What Katie’s eating in quarantine (aka food deliveries to Camden)

Hey everyone, how are you doing in isolation/quarantine? I started off self-isolating ahead of the official lock down due to having symptoms, which ended up being nothing, but required me to stay in. So how did I survive? Well some key food deliveries. plus my sister delivering some essentials. Since then I’ve relied on various food delivery services to avoid having to go to my local Sainsbury’s for a big shop. So here are some of the London based food delivery companies I’ve used and would recommend for Camden in North London.

 

What Katie’s eating in quarantine – food deliveries to Camden

While you can still order from most of your favourite take outs, it’s a lot healthier to order food to be delivered to cook at home. Here are some of the delivery services I’ve used:

• Mindful Chef recipe box
• Press London
• Crosstown Doughnuts
• Oystermen Shop
• The Cheese Truck
• Le Swine DIY bacon butties
• Ladies and Gentlemen cocktail delivery

Mindful Chef

I’ve been a Mindful Chef convert for ages. Their gluten free and healthy recipes just fit in with my, normally busy, lifestyle really well. I’ve tried a few other recipe boxes, including Hello Fresh and Gousto and even the Waitrose box (is that even still around?). Mindful Chef however is the stand out with recipes that take c.30 mins, are interesting, but not too complex. All the food is great quality and there is a fab selection of recipes on the menu every week, for meat eaters, fish eaters and vegans. Meals start from £5.25 for vegan options and you can choose based on price, cooking time, ingredients or calories depending on your focus.

Here are some of the meals I’ve enjoyed recently:

 

 

 

I normally get 3 recipes for two each week, which gives me 6 meals to eat, but not every meal for the whole week. Which is why I need to top up with other deliveries and also those that include essentials like milk, bread and eggs.

Check out Mindful Chef and sign up here:

 

Press London

Press might be better known for their freshly pressed juices and juice cleanses. However they have turned their hand to essential food deliveries and have a particular focus on vegan goodies. I ordered a box that included fresh salad, fruit, guacamole, bread from Gail’s bakery and Press vegan meals.

Some of the meals I’ve made:

 

 

Their selection of items is growing by the week, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the Press website. They even have a NHS gift you can purchase for £10 which provides 2 meals with drink and snack bar to NHS workers.

Delivery is free for orders over £50 and comes next day, check out their website here:

 

 

Crosstown Doughnuts

So obviously they deliver doughnuts, but they have joined forces with a few independent London operators to provide boxes of essentials. These are more realistically called crates! I got the Collective Box at Easter and they added Hot Cross buns instead of the Ciabatta. Included in the box are:

• 6 classic Crosstown doughnuts
• A Wide Selection of Fruit & Veg
• 6 x Cacklebean Eggs
• 2 x 2l Semi-Skimmed Estate Dairy Milk
• 1 x 250g Estate Dairy/Lescure Butter
• 1 x White Farmhouse Bread
• 1 x Round Rosemary Focaccia
• 1 x Campailou
• 4 x Half Ciabatta

 

 

Made from my veggies:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

This week is #chickpea week on #virtualsupperclubs! . I’ve promised everyone some vegan sour cocktails using the liquid from the chickpeas – but first lunch! I made baked sweet potato falafel inspired by @choosingchia . I didn’t have all the ingredients – but the recipe is quite forgiving, this is what I used: . 1️⃣ medium sweet potato (microwaved til cooked & remove skin – you can crisp that in the oven for cheeky crisps) 2️⃣ can of chickpeas (drain & rinse but reserve the liquid!) 3️⃣ spices – 1tsp cumin, 1tsp dried garlic, 1/2tsp dried chilli 4️⃣ herbs – fresh mint . Blend everything til smoothish and then scoop teaspoonful into balls and bake on a tray lined with baking paper for 30mins at 180 degrees flipping half way through. . I served mine with mixed leaf salad and tomato, cucumber and mint salad topped with pomegranate molasses (hello Waitrose!) and a tahini lemon dressing ? . If you want to join us for the #virtualsupperclub tonight at 7pm on Zoom then message @uksupperclubs for login details. I’ll be bringing these falafels and a cocktail! . #whatskatiedoingblog #lockdownlife #lockdowncooking #chickpearecipe #sweetpotatofalafels #sweetpotatofalafelsalad #cookingwithtins #storecupboardcooking #healthy #healthyeating #foodie #instafood #foodiegram #goodfood #EatLoveLust #getinmybelly #foodforfoodies #yummy #foodstagram #eeeats #foodpic #forkyeah #foodlove #stayhomesavelives

