepper Leaf and Hello Fresh used cardboard boxes with recycled content. According to AFD, its boxes have thermal and moisture resistant properties and can’t be made from recycled content (but they don’t use extra insulation such as bubble wrap).

In the case of Marley Spoon, foil plastic bubble wrap, which isn’t recyclable, was used for insulation of proteins.��

HelloFresh’s insulation and other packaging is made from Polylactide (PLA).

Ingredients in all the boxes were wrapped in bundles or separately in soft plastic, paper bags or plastic containers. Personally, I felt the wrapping of the ingredients was no more than I would have ended up with from a supermarket shop where many of the products are packaged in plastic. But that’s a pretty low standard to compare to.

Vegetarian options, free range-ness and prices

Thomas Farms Kitchen

• Price per serve: $7.60 to $12.50 ����
• Eggs: Barossa Free Range eggs (1500 birds per hectare)����
• Chicken: Lilydale Free Range (FREPA certified)��
• Pork:��Conventional (not free range)��
• Vegetarian options: Yes (not vegan)

HelloFresh

• Price per serve: From $8.75 to $9.50����
• Eggs:��Free range from Jones Bros (1500 birds per hectare)��
• Chicken: Lilydale Free Range (FREPA certified)��
• Pork: Conventional (not free range)��
• Vegetarian options: Yes (not vegan)

Aussie Farmers Direct

• Price per serve: $7.45 to $12.37����
• Eggs:��Free range and organic (1500 birds per hectare in all states excluding WA, which has 900 birds per hectare)����
• Chicken:��Conventional (not free range)��
• Pork: Free range (Australian Pork certified Free Range) except in WA����
• Vegetarian options: Only in the Weight Watchers Freshbox range (not vegan)

Marley Spoon

• Price per serve: $8.95 to $13.75 ����
• Eggs: Not provided (they are considered a pantry item)����
• Chicken: Bannockburn free range (FREPA accredited)��
• Pork: Borrowdale free range (Australian Pork certified Free Range)��
• Vegetarian options: Yes, and some vegan options

Pepper Leaf

• Price per serve: $9.90 to$13.98 (the latter is for a one person box)����
• Eggs: Not free range��
• Chicken: Conventional (not free range)��
• Pork:��Not free range����
• Vegetarian options: To come

Is the beef and lamb pasture-raised or feedlot finished?

Every company supplied beef and lamb that was pasture-raised and not finished in feedlots but HelloFresh conceded that if its supplier couldn’t deliver the stock it may substitute with feedlot finished beef or lamb. The other exception was AFD’s service in WA because, it said, “Most of the year it’s finished on feedlots due to the WA climate.”��

The verdict

With two parents working full time, the delivered meal kits are a welcome service in our household that have reduced trips to the shops and anxiety over what to cook. Not only are we eating a wider variety of healthy meals, the children are able to get involved in the meal preparation by following the recipe cards.��

If the mounting cardboard boxes could be swapped for re-usable, insulated containers that were collected at the next delivery, I’d have few qualms about paying the extra money for this service.

Apart from Aussie Farmers Direct, these services often have substantial discounts for first-time users. AFD allows you to order up to midday the day before delivery, but the other services require a longer lead time.��

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On this page:

• 10 tips for a healthier takeaway
• Knowledge is power
• What to avoid
• Chinese, Thai and Indian food

The good news is, whether you love Chinese, Indian or Thai, you don’t have to sacrifice health for convenience. There are healthier dishes in most cuisines, says accredited practising dietitian Dr Kellie Bilinski – it’s just a matter of knowing what to choose.

