To cancel the food delivery

[MonkeyBirdy]

I live overseas and we have this thing here where you can get your dinner delivered every day. So around 4pm a guy arrives on a motorbike with a tiffin box of food for me. I get three dishes per day - one meat, one vegetable and one random which will be either tofu, fish, egg, something like that. It's mostly Indian/Chinese style food. It's home cooked and very cost effective, I don't think I could do the same for cheaper. It's obviously also really convenient.

But lately the food has changed and the woman who organises it confirmed she'd hired a chef whereas before she used to cook herself. The food is now saltier and not so nice tasting plus the proportion of spicy dishes has gone way up which I'm not a fan of. The variety of dishes is reduced as well, it feels like we're getting the same thing over and over again. Doesn't help that I'm just out of the first trimester and I kind of associate it with feeling rough as I really couldn't eat much of it when pregnant. Unfortunate that the change in chef coincided with that first trimester.

DH is all for just carrying on as we are because he still likes the food (he didn't notice the chef had changed plus he really likes spicy food anyway). But I'm so tempted to cancel. Would I be mad to? I haven't cooked regularly since I moved overseas 6 years ago and we've got an 18 month old...I'm just so sick of eating it every day!

I'm fascinated. So, where you are, what kind of people use this service? Is it normal for everyone or only for the priveledged? Or do the very priveledged have staff and not need it?

Are there whole cultures of people who have no idea how to cook for themselves, just as in UK with the reliance on take aways and ready meals?

OP, I’m in the ME, not Asia, but I also don’t cook. It’s too bloody hot and I work ridiculously long hours. I subscribe to a scheme where I pay £15 per month and every day I get a wide choice of breakfasts from various restaurants and lunches from various restaurants delivered to my desk. Breakfast costs £5 and lunch £7 ish. I do that every working day. In the evening, I either go out or pick up something from the salad bar / hot counter in the equivalent of M&S. I’ve been in my apartment 5 years and never used the cooker. Sometimes, if I have guest staying, I have a cook come in the morning and make an evening meal for a couple of weeks or so. Would this be an option for you?

Ironically, in the U.K., in my lovely kitchen, I enjoyed cooking and was good at it. Ingredients are dear here.

Can't imagine living on Takeaways everyday, but that's because I never have takeaway food.but you should just order from elsewhere, if the food cooking is not as good anymore.

@Backhills

I'm fascinated. So, where you are, what kind of people use this service? Is it normal for everyone or only for the priveledged? Or do the very priveledged have staff and not need it?

Are there whole cultures of people who have no idea how to cook for themselves, just as in UK with the reliance on take aways and ready meals?

It's cheap so it's not just for rich people. And you're right that the very rich ones mostly have live in help who cook.

I'd say even if people have help/get food delivered they still know how to cook. It's just that it's done for pleasure rather than necessity.

1forAll74 it's not the same as takeaway.

Are these dinner tiffins op? Could you not just give her feedback that you’re not happy with the quality and choice anymore? Even 2 days seems a waste of you’re not enjoying them. In my experience, most food delivery people will be happy to cater to your needs. I’m sure you can easily find someone else to takeover. When I lived in India, I actually asked the neighbours who they used and went with their recommendation. You can try something like that as they might put you in touch with someone new, who you actually enjoy.

No I wouldn't get this food delivery. I like cooking and choosing my own meals.

@1forAll74

Can't imagine living on Takeaways everyday, but that's because I never have takeaway food.but you should just order from elsewhere, if the food cooking is not as good anymore.

This is what the last thread was like! People looking at it through their British food culture eyes and wilfully misunderstanding what the OP is talking about. It isnt equivilanet to what British would call "getting a take away".

I really would try talking to her about what you aren't happy with before cancelling the service.

@NoProblem123

Cheap spicy food direct to your door !!

Where do I sign up for this ?

Is this a stealth brag ???

In the UK these type of services exist in most major towns. You can even get the person to come and cook your food (so your preferences eg organic etc) in your house, with your saucepans to pass off as your own!

In the UK these type of services exist in most major towns. You can even get the person to come and cook your food (so your preferences eg organic etc) in your house, with your saucepans to pass off as your own!

Dear god how??! Where are these magic people? My first flat was next door to a Bengali family; I used to come home in the evening to a frozen pizza and smell the most amazing curry flavours wafting over from next door. The mum spoke no English but I constantly fantasised about writing her a note offering £50 a week for a daily portion of whatever she happened to be making.

