Food delivery can be so much more than a lazy pizza. Here are five of the best delivery services in the UK.
Live in the sticks? Too busy to get to the butcher? Craving decent seafood? Or just struggling to track down an elusive ingredient? Food delivery can be so much more than a lazy pizza. Here are 5 companies bringing their specialisms right to your door.
The challenge to find that spot-on steak is finally over. This London butcher works with farmers across the country, whose mouth-watering array of meat is united by the highest welfare standards and animals raised for maximum flavour. That means supporting a regenerative beef farmer in Shropshire, lamb grazed on the Essex Marshes or delicious native breeds like the Gloucester Old Spot pig.
Choose one of their meat boxes – the BBQ option will take your summer get togethers to the next level – or take advantage of this butcher’s glorious niche offerings. That could be mutton for a casserole with real depth or, in a worthwhile departure from this firm’s British focus, beef from Galician cattle that are famously left to graze the rolling pastures of northern Spain for up to 15 years.
When Covid 19 shut down UK restaurants overnight, fishermen faced a very real threat to their livelihoods. Fortunately nimble, determined companies like Fish For Thought were able to divert their top quality produce straight into people’s homes. Whether it’s a decadent fruits de mer platter and lobster thermidor, or a medley of seafood staples to keep on standby in the freezer, this Cornish fishmonger makes it so easy to inject welcome variety into your dinnertime repertoire.
The company’s efficient delivery service is crucial for a product that relies so much on freshness, but Fish For Thought also covers important bases such as recyclable packaging and strong sustainable sourcing credentials. Not so confident with your seafood preparation and cookery? All fish comes beautifully filleted, the website is packed with enticing recipe inspiration, and you can even order ready-made sauces.
Guy Singh-Watson is recognised as a pioneer of the modern veg box scheme, building the local service he set up on his parents’ Devon farm back in 1986 into a nationwide delivery scheme, which continues to set the bar for its many competitors. Such growth may have meant the need to expand sourcing to other farms, but that has only improved the diversity of Riverford’s offer without compromising on the ethical and organic ethos that remains at the heart of this business.
Unlike many veg box services, there’s no need to subscribe to a regular Riverford delivery. You can choose different sized boxes to fit household size (or level of vegetable enthusiasm) and branch out into the company’s fruit, salad and even meat boxes. Feeling unimaginative or just hate waste? Try a Riverford recipe box, which comes with step-by-step instructions and precisely portioned ingredients to rustle up a regularly changing array of seasonal, creative dishes.
Imagine if you could enjoy dishes by top chefs such as Michel Roux Jr, José Pizarro or Tom Kerridge without having to book a babysitter, dash for the last train home or even take off your slippers? Eating out is a great treat, but just sometimes it’s rather wonderful to succumb to a very posh take away. Let Dishpatch come to the rescue.
Take the stress out of your next dinner party by simply heating up Café Murano’s crispy lamb arancini followed by rabbit cacciatore. Dive into an exotic Goan Portuguese feast from Nuno Mendes or go to ground with a comforting pie and own-label Macon rouge from St John. Of course, the other beauty of eating at home is that you can avoid hefty restaurant wine mark ups, not to mention that inevitable fight over who drives back.
Remember when olive oil was only sold in the UK by chemists? It’s amazing what you can buy in supermarkets these days, but sometimes it’s just impossible to track down that mesmerizing condiment you tasted in Korea or just the right brand of tinned fish. That’s the problem co-founder Nicola Lando wanted to solve for home chefs – and many professional ones – after enjoying access to so many fabulous ingredients when she worked in a Michelin-starred kitchen.
On the hunt for salted Sakura cherry blossom? Hibiscus flowers? The perfect Chinese dumpling flour? Squid ink? Hickory liquid smoke? Perhaps you just need a catering size tub of black sesame seeds rather than those tiny sachets in the spice aisle? Even browsing the ingredients available here is enough to inspire some seriously creative cookery – and that’s before you spot the specialist equipment and tableware sections. Perhaps it’s finally time to treat yourself to a decent kitchen knife.