10 tips for a healthier takeaway

1. Stick to the right ratio – 50% vegetables, 25% protein and 25% carbohydrates make for a balanced meal.
2. Avoid cream- and coconut-based sauces. Tomato is a better option.
3. If you get an all-protein dish like a chicken stir fry or Mongolian lamb, also order an all-vegetable dish.
4. Ask for less salt and sugar to be used in your meal.
5. Ask your local takeaway what type of oil they use in their cooking. Avoid takeaways that use oils high in saturated fat, such as coconut or palm oil, and stick with those that use vegetable oils such as sunflower or canola.
6. Avoid battered food.
7. Don’t overdo the carbohydrates – a takeaway container of rice is likely to contain far more than you should eat. Stick with one cup of cooked rice per meal.
8. Choose brown rice where possible.
9. Steamed or grilled dishes are a better choice than fried.
10. Control your portions. You can have too much of a good thing.

Knowledge is power

One pitfall of takeaway food is that it’s difficult to know exactly what ingredients and cooking methods have been used. There’s far less saturated fat in a stir-fry that’s been cooked in a vegetable oil such as canola or sunflower, for example, than in an oil that has very high saturated fat such as coconut.

Bilinski recommends asking your takeaway haunts about their cooking methods and choosing those that are healthier. You can also ask for sauces and dressings on the side, and for less salt and sugar in your meals.

What to avoid

Bilinski says that, as a general rule, when looking to eat out healthily it’s important to avoid battered and fried foods, as well as curries or soups that are creamy or contain coconut milk or cream. Also look out for all-protein dishes (if you want Mongolian lamb for example, balance it with a mixed vegetable dish). She suggests opting for fresh salads, fresh rice paper rolls, steamed fish dishes and stir-fries with lots of vegetables.

And make sure you don’t undo your good menu choices with too many carbohydrates. “People generally eat too much rice,” says Bilinski. “Just have one cup rather than the three or four you get to a serve, because it’s quite an energy-dense food. If you can get brown rice, definitely go for that. And avoid the fried rice, as it is high in [energy] and fat.”

While there are better and worse options available in Chinese, Indian and Thai cuisines, Bilinski believes Thai has the widest selection of healthier meals. However, she warns against eating takeout too often – it makes it very difficult to achieve a healthy, balanced diet.

“When you’re cooking at home, you have more control over what goes into your food – and it tends to be less processed,” she says. “It’s all about being prepared. Lean fish and meat doesn’t take long to grill or steam at home. People resort to takeaway when they’re not prepared.”

The right ratio

Bilinski says that when it comes to takeaway, skewed ratios of the food on our plates is a big problem. “You should base your meals on vegetables. When you look at a plate, you should have half of it covered in vegetables or salads, one-quarter with protein such as meat or fish, and one-quarter with carbohydrate such as rice or pasta. This balance is very difficult to achieve if one relies on takeaway foods.��

“That said, if someone’s diet is based on plenty of wholegrain breads, cereals, fresh veggies and fruit, a takeaway here and there is fine.”

Chinese, Thai and Indian food

We asked three families to share their typical order of Chinese, Thai or Indian takeaways. Dr Bilinski provides tips on how to get the best out of each of these cuisines.

Chinese takeaway

Look for lean proteins such as seafood, lean pork or chicken breast, or meat alternatives such as tofu (avoid the deep-fried version though) and steer clear of fatty meat such as duck. When ordering sauce with your stir-fry, Bilinski recommends oyster and soy. “While they’re high in salt, they tend not to be as high in sugar and fats as opposed to sweet-and-sour sauce, for example.”

Kim and Jonathan

Kim and her partner Jonathan generally order takeaway three to four times a week. Kim says she tries to make healthy food choices when cooking at home, but when dining out tends to have a more relaxed attitude. She particularly likes choosing items on a menu that are complicated or difficult to replicate at home.

Their order:

• Steamed prawn dumplings
• Duck with XO sauce
• Chicken with cashew nut
• Stir-fried mixed vegetables
• Chinese broccoli

The verdict

Dr Bilinski says: The steamed prawn dumplings are a good choice. If you can find steamed dumplings or spring rolls, they’re much better options than fried ones. But most dumplings are essentially just bread with meat inside, so they’re not very balanced. The duck with XO sauce isn’t a great option because duck tends to be very high in fat. The chicken with cashew nut is a better choice, as it tends to be leaner. Keep in mind too that Chinese sauces can be high in salt. The stir-fried mixed vegetables and Chinese broccoli are much better choices.

