My Food Bag

As a wife and a mother, I (like many others, I'm sure) have come to dread those age-old words "what's for dinner?". If I'm perfectly honest there are about a million things I'd rather be doing than cooking a meal night after night, but the health of my family deems it necessary ;) Now, if someone told me what to cook each night and delivered all the food to my door, that would be half the battle. My Food Bag to the rescue... the concept is brilliant - a nutritious weekly menu with all the ingredients and step-by-step recipes for four to five meals, delivered to your door at the start of each week.

Head chef and dietitian, Nadia Lim, works with a talented team to design delicious, easy-to-follow recipes each week. There are five different food bags to choose from:

My Classic Food Bag: 5 recipes to feed 2 adults and 2-3 teens, or 4 adults. 

My Family Food Bag: 5 recipes to feed 2 adults and 2-3 younger children. 

My Gourmet Food Bag: 4 recipes to feed 2 adults. 

My Veggie Food Bag: 4 vegetarian recipes to feed 2 adults.

My Own Food Bag: 4 recipes for 5 meals to feed 1 adult (1 recipe feeds 2 adults).

Once you've chosen the Food Bag that suits you can choose to have it delivered every week or every fortnight, and either on Sunday or Monday. A few days before the bag arrives you'll be emailed your menu and notified of any staple ingredients you'll need eg: flour, olive oil (things you generally have in your pantry already). This gives you time to pick anything up you don't have. Your Food Bag is then delivered to your door with the freshest ingredients, and all seasonal produce (free-range and sustainably farmed products are used whenever possible).

My Family Food Bag

My Classic Food Bag

Hawke's Bay is one of the latest areas to receive My Food Bag deliveries, so Dael and I were super excited to try it out. Dael chose My Classic Food Bag, and I decided to try My Family Food Bag so that we could compare the two. We were emailed our menu for the week ahead and on Sunday afternoon everything was delivered to our door.

There was a large chillbox holding all the meat and deli items, and two paper bags filled with everything else - delicious, fresh veges, eggs, spice mixes, bread crumbs, rice etc. You also get a free recipe folder with the week's recipes. The recipe cards are fantastic and really easy to follow, including the prep and cook time, and nutritional information.

It was lovely to feel so organised and know exactly what was for dinner each night. I really enjoyed the cooking experience and trying new ideas, and there was much excitement, as well as critiques from my family when they sat around the table in the evening.

Dael's family loved their meals too. Her husband, Lee, had taken the week off work to look after their two girls during the school holidays, so for them the delivery of My Food Bag was perfect timing. With everything he needed on hand and instructions, meal time was a breeze, and it was lovely for Dael to come home to. One night when they had friends over for dinner they gave the kids something simple and served their guests 'Char Siu Pork with Sticky Sesame Pea Rice and Veges'. Needless to say the guest were most impressed!

After trialling My Food Bag for a week, Dael and I both highly recommend it to anyone who wants to take the stress out of meal times. With the busy lifestyles most of us live, it's a fantastic way to make sure your family is getting a beautiful, healthy and delicious meal. You don't have to be a Master Chef either, if I can do it, you definitely can. Why don't you give it a go.

NutriBullet Goodness

There was much excitement in our household this weekend as we tried out our amazing NutriBullet for the first time. I have heard a lot about how fantastic this machine is, and with the amount of processed/convenient food available these days, I love the idea of getting extra nutrition into my family's diet.

The NutriBullet is a powerful superfood nutrition extractor that completely blitzes and blends any ingredients, including fibre, pulp, seeds and skin of whole fruits and vegetables. This means you extract the highest degree of nutrition from your food, and the silky smooth texture makes it easy to digest. No more partially blended spinach leaves or berry pips. There are so many ingredients you can use, and we've had a lot of fun making up recipes to please the whole family.

We started with a couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves, a green apple, a pear, and chopped pineapple topped up with coconut water. It's amazing how quickly it blends into a smooth and super healthy drink.

The NutriBullet comes complete with a tall cup, two shorter cups (one with a handle), two resealable lids, the extractor blade, and a milling blade which turns dry ingredients into powders (perfect for milling oats, nuts and seeds). So next time you're running late and don't have time for a sit-down breakfast, you could simply throw your favourite fresh ingredients into the NutriBullet, pop a lid on and take it with you. Now that's what I call "fast food"!

I whipped up a ginger and citrus flu-fighter recipe from two whole oranges (skin removed), the juice from half a lemon, a teaspoon of fresh ginger, and a couple of teaspoons of maple syrup to sweeten. You can tweak these recipes to suit your taste - less ginger, more maple syrup... it just takes a bit of experimenting.

The kids wanted a berry smoothie so we went quite traditional with a banana, lots of frozen mixed berries, yoghurt and milk. I added a dash of vanilla and organic carob powder. Needless to say, they loved it. It really is a fabulous way to get fussy eaters to get their fruit intake. My eldest doesn't like bananas, her favourite recipe so far includes mango, pineapple, coconut flakes, almonds, almond milk and yoghurt - delish!

The last drink I made was a mix of some of my favourites, and was just like a healthy dessert. I used almond milk, a shot of cold coffee, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and two tablespoons of organic rolled oats. Once blitzed I added two tablespoons of chia seeds and let it sit for ten minutes, stirring regularly. Topped with coconut flakes, slivered almonds, and chocolate chips, it was a delicious guilt-free treat.

I would highly recommend a NutriBullet to anyone wanting a quick and fun way to create exceptionally healthy drinks and meals. Check out the website to see where you can buy yours, and lots of great recipes.

Tea Pea School

Dael and I have had the pleasure of working with Meg, Scott and the wonderful Tea Pea team over the years, and we were really excited to hear that they were expanding their thriving business to include a Tea Pea School.

As well as being extremely creative herself, Meg has had the opportunity to meet and work with a plethora of other talented people. Wanting to share the joy and the knowledge, "The School" was established to teach, and inspire others to express their creativity in a diverse range of ways.

make a wreath with adaptation to a floral chandelier

ceramic bunting making

Launching this month, there are over twenty workshops, talks and demonstrations for you to choose from. Try your hand at Shibori dying, or learn to make ceramic tea lights; have you always wanted to learn the art of writing, or how about cake decorating? There are so many options and more are being added all the time.

the art of writing

ruffles and roses cake decorating

You can book and go alone to your favourite workshop - use it as an opportunity to network and meet other like-minded people. Another fun idea is to gather a group of your girlfriends or work mates together. Contact the Tea Pea team to see if you can organise your own special workshop - what a great team-building idea!

make a kokedamas

tricks and tips for decorating a child's space

As well as the knowledge, the experience, and the yummy refreshments, you will also take away with you a lovely goodie bag. Classes start from just $45, so go and check them all out now. To keep up to date with any new classes, join the Tea Pea mailing list and follow them on Facebook too.