The last time I went food shopping I wanted to cry.

Not only was the queue so long that I needed a snack and a bottle of water halfway through the wait, but the total cost at the end left me wondering which food item contained ‘gold’ as an ingredient.

A week later, and half of the stuff that I bought ends up in the trash because I only needed two leaves of basil for the pasta, and half a butternut for the roast (this was an ambitious cooking week).

I also spent more time cooking the damn food than spending time with the people I was cooking it for.

I know that you know what I’m talking about. The struggle is real. The good news is that all of this can be avoided.

Co-owner of Daily Dish, Diane de Villiers, knows all about that struggle. She started the business back in 2012 when she was working 12-hour days and couldn’t find time to prepare tasty and nutritious meals for her family during the week.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Daily Dish is a pay-per-week subscription service that sends fresh, locally sourced ingredients and recipes in a cool, ice-pack insulated box every week to your door (or office) that you then cook at home.

All the joy of a home-cooked meal with none of the fuss of shopping and coming up with meal plans.

Of course, if you want to improve, you have to listen to what the people want. Following feedback from their loyal customer base, Daily Dish has announced two important changes going forward.

The first is that the ingredients now come in an environmentally friendly paper bag that you can recycle, which also limits the use of plastics and ups the convenience factor.

The second change is that you can now choose between a three and four-day meal plan for one, two or four people.

The three-day meal plan is a new addition to the service, and was created to allow for more spontaneity in the week – because you’re sophisticated, busy people who shouldn’t be beholden to a dinner schedule.

Diane had this to say about why Daily Dish has made the switch:

‘We would be nothing if it wasn’t for our loyal customers who subscribe to receive their yummy Daily Dish curated boxes every week. That’s why listening to what they want is crucial to keeping us literally catering to them. I’m incredibly excited about these updates as they speak to our core values of sustainability, flexibility and affordability, and we’ve already seen increased growing
interest from people wanting to trial our family-friendly recipes out!’

Since its inception, Daily Dish has gone from strength to strength, and each week they now offer five different menus to choose from –  Family Box, Classic Box, Banting Box, Veggie Box and Pork-Free Box.

The cost per week is a fraction of what you’d pay if you were sourcing the ingredients yourself at the shops, so it’s a massive saving on food that also eliminates food waste.

Next week I’m getting the Banting Box, which looks next level amazing:

There are literally no downsides here.

Even sweeter is that if you order your first box now, you’ll receive R250 off the four-day boxes, and up to R150 off of the three-day boxes.

There are no contracts, so you can pause or cancel at any time, depending on what the week ahead looks like.

It’s the life-saver you never knew you needed, but won’t be able to live without.