If you’ve been reading HerCanberra for a while, you’ll know I love cooking. One of my favourite things to do is spend a day in the kitchen, lovingly preparing food for my family and friends.

But on weeknights? When I’ve had a long, hard day at work and the emphasis is on fuel rather than amazing flavours, not so much. So, the idea of coming home to a box of fresh, homemade meals waiting on my doorstep – enough to see me through the working week –  that’s my idea of heaven. And if I’m supporting local business at the same time, well that’s even better.

Happily for me (and you) this isn’t just a dream. Canberra Doorstep Dinners has made it their mission “to create and deliver good food for busy people”. It’s a cost-effective alternative to takeaway food, with every dish made with local, seasonal, high welfare ingredients.

Doorstep Dinners is the creation of busy Canberra mum, Victoria Dolphin. Like many of us, Victoria is balancing raising a family and running a household with work (she works part time as a paediatric nurse). She says the concept is a culmination of ideas that came from listening to friends and the families that she meets in hospital.

“I realised that families compromise on good food when they are busy. A mum working full time and picking up the kids from childcare at 6pm will head to drive-thru for a meal for the kids on the way home and then have scrambled eggs on toast for herself,” says Victoria.

“I hope that Doorstep Dinners will offer busy families an opportunity for convenient nutrition for the whole family and reduce the stress of having to prepare a midweek meal if it seems near impossible or just a colossal effort.”

Victoria says she is passionate about good health for families and really enjoys the experience of food that is lovingly made and shared.

“It’s easy to make a meal special if it’s packed full of wholesome, fresh ingredients and I hope that my meals can do a little bit to warm the soul as well as the body, especially at this time of year.”

So, how does it work?

Each week Victoria creates a menu, which is launched on the website on Sunday evening. Customers then have until 9pm the following Sunday to place an order. Then it’s all systems go to whip up the meals and deliver them to the hungry.

“I source all my ingredients and head to the kitchen on Monday and Wednesday, cook all day and deliver the meals fresh on those evenings (see the delivery schedule for details on when Victoria delivers to your suburb). The meals are not frozen meals – they are delivered fresh and require some level of preparation such as boiling some pasta, preparing some greens or creating a salad,” she says.

In an average week, the menu offers a selection of meals made over many hours in the kitchen (the many hours that busy people don’t have), including a pie or lasagne, a vegetarian dish, a red meat and white meat dish, plus a dessert option.

In the name of ‘research’, I’ve sampled quite a lot of Doorstep Dinners (I’ve been a paying customer since Victoria gave me some initial samples to review for the website). My favourites so far? Chicken, Bacon and Tarragon Pie (above right); Beef and Stout Pie; Sicilian Chicken (in the pot at right), Lamb Tagine (below right), and the Early Grey Chocolate Brownies (sorry, ate these before taking a pic).

This week I can’t wait to try the Lamb, Mint and Pea Pie  (I kinda like pies…especially when the pastry is homemade, not the frozen stuff I use to make mine).

“I like to cook dishes that take time, based on homemade stocks and long braising times to highlight the characteristics of the ingredients, as well as allowing time for meat to take on the flavours of the sauce. The reason for this is these types of dishes are not often made by the time poor person schlepping in from a hard day at the office to be greeted by a hungry family.”

As an unashamed devotee, it’s hard to say what I like most about the service…but if I had to name my top six reasons (sorry, couldn’t condense to five): (1) convenience, (2) the anticipation – opening the box is kinda like getting a parcel in the mail, (3) the quality and great flavours, (4) the detailed nutritional information (making it easy to make choices if you’re counting calories), (5) it’s flexible for families – if there are young kids at the dinner table, you just need to indicate on your order if you’d like the meal diced smaller than usual. and (6) the value for money.

Prices range from $8 for a kids’ serve, to around $34 for four adult serves. At an average of $20 for a meal for two people (with an extra dollar or two for the sides you make yourself), Doorstep Dinners may not seem a ‘cheap’ option. But I’ve done the sums and I reckon they stack up well. I would be hard pressed to make a Beef and Stout Pie for under $21 by the time I’ve run around buying the ingredients and spent several hours cooking it.Plus, not having to think ‘Oh God, what am I going to make for dinner tonight?’ is priceless.

And it’s also a price-competitive and nutritious alternative to takeaway foods. As a quick comparison, a Crust pizza for two will cost you between $21 and $24; one dish from Timmy’s in Manuka will cost you between $17 and 23 (and you realistically need more than one to feed a couple); and a pasta from Belluci’s will cost you between $21 and $25.

As Victoria says, “it’s a great service for busy families to order weekly, or for people who may just need a little extra help with meals for a short time, such as mums with newborn babies just out of hospital, anyone experiencing ill health or convalescing, or perhaps for people that travel for work or may have a partner away for extended periods.

“Sometimes it’s easier to collapse on the couch with a premade meal, a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate after you have trundled the kids off to bed than to think about cooking!”

Amen, sister!

Please note: This is not a sponsored post. Doorstep Dinners provided initial samples for my family to review, however, since then I have been a paying customer and devotee.