Meal kits proving just as popular post-pandemic

For busy Matakana mum Ursula Gilchrist, the ease of having at least three meals a week delivered to the home prepped and ready to cook is more appealing than ever.

Gilchrist owns Sentinel Homes, North Rodney, and is mother to

12-year-old Natalia and 17-year-old Brock. Family life is busy and during the first lockdown she started ordering meal kits to avoid supermarket trips.

With the Matakana Market closed and only a Four Square nearby, cooking from provided ingredients and a recipe card was convenient and a time to bond.

“Everything is fresh and clean and there is no waste. Lockdown gave us the time to be more considered about what we were putting into our bodies.”

Now Gilchrist is back in the office, the children are back at school and Brock, who is involved in motorsport and races in the Toyota

86 series, trains most weekends. “We are busy and the meal kits save us time and stop the impulse buys of foods with preservatives at the supermarket.”

It turns out that Gilchrist is not alone.

NZME’s 2021 Lifestyle Survey found Kiwis are doing fewer shopping trips and embracing a simpler pantry.

Compared to last year, young New Zealanders are stocking up. Twenty-two per cent of us are doing more bulk buying. That increases to

27 per cent for those aged 18-34 years.

Although meal kits have risen in popularity, two thirds of Kiwis have never ordered one.

Those aged 18-34 said they would order Uber Eats on a weekly basis and more than one in five prepare a ready-made meal kit weekly.

Matakana mum Ursula Gilchrist and her children 17-year-old Brock and Natalia, 12, started ordering meal kits during lockdown to avoid going to the supermarket — and have continued to do so.