Calling all foodies who can’t face cooking. There’s a delivery service for you

For vegans and vegetarians

Planthood

What: It’s pitched as a midpoint between ready meals and recipe boxes, with pre-made sauces arriving alongside fresh (mostly organic) veg, tofu and garnishes. The rotating weekly menu might include a tofu tikka masala naan wrap, butternut squash and spelt risotto or crispy tofu “parm” over creamy tomato beans – no meat substitutes in sight. Recipes are accessed via a QR code, and all the packaging is recyclable or biodegradable, including the ice packs that keep the box cool while it waits on your doorstep. 

Who: Founders Hilary Kennedy and Will Moxham started Planthood in 2020 after returning to the UK from Canada and finding vegan options sorely lacking. Three years later, they persuaded Steven Bartlett of the business’s potential on TV programme Dragons’ Den and received £75,000 in investment for their plant-based meal-subscription service.

Pros: The meals are tasty, filling and almost convincingly homemade. Added touches like dollops of coconut yoghurt or a garlic basil gremolata made them more interesting and flavourful than anything I would have put together myself, especially within the 15 to 25 minutes that each one took to prepare. Perfect for those looking to eat vegan without learning to cook vegan – plus the optional juices and oat pots made for a super-convenient breakfast.

Cons: Rinsing and de-stemming kale, or battering, breading and shallow-frying tofu, I found myself wondering how much effort the ready-made sauces were really sparing. Not to mention that instructions requiring a saucepan, frying pan, roasting tin and two large bowls mean a lot of washing up. A final bout of dedication is needed to recycle the sauce pouches, which for me involves visiting the soft-plastics recycling point at a local supermarket. Marion Willingham

For new parents

ByRuby

What: “Frozen meals for people who really love cooking” is Milly Bagot’s summary. Bundles of heartwarming classic dishes arrive oven-ready at the doorstep in generous one- or two-portion helpings. The grass-fed beef and higher-welfare chicken are sourced from UK farms, and its fish is MSC-certified.

Who: After Bagot received a freezer-load of food from her sister following her first baby’s birth, she teamed up with Ruby Bell – a colleague at Finns deli in Chelsea – to produce high-quality frozen meals for their customers. In 2018 they branched out into a direct-to-consumer model based in north London, with delivery throughout the mainland UK.

Pros: These aren’t your standard ready meals. ByRuby lasagne (a Great Taste award-winner, like most of the range) is rich, flavourful and, as it’s not stuffed with filler ingredients, one serving actually fills you up. It tastes as good as if you’d made it yourself, so throwing one into the oven doesn’t feel like a defeat. A close friend sent the New Parent bundle to my wife and me; in the new-baby fog it was a lifeline.

Cons: There’s an argument that 50 minutes in the oven is a long time to wait for vital sustenance when you’ve no clue what you – or your baby – will be doing in 50 minutes; happily, some of the range can be microwaved from frozen in just under 10 minutes. Alexander Tyndall

For sustainable south Asian feasts

DabbaDrop

What: Sustainability is at the heart of DabbaDrop, which is inspired by Mumbai’s longstanding dabbawala couriers. Vegetarian curries and stir-fries are packed in oven-ready tiffin tins and delivered via a tracked bicycle service that will also collect the previous week’s tins. The four-decker “dabba” contains all the essentials of a south Asian feast: a dhal, two mains (the Kuala Lumpur-inspired mushroom rendang was a standout) and fragrant rice. Naan bread can be added to orders as an extra, as well as samosas, chutneys and a ginger jam so delicious that it landed in my breakfast, too. The portions are meant to serve two, but as a busy single mother, this afforded me twice as many nights off my own uninspired midweek dinners – a huge win.

Who: DabbaDrop was co-founded in 2018 by two working mothers: Anshu Ahuja, originally from Mumbai, and New Zealand-native Renée Williams. With a rotation of south Asian curry recipes and trimmings, delivered in steel “dabba” tins across London (zones 1 to 3) via a weekly or fortnightly subscription, it’s the antidote to plastic-laden food delivery and takeaway models. They continue to steadily expand their zero-waste business.

Cons: Don’t expect butter chicken or lamb biryani. DabbaDrop is fully plant-based, which might irk the carnivores. But the richness of flavour and variety of dishes in each delivery fully make up for the lack of meat. Rasha Kahil

For gourmets who can’t face the grind

Home by Simon Rogan

What: A Michelin-worthy ready meal that requires some cooking knowhow (or at least the ability to multitask and follow instructions). Each course is split up into sealed and numbered packages of pre-cooked ingredients, which require heating – often simultaneously – in a number of different ways. The February menu, for example, involved searing slices of lamb shoulder before roasting them in the oven while bags of whey onions and parsnip purée cooked in a boiling pan of water. There are also detailed plating instructions, which tend to conclude with a drizzle of infused oil and a sprig of cress, sourced – like many of the ingredients used – from Rogan’s own farm. A cheese course, petits fours and wine pairing are available for those wanting to go the extra mile.

Who: Simon Rogan, the chef behind three-Michelin-starred L’Enclume, started his award-winning “Home” range in 2020. As the packaging states, each three-course meal comes straight from the Lake District, where Rogan lives and works. Menus are devised according to what’s in season and change every month.

Pros: Undoubtedly the best “ready meal” – if you can call it that – I’ve ever had: January’s preserved rhubarb with buttermilk cream was better than desserts I’ve had in restaurants. There are plenty of foams, mousses and piping bags to entice chichi home chefs. But this is also just simple food at its seasonal best. 

Cons: Lazy cooks, beware: Rogan hasn’t spared a thought for the person washing up. Once you’ve got through the starter, main and pudding – not forgetting the introductory bread course – you may well have used all of your pots, baking trays and pans. Rosanna Dodds