Chefx: Cool New Ottawa Service That Will Make A Chef Outta Ya!

A = I like shopping local. It feels good to me. Same for eating locally grown food.

B = I don’t enjoy cooking. Hubby does; but he knows first-hand that it gets tedious to feed a family every night.

A + B = Chefx

Here’s how it works, according to the Chefx website:

“Each week, local chefs plan creative, seasonally-inspired recipes our partner farmers and producers supply the finest locally available ingredients; our kitchen team conveniently portions everything out and packs it up in an environmentally-friendly cooler box; and our delivery drivers bring it right to your door!

So say goodbye to the stress and hassle of meal planning and grocery shopping, and the frustration of missing or wasted ingredients. Embrace a better lifestyle, and discover your inner chef!”

And here’s how it worked for us when our family tried Chefx:

Everything arrives beautifully packaged — it really does make you want to cook! You know how on those cooking shows, the chef has everything all prepped and perfect looking, well, that’s what it feels like to make a Chefx recipe. They literally supply everything … as you can see in the photo, there’s eggs from a local poultry farm, all of the vegetables, sauces in portioned and sweetly labelled containers, and even the meat was supplied. There was no last minute scramble to the grocery store to hunt around for some never-used-before ingredient.

The recipe that we received was a Japanese recipe called Okonomiyaki, from local chef Chloe Berlanga. It is kind of hard to describe, but it’s basically a cabbage omelette/pancake fried with vegetables, pork, and seafood. I asked a friend who lived in Japan for more than a decade and married a Japanese man if she knew of this food. “Oh yes! We make it all the time!” She explained that it literally means “Everything we love – Fried.” In addition to the okonomiyaki, we were also provided with the ingredients for a sweet pea, radish and arugula salad.

Hubby and I loved every last morsel of this recipe. All of the ingredients were so fresh and it was so fun to eat something totally different — something that we likely would have never tried without the help of Chefx.

Pros:

• Fresh, local ingredients
• Everything portioned and delivered right to your doorstep
• The price of $59 (for two different meals) is reasonable and the portion sizes are generous
• The provided recipe is easy to follow, with clear step-by-step directions
• Breaks up the standard repertoire of meals and introduces something new
• The people behind the company are friendly and helpful

To Consider: (normally, I list “pros” and “cons” in reviews, but I don’t have an cons for Chefx)

• The meal prep (45-60 min) is likely longer than you’re used to on a weekday evening. (Simply ensure you plan for doing this meal when you’ve got time to enjoy the cooking process. The boxes are delivered on Sunday, which is perfect if you like to have a nice sit-down Sunday meal at your home.)
• The recipes are just a tiny bit too adventurous for our children’s palates (but this might not apply to every family, and would not necessarily apply to all Chefx recipes). My daughter, who is 11, loved the salad, but not so much the okonomiyaki. My son, who is 5 and quite particular, was a lost cause.

In Summary:

Would I recommend Chefx to a friend? Absolutely! (In fact, I already have!) I think it’s a smart business idea and the team seems to have what it takes to follow-through and make it a real success. If you’d like to try Chefx for yourself, check out their website here.

Disclosure: I received no monetary compensation for this post. I did, however, receive a delivery box (value = $59) at no charge in order to review the service. (Do you read these disclosure notes? Do you like them or prefer I just leave them out?)