A post shared by Gin?| Travel✈️| Food? (@whatskatiedoing) on Apr 15, 2020 at 6:26am PDT

This box is £49.95 including delivery, and to be honest is a little large for one person! They have different sized box options and also vegan options. Check it all out on their website here:

 

Oystermen Shop

The Oystermen usually have seafood and dish available at their restaurant, but in the era of COVID 19 they are running at mini-market instead. Naturally you can order seafood and fish, but they also have a wide selection of wine, fresh fruit and veg and essential items. They deliver to certain London postcodes, including NW1 pretty speedily (next day or the day after).

I ordered king prawns, scallops, bacon, garlic, cauliflower, salad stuff, bread flower and Pinot Noir:

 

Check out their shop here:

 

The Cheese Truck

Being located in Camden the Cheese Bar isn’t far from and I’ve had many a melted cheese snack there.

 

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I had to share this lovely evening I had with @elmoore17 getting our raclette on at @thecheesebarldn in Camden’s Stables market. . The bottomless raclette night they ran meant that you could get refills of these plate fills of rosemary potatoes (divine!!), charcuterie and cornichons all topped by a molten layer of raclette cheese . Swipe ⬅️ to see the after shot and more pics from the night . As you can see the potatoes and cornichons defeated me on the third plate(!) ? I definitely had my fill of cheese by then too ?? . I had never been to @thecheesebarldn before but had clocked their cheese toasties from afar – I think I’ll be back to check out their impressive range of British cheeses soon! ???? . #cheeseisgood #raclette #bottomlessraclette #thecheesebar #london?? #whatskatiedoingblog #mysecretlondon #camdenmarket #camdenstablesmarket #stablesmarketcamden #britishcheese #foodie #instafood #foodiegram #goodfood #EatLoveLust #hackmyplate #getinmybelly #foodforfoodies @meal @dailyfoodfeed #yummy #foodstagram #eeeats #foodpic #forkyeah @food52 #foodlove @love_food #feedfeed @thefeedfeed

A post shared by Gin?| Travel✈️| Food? (@whatskatiedoing) on Mar 3, 2019 at 11:55am PST

They offer a delivery service from their Cheese Truck to various areas around London, with different areas on each day. I ordered the Big Boy, which was three specialty British cheeses and crackers for £18.50. They also have vegetarian cheese, charcuterie, booze and other essential items.

Camden delivery is on Mondays and you need to get your orders in by 5pm the day before. Check out their options and order here:

 

Le Swine DIY bacon butty

Le Swine do amazing bacon sandwiches from their restored Austin Morris ambulance. And now you can make these perfect sandwiches yourself at home. For £16 they will deliver the ingredients for 2 bacon butties including:

• Proper bacon
• Sage
• Duck eggs
• Milk buns
• Bacon butter
• Ketchup
• Instructions!

 

 

 

Check out my efforts here:

To order you need to fill out this form, they will send you a link to make payment and then deliver to you on the day for your area. Camden is Friday – so perfect to be prepared for the weekend! I’d recommend ordering ahead as the order process isn’t instantaneous.

Order here:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen drinks

A bonus non-food related item is my local five star dive bar: Ladies and Gentlemen . They now deliver pre-mixed cocktails, including the aptly named quarantini and freshly squeezed juice. You can order via deliveroo for local deliveries or email them before 5pm for deliveries after 6pm. They deliver on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Find out more here:

 

If you find any other good food deliveries then let me know!