Highlights
- Canadian & #1 in Canada
- Used them for 2 years
- Consistent quality
Bottom line
Named “Best Overall” on our list of the best meal kit services in Canada, Goodfood is a very convenient way to add meals that are healthy, tasty and easy to make to your family’s meal plan (or lack thereof) without having to spend time picking recipes, finding ingredients or thinking what’s for dinner?
- Variety
- Convenience
- Packaging
- Experience
Recommendation
Named Best Overall on our list of the best meal kit services in Canada, Goodfood is a very convenient way to add meals that are healthy, tasty and easy to make to your family’s meal plan (or lack thereof) without having to spend time picking recipes, finding ingredients or thinking what’s for dinner?
Quick overview
- Consistent experience: Delivery, freshness and tastiness are as expected each time
- Add-ons galore: Drinks, pastries, coffee and appetizers available at the click of a button
- Giving back: For every box sold, they donate a school meal for a child in need
Pros
- Tasty, feel-good meals
- Great customer service
- Free delivery
Cons
- Deliveries aren’t guaranteed
- Some minor recipe repetition
- Limited vegetarian options
What is Goodfood?
Goodfood is a Canadian meal kit subscription service that delivers pre-measured, fresh and seasonal ingredients and simple recipe instructions directly to your home so you can make tasty, well-balanced meals for your family. They are Canada’s #1 meal kit and deliver over 1,000,000 meals every month across Canada.
Where is Goodfood available?
Goodfood delivers in every province across Canada except for Newfoundland.
Goodfood plans and pricing
Goodfood offers Easy Prep (quick to make), Low Carb, Vegetarian, Family (more people, lower price per serving) and Classic plans. The plans are all in the $9 to $14 range per serving and get cheaper as you increase the number of servings per box or if you remove meat from the equation.
Delivery has been free for us since we started with the service in 2018. It is listed as $5.99 on the invoice but discounted to $0.
| Basket | Number of people | Dinners per week | Price per serving | Cost per week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Basket | 2 | 3 | $11.16 | $66.96 |
| 2 | 4 | $10.04 | $80.32 | |
| 4 | 2 | $10.56 | $80.48 | |
| 4 | 3 | $10.30 | $123.60 | |
| 4 | 4 | $9.66 | $154.56 | |
| Clean15 (Low Carb) | 2 | 3 | $14.41 | $86.46 |
| 2 | 4 | $13.38 | $107.04 | |
| 4 | 2 | $13.38 | $107.04 | |
| 4 | 3 | $12.87 | $154.38 | |
| 4 | 4 | $12.55 | $200.85 | |
| Vegetarian | 2 | 3 | $10.13 | $60.77 |
| 4 | 2 | $10.04 | $80.34 | |
| 4 | 3 | $9.27 | $111.24 | |
| Family | 4 | 2 | $10.04 | $80.34 |
| 4 | 3 | $9.87 | $118.45 | |
| 4 | 4 | $9.01 | $144.20 |
Variety
As you can see below, Goodfood offers approximately 9 meals in the classic plan, 7 in the low carb plan, 7 that are labelled easy prep (pre-cut ingredients), and 3 in the vegetarian plan to choose from every week. They recently updated and improved their online interface to make it more faster, more responsive and much easier to find the category you’re looking for.
There are only 3 vegetarian options available each week, so there are no choices to make and you’ll get what they have prepared each week. I personally don’t mind not having to remember to log in and select options and we enjoy the ‘surprise’ of seeing what’s inside the box, but for some this might be too restrictive.
While recipes are occasionally repeated, they are almost always ones that we thoroughly enjoyed and were happy to have again and were likely highly rated by others as well. We found that some recipes are also very similar to those offered in the past, but with a different ‘spin’ on them such as a different spicing (eg. Moroccan instead of Mexican), dressing or sauces.
We find that more often than not, each meal is enough food to feed us both dinner and save a single slightly smaller portion of leftovers for lunch the next day.
While I haven’t tried any of them, they offer a wide variety of add-on snacks, appetizers and groceries including breakfast smoothies, bagels, turnovers, coffee beans and cold-pressed juices:
For those who are even more crunched for time than I am, they also offer ready-to-eat meals such Mexican Beef Chili, Chicken Fattoush Salad, Butter Crusted Cheddar Quiche and even a fully cooked BBQ Half Chicken.
Convenience
You can make your picks for up to the next 4 weeks and add an additional meal (or more) or 2 additional services of an already selected meal to your next delivery at any time up to the deadline of Wednesdays before 11:59pm (EST) for deliveries on Sundays to Wednesdays. Saturdays before 11:59pm (EST) for deliveries on Thursdays and Fridays.
