Your Guide To Meal Delivery Services In South Africa

Let's face it the work week will surely take it out of you eventually, sitting in traffic or taking public transport in South Africa is enough to drive you your blood pressure. After eight hours of dealing with your lovable but often unproductive colleagues, you call it quits for the day, but that doesn't mean your work day is over.

You have to now deal with afternoon traffic and South African radio DJ's laughing at their boring jokes, while you to pick up the kids, get out to the gym or sit down to process the day over a beer or coffee.

If these tasks aren't energy sapping enough you still need to purchase groceries and get supper started. If this cycle sounds all too familiar and taxing, then it is because its the routine of many busy South Africans. Thankfully it doesn't have to be your routine for very long.

Meal preparation and food delivery companies have seen this routine as an opportunity for disruption, by allowing ordinary South Africans to skip the grocery queue, viewing Pinterest recipe ideas and having meals conveniently delivered making meal times a breeze.

Food preparation and meal delivery services in South Africa

1. Daily Dietition

Daily Dietitian is a personalised health orientated meal delivery service which delivers gourmet meals and snacks tailored to your unique dietary restrictions, using the highest quality ingredients. You can have your meals delivered or you can pick them up yourself at a location in your city.

Service areas: Cape Town, Johannesburg & Pretoria

Check out the Daily Dietitian for yourself: https://dailydietitian.co.za

2. Daily Dish

Daily Dish started in 2013 and born out of the frustration with the last-minute dash around the crowded supermarket after work and bored with the same old meals and sad take-outs every week that we decided to do something about it. They are one of South Africa's first weekly meal kit delivery service for people who relish the convenience. Daily Dish will deliver to your home or office.

Service areas: Cape Town

Check out DailyDish yourself: https://www.dailydish.co.za

3. DayToDay

DayToDay is an ingredient and recipe delivery service, with an edge. The menus are designed by chef Gino Pedres with a fresh menu developed each week using free range and locally sourced ingredients. According to DayToDay, their customers save 182 minutes and R320 per week; leaving you time and money to spend elsewhere on more enjoyable activities.

Service areas: Cape Town, Johannesburg & Pretoria

Check out DayToDay yourself: https://daytoday.co.za

4. Doorstep Chef

Doorstep Chef is a convenient and healthy way to feed you and your family by delivering delicious meals, which have been made that day, straight to your doorstep. They provide ready-made meal plans for a range of family sizes, dietary restrictions and deliver all over the Cape Town metro.

Service areas: Cape Town

Check out Doorstep chef yourself: https://www.doorstepchef.co.za/

5. Fuel Foods

Fuel Foods focuses on healthy meal options they focus on the healthy food niche and are ideal for those who need help with meal preparation and portion control. Their creative meal plan keeps things interesting so won't go boredom binging and ruin your work in the gym.

If you love their service you can also hire Fuel food for catering and events.

Service area: Johannesburg with a standard delivery range of 15 kilometres but can be extended for an additional fee.

Fuel Food also have pick up locations around Johanessburg

Check out Fuel Foods for yourself here: http://www.fuelfoods.co.za/

6. FitChef

A meal prep service for the slimmer and the gymer. FitChef is one of the most versatile meal prep services out there. They create smoothies, meals, snacks and more so that you can focus your energy on the other aspects of your fitness journey, like gymming and resting.

Service areas: All provinces except Limpopo

Check out FitChef yourself: https://orders.fitchef.co.za/

7. I Health Meals

Health Meals was founded in 2009 and delivers fresh, nutritionally balanced meals and meal plans daily. They are constantly evolving and researching the best nutrition to make sure clients do not feel they are ‘dieting’ but having delicious meals according to their needs. They offer various meal plan options such as Paleo, Banting, Mediterranean Weight Loss, Balanced, Fitness and Body Extreme Meals. We are Halaal certified.

Service areas: Cape Town & Johannesburg

Check out I Health Meals yourself: http://www.ihealthmeals.com

8. The Flying Pan

The Flying Pan is all about serving great food and providing a convenient and fuss-free experience. They maintain a simple food philosophy and combine a straightforward approach with creative flair to deliver memorable food experiences.

If you love their service you can also hire them for corporate or wedding catering.

Service areas: Cape Town

Check out The Flying Pan yourself: https://theflyingpan.co.za/

9. Ginger Apple

Ginger Apple was stared by a group of foodies that live for fresh ingredients, perfect pairings, event catering, home-cooked (and delivered) meals and culinary consulting. The offer daily cooked meal options as well as order to freeze options.