Thai takeaway

Thai cuisine offers some better choices when it comes to takeaway, Bilinski says. She advises against fried or battered foods, curries made with coconut milk or cream, and richer sauces. Thai salads are a great option as they tend to have less oil. Steamed fish and raw food such as fresh rice paper rolls are also good choices, as are clear soups (though they can be high in salt). But beware, sugar is big in Thai cuisine. And that perennial favourite, pad Thai? “It’s basically carbohydrate and the peanut-based sauce, which is quite rich,” says Bilinski.

Steve, Deborah, Daniel and Prudence

Steve and Deborah live with their twin children Daniel and Prudence, aged 21. Steve says the family makes healthy food choices, and Steve and Daniel recently became vegans.

Their order:

• Fried spring rolls
• Vegan fresh rice paper rolls
• Satay chicken
• Vegetarian tom kha soup
• Pad Thai with chicken
• Pad see ew (vegetarian)
• Jasmine rice (large)

The verdict

Dr Bilinski says: The fried spring rolls aren’t great and neither is the tom kha, as it’s high in fat from its coconut base. Grilled satay chicken is good but can come with lots of sauce, so ask for it on the side. The pad Thai and pad see ew noodles may be very high in kilojoules due to the noodles.

Indian takeaway

Indian can be a tricky cuisine for the health-conscious, with many curries containing ghee, a type of clarified butter.

When choosing a curry, steer away from coconut milk or cream-based concoctions – you’re better off with a tomato-based one. “Even something like dal may contain a lot of saturated fat,” Bilinski says.

Darrin, Liz, Delia and Lenny

Darrin and his wife Liz have two young children, Delia and Lenny, and they eat takeaway food once or twice a week. They occasionally treat themselves, but mostly they try to eat healthily.

Their order:

• Pappadums (two serves)
• Vegetable samosa
• Butter chicken
• Palak paneer
• Mixed vegetable curry
• Garlic naan
• Steamed rice
• Cucumber raita

The verdict

Dr Bilinski says: Fried pappadums and vegetable samosas aren’t a great choice because they’re likely to be deep fried. The butter chicken and garlic naan are high in fat. The palak paneer could be a good choice as long as it comes with a non-ghee sauce, and it contains cottage cheese and spinach. The mixed vegetable curry isn’t ideal if it comes with a coconut base, but if it’s tomato-based it’s fine. The cucumber raita and steamed rice are good choices.

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On this page:

• Oporto
• Red Rooster
• Subway
• Domino's
• Pizza Hut
• KFC
• Hungry Jack's
• McDonald's
• Burning off the kilojoules
• Sangers and sushi

Oporto

This Portuguese-style chicken specialist styles itself as “nothing fried, nothing frozen”, but the fine print points out that their chips, 100% premium chicken breast Bondi Bites and Veggie Burger are all fried. So it pays to choose wisely if you want to make a healthier choice. Some Oporto burgers come with two or three grilled fillets, so stick to a single fillet and avoid the skin if you choose a whole chook.

Save up to 2005kJ, 34.5g fat and 625mg sodium by:

eating this

• Grilled Chicken Breast Strip pack (four strips) with Garden Salad (with dressing) 1188kJ, 11.4g fat, 698mg sodium��
• Single Fillet Norm Burger�� 1500kJ, 14.9g fat, 818mg sodium

not this

• Rappa with small chips�� 3193kJ, 45.9g fat, 1323mg sodium��
• Veggie Burger�� 2700kJ, 34.3g fat, 1080mg sodium

Red Rooster

Some items here come crumbed and fried, but grilled and barbequed options are also available – just avoid those that come with bacon and cheese. Try salad or vegetables on the side to add some extra vitamins and minerals.

