The Foodery: Healthy Meal Delivery That Will Help You #LiveWell
A few months ago, I came across an article in the Boston Globe titled The Foodery: Mindful eating when you’ve got a lot on your mind. More than curious, I read further. Turns out, The Foodery is a Boston-based company that cooks and delivers healthful, fresh meals to your door. The meals are chilled, not frozen, and only require a zap in the microwave. Their business model disrupts the current “meal prep” landscape of grocery shopping, meal kits, and grocery delivery by taking essentially all of the preparation time out of the equation.
Two of the biggest blockers that stand between people and healthy eating are 1) Time and 2) Knowledge (i.e. What's healthy? What foods should I prioritize buying organic? What foods go well together?). The Foodery tackles both of those challenges. They do all the research & healthy ingredient sourcing for you (from local suppliers when possible) and pre-make your meals, so all you have to do is heat them up.
Check out these pictures of their meals:
My two favorite things about the Foodery:
The meals have that authentic homemade deliciousness to them, proving that healthy and nutritious aren’t mutually exclusive. They are the kind of meals that cause you to get emotional when you only have a few bites left because they taste so good. The meatloaf in particular reminds me of the dish my mom would make for me after soccer games growing up. The meals are seriously delicious. Like, SO delicious. There is also great variety in their menu. Each week the meals are different than the last, so your palate never gets bored.
The commitment the company makes to healthy ingredients is legit (I have done my due diligence for you here.) All the dishes are healthful, nutritious, and made from high-quality, clean, and usually local ingredients. I tend to be skeptical about companies that slap the “healthy” label on their food (example: one of my favorite breakfast spots has a "healthy oatmeal" option that is loaded with sugar... I digress...) My curiosity got ahead of me and I reached out to the company, because I really wanted to double-click into their healthful food and clean ingredient claims. The CEO and I met over a video conference and he went into granular detail around their high ingredient and sourcing standards. I was so impressed. He shared with me their principles and even told me about the farms and suppliers from which they source certain ingredients, like their 100% grass-fed, locally-sourced beef.
The Foodery’s 21 Ingredient Standards:
Organic leafy greens
Organic herbs & spices
Organic eggs
Organic chicken, vegetable & beef stocks
Antibiotic and hormone-free chicken
Grass-fed beef
Pasture-raised pork
Responsibly-sourced fish
Lean proteins
Plant-strong meal design
Low-glycemic carbohydrates
EVOO, coconut oil, grapeseed oil and sesame oil only
No GMO’s
No excessive sodium
No excessive sugars
No artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners
No preservatives
No MSG
No high-fructose corn syrup
No hydrogenated oils (trans fats)
No fried or charred foods
I could go into detail on why all of these are important, but in order to keep this post from becoming 45 pages, I'm going to tell you why these principles, as a whole, are spot on. (But please reach out if you'd like me to dive deeper into the importance behind any of them in particular.)
Let's zoom out for a second. People always tell me they don't know what to believe when it comes to nutrition because there is so much conflicting information out there. My three-fold response to people when they ask me for guidance re. which "diet" to follow is the following:
Everyone is different. There just isn’t one diet for everyone.
It's not about the diet; it's about YOU - understanding your body, your needs, your goals, your genetics, your sensitivities, and designing a diet around those factors.
The thing is, fad diets and nutrition suggestions "of the moment" will come and go. One day it's low-fat, the next it's high fat; one day it's eat snacks throughout the day, the next it's only eat three meals and let your system rest for long periods in between. You're doing yourself a disservice if you blindly decide to follow the diet of the moment. Although there is not one diet for everyone, there are health and nutrition "best practices" that really do apply to everyone. These best practices are not transient and will never go out of vogue. They are agreed-upon general principles by medical and nutritional professionals that are a good idea for everyone to follow, no matter the "diet" one chooses to follow.
The "best practices" that I reference above are basically the exact principles that The Foodery prides itself on following. Not fad-ish, not transient, not "extreme" - just smart and timeless health principles that will survive the waves of trendy diets and really do apply to everyone who is looking to make healthy choices.
When I had the pleasure of speaking with The Foodery's CEO, John Bauer, one of the things that impressed me the most about our conversation was that he genuinely wanted my feedback on the dozens of meals I've had from The Foodery, the service, and the general experience. He was very emphatic about wanting any criticism I could give him so he could continually improve his company (which alone told me he's a very smart guy - if there's one thing I've learned from my consulting career, it's that listening to the voices of your customers is essential.) So, I was honest and shared with him a few feedback points I had, including that it would be helpful if there were nutrition labels on the meals and that I would love to see more variety with plant-based proteins, like tofu, tempeh, etc. He was very receptive to everything I said and actually told me I can expect to see nutrition labels in the next six months or so.
I am so impressed with this company - their mission, their meals, their standards, and their people. Even the meal delivery people who I have met at my front door authentically rave about how well they are treated and how much they love working for The Foodery.
If you live in the Boston area, I highly recommend you try out The Foodery. You'll be hooked. I definitely am :)
To get more info // order meals: https://fooderyboston.com/
The Foodery blog: https://blog.fooderyboston.com/