I would totally me up for a service like this if it was affordable as who doesn't love honestly cooking everyday and if it saved me time great ? I am asian though so food on the saltier (within reason) and spicy food is what I enjoy most. I do think that you have built up meal planning, shopping and cooking as a big deal in your head. It really isn't that difficult unless you have no cooking skills at all. Most people do cook, clean, do household chores, go to work and have kids to look after so yabu in making it appear to be such a big deal.

I think you have done the right thing for you by reducing the number of days the service runs and now can make some meals yourself. You could also get your oh to maybe speak to work colleagues and see if they use a meal delivery service, some of them may use someone different that you could try out.

try reducing it to a few days a week?
you can eat it or not, and use leftovers for your partner on days you don't have deliveries

In the UK these type of services exist in most major towns. You can even get the person to come and cook your food (so your preferences eg organic etc) in your house, with your saucepans to pass off as your own

It's not cheap though, that's the difference. In the UK, any sort of food delivery or food is a premium service that costs far more than home cooking, even low quality takeaways. Where the OP is, it's very cost effective. I saw a programme once about a Tiffin service in India, where a selection of curries, sides and bread were delivered to office workers at lunch and everyone had it. I imagine the OP is referring to something like that. Or like in Singapore where people eat in hawkers markets a lot, because it's really good value.

In both cases, the food is just home cooking, just on a larger scale, so not necessarily unhealthy.

Honestly, you need to ask around for an alternative.

This supplier doesn't work for you anymore, but the concept/service still does. There must be a better alternative out there.

Between you and your DH, you must know at least one person who understands the local language and can help you find a different provider. I'd push that quite strongly.

barbara on the back of this thread I spent a bit of time yesterday looking for similar in the UK. I did find a couple of tiffin services, but the only daily/near-daily one was in Wembley (a predominantly Indian area), and delivering only very locally.

If the quality of the food has gone downhill, I'm sure the people who recommended this service will have noticed the decline as well. They have already moved on and could perhaps recommend an alternative.

The quality of “take always” or ready prepared meals in Asia is much higher than in the uk I feel, in general. I bought ready meals from convenience stores when I was in Asia and they taste fresh and home made. Not like the type we get here (unless you buy expensive ones). And yes so much cheaper than buying groceries and cooking yourself. Some people may find it weird but it’s also a bit weird how much time we spend in the West, planning, shopping, cooking etc. It is a major chore unless you love cooking.

We have fairly similar things in london, I guess because it's dense enough population that the prices and delivery can work out, here's one of them that has a proper website but a lot are word of mouth www.getdad.co.uk

@motogogo

Most people cook most days. I personally wouldn't want food regularly that I didn't know what was in it, especially for a toddler. I love Indian and Chinese food, but I couldn't eat it everyday, too rich. We eat more basic meals like meat, salad and couscous/new potatoes or pasta with veggies & homemade sauce a lot.

Tonight we have tandoori baked trout (fusion cuisine!) but even homemade curry pastes are full of salt hence only 1-2 times a week. The Asian community has really high rates of type 2 diabetes in the U.K. and diet is a major reason - people would have eaten a lot less food, and mostly rice in the past.

You aren't going to get sympathy for having to cook from Mumsnet!

White rice actually predisposes to insulin resistance so I'm not sure why eating less of it now would increase diabetes risk as you suggest? There's also a significant genetic/metabolic risk factor for Asian people to get diabetes, it isn't just diet.

If any posters are in London, I have used Indian home cooks on Gumtree, who cook in their own kitchens and deliver.

I don't agree that eating Indian or Asian food daily is unhealthy; it depends on how you cook it. I cook Indian 5 days a week, though I admit it is very time consuming and messy. The rich, greasy, salty stuff you get in Indian restaurants is not representative of how we cook at home.

Honestly if my kids ate it I would still get it even if I didn't like it all that much, unless it was really unhealthy or not properly balanced or something.

When I lived in Asia the only meal we "cooked" at home was breakfast. Lunch and dinner we ate out, lunch at a shack on the side of the road near work and dinner at a food court type thing a short walk from home. It's just the norm there.

The only time anyone I knew got ill was when some of the guys ate sticky rice and mango that had been sitting out on the sun. Not a surprise! Almost everything else was cooked to order in screaming hot woks.