When it comes to meals, Austinites don’t mess around. We love local and organic food, and we tend to avoid chain restaurants like the plague. It’s our culture. Quick, healthy, and made-from-scratch could be the official catchphrase of Austin cuisine. But this triple threat is hard to pull off daily, since most of us are busy working and playing. Enter meal delivery.
Yes, healthy and delicious meals, made with love and fresh ingredients, are now available from a number of local businesses in Austin. They’ll all deliver to your door, and two will even do the cooking for you in your house! A good way to make sure all your appliances still work.
Check out six of our favorite meal delivery companies in Austin.
1/ Lucky Lime
(Credit: Jessica Attie)
Chef Rebecca Meeker used to work for several renowned restaurants, including Congress and Jeffrey’s in Austin. In 2017, she started a meal delivery company called Lucky Lime.
Trained as a holistic health coach, Meeker wanted to bring world-class, nutritious meals to busy working people. Lucky Lime offers a weekly selection of meals. Any week you want meals, you simply select them by 5 p.m. on Thursday, for delivery the following Monday. Not sure how your week is looking? Combo meals can be ordered two days in advance.
Lucky Lime focuses on offering a variety of options for dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian diets, and will meet with anyone one-on-one if they have specific needs.
Lucky Lime currently delivers to Austin area zip codes only.
2/ Prep to Your Door
One more option for meal delivery is Prep to Your Door. Prep to Your Door offers two soups, two salads, one breakfast, and one specialty meal each week, in addition to smoothies. Subscribers can pick the items and quantity they want to be delivered the next week. All deliveries are done Sunday evening or Monday morning.
Prep to Your Door items are plant-based, organic, locally-sourced, and delivered in mason jars, meaning that no plastic is used in this service. Ingredients and nutrition information for each item are provided on the website.
This local meal delivery company currently delivers in the greater Austin area, but plans to expand its service area soon.
3/ Snap Kitchen
Eating healthier is now a snap, thanks to Snap Kitchen. Snap was founded in 2010 on the principle that “real food should be convenient and delicious.”
Since then, Snap Kitchen has been serving healthy, homemade meals for people on the go, each one in a compostable container with a recyclable lid. Whether you have a health goal or no time to cook, Snap Kitchen has you covered with weekly meal subscription plans.
Each meal is chef-crafted and dietitian-curated by in-house Registered Dietitians. You can choose a diet plan with all meals meeting the requirements of that diet, or you can customize a meal plan based on taste preferences.
In addition to delivery, meals can be picked up at any Snap Kitchen or Austin-area Whole Foods Market.
Current meal plan options include:
- Vegetarian
- Keto
- Whole30
- Paleo
- Low Carb
- High Protein
- Balance
4/ Spirited Food Co.
Spirited Food Co. was originally founded in 2008 as an aid to women undergoing chemotherapy. Today, award-winning chefs, Andrew Brooks and Miranda Spradling, are serving over 100 families in the Austin area.
Brooks and Spradling focus on local and organic foods. Everything is gluten-free, with a local and organic focus. The chefs offer three weekly menus to choose from: Standard, Auto-Immune Protocol (AIP/anti-inflammatory), and Skinny Gourmet.
5/ Dinner Elf (In-home Prep)
(Credit: Amy Dang/Dinner Elf)
Dinner Elf differs from meal-kit delivery services because everything is cooked for you. Founders Jesse and Nicole Vickey take an entire step out of the equation by offering professional, background-checked, and insured cooks (“elves”) who put meals together in your home. The affordable pricing sets them apart, starting at $10 per serving.
After having children, the Vickeys found themselves rushed and stressed around dinner time. They knew there had to be another way. They relocated to Austin for its entrepreneurial culture and started Dinner Elf in 2014, coining it, “the most convenient way to eat well.”
How easy is that? There’s no waiting on delivery and no need to cook yourself. The elves even clean the kitchen when they’re finished.
Dinner Elf also offers easy meal coordination pages and gift packages for friends to group-gift home-cooked love to a friend with a new baby, or someone recovering from an illness. This is a great option when someone is in a season of need or celebration, but you aren’t able to make and take a casserole across town to them.
6/ Gather & Forge (In-home Prep)
Another in-home prep option is Gather & Forge, founded by Chef Ryan Francis. The growing food scene in Austin inspired Francis to more closely connect chefs with those looking to enjoy good food.
Gather & Forge has many options if you want to work directly with a chef. With the weekly chef option, a chef works with you on dietary needs and wants, crafts a menu, and then comes to your home to prepare your meals.
Meals are left with heating instructions and add-on services are available, including container purchase and reheating class. Prices vary based on the meals designed.
@theAustinot wants to know:
Which of these Austin-based meal delivery companies have you used before?
The original version of this article was published April 3, 2018.
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