This websites written by me, Matt, a guy which has a history of relying on McDonalds drive thru’s and the local kebab shop. This was my go-to from about age 18 to 27, when I decided to be a little healthier and sign up for My Food Bag. Since then I’ve switched between My Food Bag and Hello Fresh, with a bit of Woop thrown in here and there for good measure.
To be honest, I moan at least twice a week about the prep times, and my heart sinks if the recipe says prep time is anything over 20 minutes. I’ve got a full-time day job, a few side-gigs, a 8 months old son, and a wife which needs attention too.
If it was up to me, I’d be living off pre-prepared microwave meals from the supermarket freezers.
The only reason I haven’t switched to this Countdown freezer lifestyle is:
- I assume (probably with good reason), that it isn’t the most healthy way to eat mid to long term, and;
- I live with my wife, and she eats what I eat, and she’d never allow that. I do dinners in this house, since she focuses on feeding and raising our son. Plus, she’s into healthy living.
So with my desire to spend less time cooking, and my wife’s desire to eat healthy, we thought we’d try FED.
Read our full FED. review below. If you can’t be bothered reading the full review, here is the summary: If you want to spend less time preparing meals, but still eat fresh meals prepared with NZ ingredients, then sign up for FED.
What is FED.
Put it this way: You more than likely know what My Food Bag or HelloFresh are. They are providers of food boxes which you subscribe too, and each week they deliver a food box full of ingredients to your door, along with the recipes needed to turn those ingredients into a meal.
FED. is somewhat similar in that each week you get a delivery, but the difference is that with FED. the meals are already prepared.
This means you get fresh and healthy, chef-prepared meals without having to worry about the meal preparation itself. You simply need to pop the FED. meal into the microwave or the oven, and eat when ready.
But this isn’t new, is it?
Prepared meals have been in the supermarket freezers for years! I have always been seduced by the idea of grabbing one, and chucking it in the oven, but something always stops me.
Normally when I reach out to the freezer door I can hear a little voice saying “you’ll probably have a heart attack after eating that” or “don’t do it…you know that sausage will be rubbery!”.
Whether these voices are true or not, I’m not sure. But they are there. Maybe it’s the budget packaging…I’m not sure.
The difference with FED. is that you are buying chef prepared, high quality, heathy prepared meals, made with fresh NZ ingredients, and even using sustainable packaging.
That’s a pretty sexy sentence when it comes to food, right?!
One more time for good measure: With FED. you are buying chef prepared, high quality, heathy prepared meals, made with fresh NZ ingredients, and even using sustainable packaging.
Here’s some of what’s on the menu this week:
Which areas does FED. deliver too?
FED. delivers to Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Tauranga, and the surrounding suburbs of these areas.
Okay, so the food looks delicious! But how does FED. work?
Subscribing to FED. is super simple. Think of it like Netflix or Spotify. You sign up on their website, choose your meal plan, bang in your details and credit card, and then you’re all good to go.
Plans are weekly, and you can pause, skip, or cancel anytime. There are no long term contracts that you’ll get locked into.
I’d say try it for a week and see how it goes – and then you can always cancel if it’s not your cup of tea. Alternatively, you can then start choosing the next weeks meals and have a another week not worrying about what to prepare or cook.
FED. Meal Options
As with other food boxes in NZ, there are a number of plans you can sign up for with FED. Thankfully, they aren’t too confusing to understand.
- 6 meals – Regular or ravenous
- 8 meals – Regular or ravenous
- 10 meals – Regular or ravenous
- 12 meals – Regular or ravenous
- 8 mini meals
As you can see above, prices start from $16.00 per meal, if we ignore the “mini meals”.
It sounds expensive, but we never said getting healthy, prepared meals to your doorstep would be a bargain.
For reference, I’d normally spend about $12 per meal when shopping at the supermarket. Doing the supermarket method of making meals would also involve 10 minutes of thinking what to make, 10 minutes at the supermarket, and 10 minutes driving too and from the supermarket. THEN I can spend 25 to 45 minutes cooking. So we are looking at about 1 hour of time each night.
(Disclaimer: Yeah, that could be cut down with forward planning….)
With FED. meals, you literally spend 5 minutes a week to unpack the box, then 5 to 10 minutes a night to heat the meals.
So overall, you spend a few more dollars each night, but you get back at least 30 minutes a night to spend on something else you’d rather be doing? For me, that’s working, or hanging our with the wife or son.
Who is FED. good for?
People who don’t enjoy cooking: This is me. I don’t HATE cooking, but I can think of things I’d rather be doing. Life’s busy, so cutting our one time-consuming task each day is sooo good.
Busy people: If you’re already super busy each day, and just want to put your feet up after work, then FED. is 100% worth try.
Anyone who loves great food: Maybe you don’t enjoy cooking, but love great food. If this is you, you probably don’t want a supermarket freezer meal – so FED. is your best bet.
Summary
Give FED. a try today if you are at all interested in saving time in the evenings, and eating some delicious meals. Oh one last thing – this review isn’t paid for by FED. I’ve tried them, and genuinely loved the food. Some links on this page might give me commission, but this one doesn’t, so use that one if you want to join FED. but don’t want me to make a couple bucks.
Have you tried FED? Let us know in the comments below what you thought of it and help other New Zealanders decide which food box is best for them to try.