The recipes are straightforward and all you need are to provide from your own pantry things like salt, pepper, your favorite type of oil and the odd egg.
Meal prep times range from 15 to 35 minutes and I’ve found that the times are accurate if you’re focusing on efficiency and pushing to the finish at a swift pace. However, its important to note that this does not include oven preheat time, so if you have an electric oven, you’ll have to remember to start preheating early if you want to meet the expected time.
I prefer to move at a steady and relaxed pace and it usually takes a bit longer. Some recipes require a few stages using the same pot or pan which while they save on dishes to do, I find take a bit longer than the estimates.
The typical recipe requires 1 pot and 1 pan, though it ranges from 1 pot (eg. curry) to a pot, pan and a sheet pan (eg. Spicy Peanut Tofu Bao Buns which is one of our favourites). Calorie counts range from 500 to 1000 per serving.
Their recipe cards are high quality and printed on thick 8.5×11″ card stock. The images are clear and the step-by-step instructions are straightforward and easy to follow if you’re an inexperienced chef. While they do not have an app, all of the recipes are also available on their website.
Packaging
Goodfood comes in a sturdy cardboard box with two thick, reflective inserts to provide insulation. The box has sat on our porch in the summer heat (not in direct sunlight) for a couple of hours before and the freezer packs were still partially frozen.
The ice packs are a combination of water and sodium polyacrylate (a non-hazardous super-absorbent polymer (SAP) that has the ability to absorb 100 to 1000 times its mass in water) which allows them to be cooler than ice when frozen and stay frozen longer.
Once thawed, they suggest pouring the solution into the toilet (but I’ve read that this could cause plumbing issues, so it’s probably best to pour it into the garbage) and then recycling the plastic casing. They include more freezer packs during the summer months to make up for the heat.
Fresh spices and some vegetables come in small plastic containers and liquids such as cream, and pesto come in right-sized plastic bottles to give you only as much as you need for the recipe. These can be rinsed and recycled or reused to store other sauces or dressings.
While this is a lot of packaging, studies have found that meal kits have a lower over overall environmental impact than grocery store meals thanks to a reduction in trips to the grocery store and there being less waste because the meals are pre-portioned.
Experience
My wife and I have been subscribed to Goodfood since August 2018 and it’s been our reliable dinner fall-back plan when our days get too busy to think about what’s for dinner. It has saved us some money as we used to eat out much more often (we still order out when cooking for even 25 minutes sounds like too much) and improved our diets thanks to the wide variety of vegetables, grains and proteins and the aforementioned reduction in fast food intake.
In that time, there have been several occasions when we have received the wrong recipe card. This is not a big deal since the full recipes are available on their website. We’ve even saved a few of our favorites in our household recipe collection and made them for guests.
We’ve never had an issues with freshness or cleanliness – except for the cucumbers. On multiple occasions the cucumbers would go mushy before the end of the week. Goodfood does say that their food stays fresh up to a week after delivery. We solved this by eating meals that contain delicate greens earlier in the week before they become wilted or mushy.
I’ve also learned a thing or two in the kitchen thanks to repetition as there are common processes such as making sauces and dressings for pasta and salad, roasting vegetables in the oven and the general approach to curries, risotto and preparing tofu.
Customer service
I have only had to contact customer service once in the time we’ve been with them due to one of the meals being incorrect. The meals was supposed to be vegetarian, but we were sent a different one that included meat, but the meat was also missing from the box!
I reached out via email and their customer service responded within 24 hours, apologized, refunded 120% of the cost of the incorrect meal and asked for the serial number to ensure it wouldn’t happen again – and it hasn’t!
They experienced a significant increase in popularity at the beginning of 2020 due to people not wanting/being able to go to the grocery store (you can probably guess why) and their communication throughout this period of growth was top notch. They sent out weekly updates throughout touching on topics like hiring 300 employees for a new fulfillment centre, what the current response times were for support requests and when there were supply chain issues for certain ingredients and what the substitutions would be.
However, during this time there were 3 weeks in a row that were bumpy to say the least. The first week we were informed on the day of delivery that there was no box coming due to supply chain issues. The next two weeks after that we were informed – again the day of – that our box was going to be a day late and it arrived the next day.
While not catastrophic for us, I think day-of notifications and missing groceries are completely unacceptable as some of their customers likely rely on them as their primary source of food/groceries.
So, what does a week of Goodfood look like? I won’t hold anything back – here are the full results including my prep times, taste, fullness and expectation vs reality in the looks department (I did my best with the plating and photos, but I’m not a professional).
Tomato, Corn & Basil Risotto
- Prep time: 25 min.