Save up to 2691kJ, 36.4g fat and 1190 mg sodium by:

eating this

• Free Range D’Lish Garden Salad�� 478kJ, 2.2g fat, 233mg sodium��
• Free Range D’Lish Burger�� 1340kJ, 8.3g fat, 469mg sodium

not this

• Rippa Sub�� 3170kJ, 38.6g fat, 1422mg sodium��
• Real Bacon Burger�� 2130kJ, 24g fat, 1677mg sodium

Subway

Eating at Subway can be a minefield – with extra cheese. While some nutritious subs are available, others will have your arteries screaming in protest, and sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. Just adding sauce can turn your healthy sandwich into a fat bomb. Their Chipotle Southwest Sauce has 406kJ and 10g of fat per 21mL serving. Also worth bearing in mind is that their “6g of fat or less” range is calculated without sauce or cheese.

Save up to 900kJ, 16.3g fat and 411mg sodium by:

eating this

• Six Inch Ham Sub (without sauce or cheese)�� 1050kJ, 3.6g fat, 789mg sodium��
• Six-inch roasted chicken sub (without sauce or cheese)�� 1180kJ, 4g fat, 438mg sodium

not this

• Six Inch Meatball Marinara Sub (with cheese)�� 1950kJ, 19.9g fat, 1200mg sodium��
• Six Inch Italian BMT Sub (with cheese)�� 1730kJ, 18.6g fat, 1280mg

Domino’s

Who doesn’t love pizza? Make the right choice and keep your portions under control, and you can enjoy some guilt free. Domino’s now offers a Good Choice range in single serves, taking the legwork out of finding the healthier choice.

According to Domino’s and Pizza Hut, a serving of their regular range is just one slice – but we disagree. Asking around the ����Vlog office, we found that even the most birdlike eater tends to eat two slices, so we’ve doubled the serving size.

Save up to 1352kJ, 31.5g fat and 685mg sodium by:

eating this

• Penne Pasta with Roasted Chicken, Mushrooms and Tomato�� 1548kJ, 1.7g fat, 575mg sodium��
• Prawn and Spinach Ciabatta Pizza (Good Choice)�� 1645kJ, 2.2g fat, 606mg sodium

not this

• Meatball and Rasher Bacon Edge Pizza (2 slices)�� 2060kJ, 22.8g fat, 1028mg sodium��
• Chicken Carbonara Pasta Box�� 2900kJ, 33.2g fat, 1260mg sodium

Pizza Hut

Unlike Domino’s, Pizza Hut lacks a healthier choices menu. Don’t have nutritional info at hand? Follow two basic rules: always go for the thin crust (which is usually tastier than a thick doughy base anyway) and avoid anything where the main topping is meat or cheese.

Save up to 904kJ, 12.6g fat and 546mg sodium by:

eating this

• Thin and Crispy Veggie Supreme Pizza (2 slices)�� 1162kJ, 9.2g fat, 612mg sodium��
• Thin and Crispy Classic Hawaiian Pizza (2 slices)�� 1226kJ, 11.2g fat, 810mg sodium

not this

• Deep Pan BBQ Meat Lovers Pizza (2 slices)�� 2066kJ, 21.8g fat, 1158mg sodium��
• Stuffed Crust Cheese Lovers Pizza (2 slices)�� 2018kJ, 22.8g fat, 1000mg sodium

KFC

Be careful at the Colonel’s. Most menu items are deep-fried, and the closest you’ll get to a salad is mayonnaise-drenched coleslaw, so all you can really do is pick the best of a bad bunch.

Save up to 1854kJ, 30.8g fat and 463mg sodium by:

eating this

• Original Recipe Fillet (1 piece) with a regular coleslaw�� 1169kJ, 10.3g fat, 820mg sodium��
• Original Burger�� 1724kJ, 14.5g fat, 969mg sodium

not this

• Original Recipe Chicken (2 pieces) and regular chips�� 3023kJ, 41.1g fat, 1283mg sodium��
• Twister Wrap�� 2446kJ, 32g fat, 1200mg sodium

Hungry Jack’s

Hungry Jack’s brings us the Whopper, the Double Whopper, and the Ultimate Whopper, with a patty, cheese, another patty and yet more cheese. Unsurprisingly, it’s a whopping big kilojoule hit. Stick to a single patty to keep your energy intake under control.

