Meal Box Instructions

1. Refrigerate fresh ingredients!

Most of our ingredients will need to be kept in your fridge. Here's a list of everything you should refrigerate:

- anything liquid (sauces, dressings, etc.)

- fruits and vegetables*

- jarred tortillas! These must be refrigerated with the jar lid tightly on or they may begin to go moldy.

*Some vegetables prefer to be in a dry place, i.e. brown onions, garlic, potatoes, etc, but it's really up to you how you prefer to store them.

Put the protective cardboard tray back in the box, and defrost the icepack in the sink or a bowl/water-tight container. This is so it is dry when we come to pick up your empty jars and box. If the icepack is wet it may damage the empty box, and we like to reuse our boxes as much as possible.

The Recipe Cards for your box will be up on the website from the start of the week of your delivery (our weeks start on Mondays). They will remain available for up to 2 weeks from that day. There will be multiple weeks available at a time, so make sure you use the ones that match the week of your delivery! You can download their PDFs if you want to be able to zoom in or save them for later.
Please note: the Recipe Card number does not correspond with the order you should cook them in! You can cook them in any order you like, but check out the Best Before section below for more info on what's best to cook first.

If it's your first time cooking our recipes you may be a bit overwhelmed by the recipe cards. That's ok! We've tried to keep them concise, but there are still often a lot more words than other recipes!

i) Get out everything on the ingredients list and extra ingredients before you start to check you have everything needed*. All our jarred ingredients are numbered, so just look for the corresponding number/colour of the recipe you've chosen. (You can ignore any other old labels on the jars!)

ii) Only use the amount of produce recommended in the ingredients list (per servings you have). Produce is often used in multiple different recipes, so if you seem to have more than you need, check the other recipes to see if the rest is used elsewhere!

iii) Read through the entire recipe before you start cooking so you know what order to do things in, and what equipment you will need to cook with.

iv) Some sauces, especially dressings, need a good shake before use. 

v) Get the most sauce out of your jar: use a good spatula or add a splash of water and shake with a lid on and tip into your pan to get as much goodness out as possible - waste not!

vi) Rinse your jars out as you empty them. It's so much easier to wash your jars if they are rinsed immediately. Pop them straight in the dishwasher/by the sink after rinsing to get them out the way until you're ready to wash them properly.
*If you notice anything missing from your box please let us know as soon as possible. We're a small team and only human, so packing mistakes can sometimes happen! If you get in touch we may be able to deliver the missing items the next day, or we will refund you for them if it's too late.

As most of the ingredients we provide are perishable, we recommend you use them up as quick as you can. All prepared sauces/dressings in jars are made within 24 hours of your delivery, so are very fresh, but do need to be used within 7 days of being delivered to you. We do not use any preservatives, so unlike most store-bought sauce, our stuff is not likely to last more than 7 days. We don't want you to get sick, so please make sure you eat everything within this time!

- leafy greens

- jarred tortillas

- marinated tofu

- any dish with fresh bread

- avocadoes: we try to get these just on the cusp of ripeness, but sometimes they're a little unripe for a few days. Better unripe than over-ripe! If the stalk pushes in easily, it should be ripe enough to use. Store in a bowl/bag with apples to speed up ripening.

Freezing: You can freeze our sauces (before the 7 days is up), but please transfer them to a freezer-safe container first, as our jars may break if frozen! This also means you can return our jars and lids to us for reuse. And don't forget to download the PDF of the corresponding Recipe Card before it gets taken off the website! Please be aware too that some ingredients may change their texture or taste when frozen. Best to ask us if you're not sure if a sauce is ok to freeze.

While we always wash and sterilize all the jars and lids once they get returned to our kitchen, it's most hygienic and much less work for our team if you wash them before putting them out for collection. As we wash hundreds of jars at a time, it really slows us down (and isn't very pleasant for the team) to deal with old food residue, or in the worst case scenarios, mouldy jars! 

Once you've washed the jars and lids, pop them all back in the box they came in with the dry, defrosted ice pack and the cardboard tray. Leave the empties out on your doorstep the next time you are expecting a delivery.