- My prep time: 25 min.
- Calories: 770 kcal
- Nutrition: 37 g fat (13 g saturated), 94 g carbohydrate, 10 g sugar, 4 g fibre, 17 g protein, 960 mg sodium
This dish was filling and made enough for a small portion for lunch the next day. It involved quite a bit of cutting, but fresh corn off the cob always tastes better. The “zesty” herb spicy blend didn’t taste like much, we ended up adding quite a bit of salt and pepper and cayenne to bring out the flavors.
The highlight of the dish is of course the parmigiano reggiano crisps that add the sharp flavor of baked cheese with an almost chip like crispness. They are also super simple to make. Just spread tablespoon-sized mounds into a thin, even layer on a sheet pan with parchment paper and bake for 5 minutes at 450 degrees celcius.
Farmers’ Market Quinoa Bowls
- Prep time: 25 min.
- My prep time: 25 min.
- Calories: 810 kcal
- Nutrition: 49 g fat (12 g saturated), 70 g carbohydrate, 17 g sugar, 13 g fibre, 28 g protein, 1030 mg sodium
Filled with superfoods such as quinoa, radishes and kale – this was a hearty, high-protein vegetarian meal. It is quite simple to replicate as all the ingredients are readily available so we added it to our non-goodfood recipe rotation. The meal had a lot of satisfying crunch and felt fresh and healthy. The roasted garlic & sweet Pepper spice blend brought the flavors together nicely.
Spicy Peanut Tofu Bao Buns
- Prep time: 35 min.
- My prep time: 45 min.
- Calories: 990 kcal
- Nutrition: 47 g fat (7 g saturated), 70 g carbohydrate, 22 g sugar, 21 g fibre, 35 g protein, 1080 mg sodium
This recipe has been offered about 3 times since we started using Goodfood and is still one of our favorites. It is not the simplest option as it involves a sheet pan, 2 rounds of pan frying and a stovetop steaming setup for the buns so it always takes me longer than the stated time. The wait is worth it though. The softness of the bao buns is contrasted by the crisp cucumbers and crunchy roasted peanuts and the sweet and spicy mayonnaise keeps you wanting more (there were no leftovers).
Contact information
You can cancel your subscription at any time by live chat or phone during business hours.
Phone: 1(855) 515-5191 Mon-Fri 8AM-8PM, Sat-Sun 9AM-5PM
Email: chef@makegoodfood.ca
Customer reviews
Leave a review
If you’ve used Goodfood we’re interested to know your thoughts. How long have you been with them and what do you think about their quality, freshness and customer service? Let us know by leaving a review below!
Terrible
5 out of 10 deliveries were so wrong, I had to contact support. However, every delivery did have an issue. The worst was getting two of the same meals in one box, but the protein for another meal, wrong proteins all together, missing ingredients, I had one box come where my tilapia wasn’t sealed properly so it came out, was all over the bottom of the box and obviously destroyed, I’ve had deliveries on the wrong day, missing boxes, literally anything you can think of going wrong did and will go wrong if you try it.
Delivery doesn’t come
Good food – the food is actually great! We’ve been getting boxes for the past 2 years. Unfortunately something must have changed recently as we haven’t received 4/5 boxes in the last 5 weeks!!! And when I complain I get pictures of my box at CLEARLY not my house (address number in the pictures that are not my address). I hoped it was just a few mix ups but when it’s happening week after week?! Even when I did get my one box an entire item was missing. Customer service did refund but offered no other help or incentive to stay. Super inconvenient when you have meals planned through their service and they don’t show up. Very disappointed.
Forceful business to sell their service – STAY AWAY, Do not trust them
I signed up two weeks ago, my 1st order that included some coupon discount was not received on the 1st order. So, I thought they do not want to honor the coupon and did not send it although that night they screwed my dinner plan. Next week, I received an email that they selected on my behalf some food that we do not even eat (beacon and pork). They sent the email passed the cancellation date, so I could not change or cancel that order. This is really a CHEESY way of business. I am not sure how far they can go this way.
Too many errors and no accountability
A lot of packing mistakes and no accountability. They have a phone number and when you call it, the recording says the lines are closed.
Terrible service
Absolutely terrible food service. They charged my credit card without my consent for food I didn’t order, claiming it’s a “subscription service”, but did not send any receipt or any confirmation of order. When I complained, they said they could issue a credit for future orders, but you have to maintain your subscription in order to do that, and there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t expire after a few months. Customer service was a joke. Chef’s plate is much better.
What to read next
Over to you
We’re interested to know – do you currently use a meal kit service and if not, what concerns do you have about Goodfood? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