Save up to 4294 kJ, 72.9g fat, and 1431mg sodium by:

eating this

• Hamburger with Garden Salad�� 1414kJ, 11g fat, 836mg sodium��
• Garden Salad with Grilled Chicken and French dressing�� 791kJ, 7.6g fat, 955mg sodium

not this

• Angry Angus (double)�� 3276kJ, 52.1g fat, 1775mg sodium��
• Ultimate Double Whopper�� 5085kJ, 80.5g fat, 2386mg sodium

McDonald’s

While many menu items at the golden arches aren’t the healthiest, McDonald’s has introduced Heart Foundation Tick meals and salads. There’s also a seared chicken line, offering a more gourmet alternative to the usual burgers. Go easy on the sauces and opt for a salad instead of fries.

Save up to 2460kJ, 32.9g fat and 877mg sodium by:

eating this

• Seared Chicken Tandoori Wrap�� 1340kJ, 7.5g fat, 596mg sodium��
• Hamburger with Garden Salad and Italian dressing�� 1110kJ, 8.8g fat, 578mg sodium

not this

• Crispy Chicken Bacon Deluxe with small fries�� 3570kJ, 41.7g fat, 1455mg sodium��
• Mighty Angus Burger�� 2870kJ, 35.7g fat, 1360mg sodium

Nutritional note

All nutrition data was calculated per serve in 2011. The total daily intake for the average adult is 8700kJ, 70g fat and 2300mg sodium. Needs vary depending on your gender, size and activity level. Nutritional data accurate as of May 2011 and may also vary slightly between states.

Burning off the kilojoules

You know how the saying goes: a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. If you’re going to stick with��unhealthy fast food choices, you’ll need to balance the kilojoule equation – whether that’s by abstaining from indulgences the next day or extra��exercise. To give you an idea of the energy in some of the fast food options, we did some kilojoule crunching.

• McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder��= more than 2.5 hours of constant house cleaning (definitely no breaks to watch��Ellen!) or walking.��
• Hungry Jack’s Ultimate Double Whopper��= 1.5 hour run or 3 hours of helping your friend move house (if you lift all the heavy boxes).��
• Wicked Wings Snack Box from KFC��= almost 2 hours of cycling or 1.5 hours mowing the lawn.

Sangers and sushi

We surveyed ����Vlog members to find out how often they buy meals away from home, and what they buy. Almost half the members we surveyed buy lunch on the go up to twice a week, with the most popular choices being sandwiches and sushi.

At the sandwich shop

Most people would think a ham and cheese sandwich is a healthy lunch, but bread, ham and cheese are all high in sodium��and it lacks nutrients. To make a better sandwich choice:

• Opt for wholegrain bread over white or focaccia.
• Ask for no butter, or substitute with avocado.
• The more salad the better, and the more colours in the salad the more vitamins and minerals you’ll get.
• Go easy on the cheese and avoid fried fillings and processed meats.
• Choose mustard or vinaigrette over creamy sauces.��

At the sushi bar

Japanese is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world, but the Western palate has added some unfortunate twists, such as processed cheese. Japanese cuisine can be high in sodium, which is linked with many health problems including high blood pressure and kidney disease. To make a better sushi choice:

• Cut back on the salty soy sauce – use wasabi for flavour.
• Steer clear of tempura and battered or fried sushi fillings, and choose tuna, chicken or sashimi instead.
• Give mayonnaise and processed cream cheese a wide berth – they’ll only add unwanted fat and kilojoules.

Miso soup is delicious but also very salty, so enjoy sparingly.

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