Service area: Johannesburg and Pretoria

Check out Ginger Apple for yourself here: http://www.gingerapple.co.za/

10. MyMealGuru (Site is down)

MyMealGuru does your meal prep for you so that you’re not stuck filling Tupperware with chicken, veg and rice to eat for a week straight. MyMealGuru design meals for those who want healthy eating to fit into their lifestyle but don’t have the time. They make the meals, package them in travel-ready containers and deliver them fresh to your door.

Check out MyMealGuru yourself http://www.mymealguru.co.za/

11. Pantry Box (Site is down)

Pantry Box is an online ingredient delivery service launched by Michelle Nadine Ballot and James Ballot in 2014. They offer customers pre-portioned and packaged ingredients in the exact quantities required along with step-by-step recipe cards, which guide customers to prepare the food themselves.

Check out Pantry Box for yourself: http://www.pantrybox.co.za/

12. Plated

Plated believe that healthy living should also be a convenient lifestyle and this philosophy governs their business model and customer promise. Plated offers a range of packages suited to various individual or family needs. Their meal plans cover everything from fitness, to vegetarian and even banting.

Service areas: Gauteng & Cape Town

Check out Plated yourself: https://www.plated.co.za

13. Served Fresh

Served Fresh is a Johannesburg-based startup launched in 2009 by Bridget Van As and Robert Hope. They originally started as a healthy meal home and office delivery service catering for people looking to lose weight or are only looking to lead a healthier lifestyle. Interested customers subscribe to a meal plan best suited to them on the website, after that they start receiving meal deliveries.

They offer healthy meal deliveries to for low-fat, low-gi diet individuals who are always on the go. 

Service areas: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Richards Bay.

Check out Served Fresh for yourself: https://www.servdfresh.co.za

14. Simply Fresh Foods

Simply Fresh Foods delivers great tasting, healthy meals and help you control your budget. They offer a convenient solution for people who are too busy to shop or cook every day. All the meals are freshly prepared daily and conveniently pre-packed so that meals can be reheated in the microwave by just removing the lid.

Service area: Pretoria and Centurion

Check out Simply Fresh Foods for yourself here: http://www.simplyfreshfoods.co.za

15. UCook

UCook has made waves since it was launched in 2014 by Christopher Verster Cohen, Klaudia Weixelbaumer and David Torr. This online startup is based in Ucook is based in Cape Town but services three major cities. Ucook gives clients who love food but don’t have the time to search for recipes, and run to the shops, an opportunity to cook and enjoy gourmet meals. They offer soft subscriptions which mean there is no lock-in and customers can pause and resume their subscription at will.

Each week, nine nutritious meals are crafted by a team of chefs then posted on their website. 

Service area: Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban

Check out UCook yourself: https://ucook.co.za/

16. We Are Food

We are Food is a family-run proudly South African business, providing marvellous home-style meals for your freezer since 2013. They cook up delightful dishes from their kitchen in Durban and offer deliveries as well as meal collections.

Service area: Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban

Check out We Are Food yourself: https://wearefood.co.za/

Occasional meal delivery services

If you don't like the idea of committing to a week or a month worth of meals or delivered ingredients would only use meal delivery services on the odd occation then I would rather you opt for the standard meal delivery service and pick meals from a range of restaurants in your area. South Africa now has three major players in the fast-food and meal delivery space.

1. UberEats

While it is very much part of the Uber platform, UberEats is a separate application that you will need to download in order to use. Once you have it installed you will have access to a food delivery service on your Smartphone. UberEats gives you the opportunity to browse local restaurants and fast food favourites and promises tasty food at uber-fast speed.

Check out uberEats for yourself: https://www.ubereats.com/en-ZA/

2. Mr D Food

Mr D has been around since 1992 and has been helping lazy South Africans not miss a moment of the rugby ever since. Mr D is part of the larger TakeAlot group and with its backing now delivers from over 2500 restaurants and services over 1900 suburbs across South Africa.

Check out Mr D Food for yourself: https://www.mrdfood.com

3. OrderIn

OrderIn is South Africa’s most affordable food delivery app that allows you to order food from hundreds of restaurants around you.

Check out OrderIn for yourself: https://orderin.co.za/

The three compete fiercely against one another so if you're a smart consumer you'll play this to your advantage and use the vouchers they supply for first time trails or loyalty and get a discount on your meal delivery

Protip! If you're a culinary creator or enjoy sharing your meals on social media why not give your posts an extra kick by using trending food hashtags

Tell us your fast food story

Have you used any of these meal delivery services? Which one was your favourite and why? Are there any South African meal delivery services you feel should be added to this list? Let us know in the comments or contact us

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Tags: Food delivery