New meal service boxes clever
IT’S the store-cupboard recipe for the future: home-cooked ready meals that combine the traditional taste of fresh-picked goodness with cutting-edge cooking techniques. Parsley Box dinners are ready to pop in the oven or microwave straight from their box. They’re delivered to your home and then you pop them in the pantry – not the freezer or even the fridge, unlike other meal services, because this is high-tech cuisine.
The dishes, slow-cooked to perfection, can be stored for long periods because of the innovative steam fresh packaging system that’s taken a year to perfect. It’s based on something used in Michelinstarred restaurants called sous-vide (French for under vacuum) and gives six months’ storage without using preservatives.
Parsley Box is perfect for those who are getting older and who don’t want the trouble of cooking (or even defrosting). It is also handy for people who are short of time, whether singles or those with fast-moving families.
It’s the brainchild of Adrienne and Gordon Macaulay who were looking for easy, nutritious food for Adrienne’s mother after the couple and their children (who used to love coming up with desserts for gran) moved away.
The result is a compendium of Adrienne’s favourite recipes reborn into a 21st-century library of dishes for the home.
“They take just 1-2 minutes in the microwave and taste delicious,” says Adrienne. “We have just started on our journey as a family business, so expect lots of new recipes to make their way out of our kitchen.”
ALREADY there are more than 30 dishes on offer, all wholesome and nutritionally balanced, from comforting favourites such as cottage pie to the sophistication of a coq au vin or the curry house charm of a rogan josh. There are pasta dishes, Mediterranean rice and plenty more curries. Starters include the rich tomato and red pepper soup, and there are also side dishes and a number of sponge pudding desserts.
What’s far from modern are the prices. Soups are £1.99, main courses £2.99 and puds only £1.25. A special launch bundle serves up 10 main courses for £19 – that’s just £1.90 each. As a bonus there’s a free Parsley Box tea towel and, like all orders, it comes with free next-day delivery.
This is the taste of things to come and it couldn’t be easier to enjoy.
INFORMATION: parsleybox.com/0800 612 7225