For those of you who have heard of Fresh City Farms, you probably know them as the organization who runs urban farms in the GTA and delivers fresh produce to your door. What you may not know is that they have a program of ready-to-eat meals and drinks that can be delivered to your door or picked up from their many hubs around Toronto.
I first found out about Fresh City’s meal delivery program at Patagonia’s Earth Day pop-up market (where I was lucky enough to be a vendor), when Dee (their in-house nutritionist), approached me and explained that they were launching an organic ready-to-eat meal program. I was, of course, interested, and placed an order to try out their goods the following week.
When looking through their menu online, one thing I noticed was the superb labeling of the food – and every ingredient. They noted every claim very clearly, and even put tags like “gluten-friendly” and “vegan” to make it easy for people with special diets to find what they wanted. I decided on a few things: the Tempeh Buddha Bowl, which included tempeh, roasted sweet potato, kale, cabbage, brown rice, their in-house tahini dressing, and RawFoodz’s Sea-Zar dressing; the Southwest Salad, which included grape tomatoes, red pepper, sweet corn, cabbage, pico de gallo, and Sunflower Kitchen‘s nut-free pesto; A Cocoa Date Smoothie and the Super Spinach smoothie – all come in glass jars, no plastic!
Everything was delivered to my door, according to the special instructions, so well packed! I was impressed with their cooler bags, custom printed ice pack and the way it arrived, all of which are returned and used over and over again. My little brother was very enthusiastic with the delivery and drank the entire Super Spinach smoothie (not many 9-year-olds would do that) and loved it, so I didn’t have the chance to try it, but he said it was great. I took the food in jars and the cocoa date smoothie to school and to an all day swim course, instead of packing my own. The Southwest Salad was delicious, and the pesto combined perfectly with the red pepper and cabbage to make an amazing meal, and the Buddha Bowl was also amazing, although it could have used a little bit more dressing. Note: if you happen to be eating these on the go, I would suggest bringing an extra reusable container with you, since they are a little bit difficult to toss and mix and eat straight out of the jar, for me anyway! Of course, you can make your own meals in jars, or in any containers as long as you keep the right ingredients at home, but everyone has a reason to outsource sometimes, and I think these would make a good gift for someone trying to get well too!
I did place a second order from Fresh City for a weekend trip I was going on with my school. Since I pack all of my food when I go on these trips, Fresh City’s ready-to-eat, portable meals were perfect to take, and the Cocoa Date smoothie refreshed me on the hot days as a hearty snack, and was so delicious it could have been dessert too! (here is what my sister and I took for food on our last school trip)
Whether you are looking for an organic and easy meal for on the go or a delicious dish to eat at home, Fresh City Farms has you covered with everything from a deconstructed sushi roll to Swedish meatballs! Please make sure to read all of the ingredients before you order to make sure it includes everything you want, and nothing that you don’t!
One quick note: Fresh City uses nuts in some of their dishes, so even if there are no nuts in the dish, there can be cross-contamination. Please always check directly with them before you order any prepared food if you have allergies.
