Healthy Lunch Delivery Review: Food Matters

We’ve been reviewing various healthy meal deliveries in the Klang Valley and we’re super excited that more and more options are cropping up! While checking out this scene in Malaysia, one of them caught my eye. Their business name speaks of the truth. It’s called Food Matters. How true indeed! What’s unseen is usually what’s important. One solid case will be what’s happening inside our body. That’s why the food we eat matters!

I was privileged to try out 6 meals prepared by certified nutritionist Alexandra Prabaharan, the key person behind Food Matters. Prabaharan’s great at coming up unique flavours or ways of transforming the food that we normally eat into healthier versions! Check out their menu. It boasts over 40 dishes to choose from! Asian. Fusion. Western. Vegetarian. Low Carb. Low Fat. Gluten Free. You name it, you’ll probably get it.

Specific days have specific menus. Trust me, you’ll be licking the screen and wished you could pick them all! But we can’t have everything, so let’s just talk about the lunches I picked:

Greek Salad with Couscous

The delivery was smooth. I was notified when they were on their way. Was super excited to check out my food and they didn’t disappoint me at first impression! Check out their professional and clean design packaging above. I liked their encouragement – “Eat Fresh. Look Great Everyday”.

On every box was a simple description of the meal, a picture of it, including calories and nutritional content. Perfect for those who are taking note of their calories. Great for anyone who’d love to monitor their daily nutritional needs.

What’s in the box: Couscous, chick peas, raw olives, raw capsicums, garnished onions and parsleys. Topped with crumbled feta cheese. (Calories: 454)

Taste: Flavourful is the word to describe this dish. Never expected couscous salad to be so refreshing! Couscous itself doesn’t have much flavour. So what you cook with it determines whether you make it or break it. I must say Food Matters nailed it. A good balance of savoury, sweet and sour flavours from all its ingredients. The combination of capsicum cubes, couscous and chickpeas also gave a good blend of tender and crisp in one bite. The olives added a good dose of juiciness to the combo too! Never loved a salad so much before!

Verdict: Eating clean has never been this fun! The portion was rather generous. So much so that I had to save some for snack time. It’s a healthy meal packed with raw vegetables. You could try making it at home, but all that chopping would probably bore you to tears.

Soba Noodles with Seaweed and Chicken

What’s in the box: Soba noodles tossed in soy sauce. Topped with teriyaki skinless chicken breast and seaweed. Sprinkled with sesame seeds. (Calories: 311 kcal)

Taste: It’s a simple dish. The noodles were tossed in a right amount of soy sauce so it didn’t taste overly salty. Chicken breasts were cooked to tender. The sesame seeds added a touch of crunchiness alongside the seaweed.

Verdict: Overall, it’s a simple healthy meal. The soba noodles are low in calories. There’s a good amount of seaweed to supplement my fibre intake. Good thing is this dish is best served cold. So you can keep it for dinner! Note that the seaweed will be a little soggy though when kept too long.

Falafels Served in Pita with Garlic Mint Yogurt

What’s in the box: Falafels made from chick peas, mixed with garlic mint yogurt, wrapped in warm pita. Served with a side salad. (Calories: 304)

Taste: My first time tasting falafels and they make a really great vegetarian meal! It was like a party of flavours in my mouth after a bite! I believe they had blended the chickpeas with a healthy amount of spices. The garlic mint yogurt was great complement to the falafels. It added a refreshing taste, aroma, and moistness to the whole meal. Bonus points for using whole wheat pita to give me an extra boost of fiber!

Verdict: This is not a meal that I’d make at home everyday, so I was really glad to try it. Would definitely reorder this again. Also, the portion was enormous for me. Check it out below when I laid it on a standard sized plate. I had to keep the other half for dinner. One falafel was about 7cm in diameters and there were two of them!

Smoked Salmon Pesto Pasta

What’s in the box: Cold pasta packed with smoked salmon and fresh veggies. (Calories: 409)

Taste: I’m a lover of pesto, but not the creamy ones. So I was really glad this wasn’t! However, the flavour of the pesto didn’t really stand out. I personally felt it could be stronger (maybe it’s my mad cravings for pesto). But then again, I assume if the pesto was too strong it might have overpowered the flavour of the salmon. Plenty of veggies, good for those who rarely load up on their greens. The meal had a good amount of smoked salmon slices to go with it.

Verdict: This meal was decent. Nothing that wow-ed me off my chair. It did not really disappoint me either. It felt like an everyday dish. It’s a simple hearty meal that I’d willingly and gladly finish! Best part is it can be kept cold to be served later for dinner.

Moroccan Meatballs with Couscous Pilaf

What’s in the box: Meatballs made with lean ground beef served with a light couscous pilaf and mint yogurt dip. (Calories: 412)

Taste: Couscous was tasty especially when they mixed it with dried cranberries! They added an ingredient that immediately made me gave them a high score – my fave cashew nuts! Cashew nuts have plenty of health benefits and they are expensive! The addition of it totally broke the monotony of the mundane couscous life (couscous are bland and nothing amazing in texture). Let’s talk about meatballs! They were super juicy and tender! Not to mention, HUGE. Again, Food Matters never failed to impress me with their mint yogurt dip. Looks like it goes well with the dishes they picked. For the best experience of this scrumptious meal – scoop a small portion of meatballs, mix it with the mint yogurt, add some couscous, and savour them in one mouthful. Not only is it a blast of flavour, I felt like it was a balanced meal in my mouth. It’s like I literally sensed all macronutrients in it – carbs, fats, protein!

Verdict: I gobbled this meal up instantly! Okay to be honest, my tummy was crying out of hunger too. Definitely will reorder this meal again. Everything was splendid. Though the picture in their website showed three meatballs and they gave only two, it was more than enough for me.

Tandoori Wrap

What’s in the box: Spicy lean chicken enveloped in a cooling mint yogurt raita and a dense capati. (Calories: 331)

Taste: Wraps! We’re bombarded with a lot of westernised wraps. So it was interesting to try a Tandoori Wrap! For those who love wraps and Indian spices – this is for YOU. This might be a turn-off for those who couldn’t really take spicy food. Fear not. Food Matters got it solved! Their solution was the yogurt, mint leaves, cucumber slices and onions! They gave a refreshing taste to the whole meal that balanced off the spiciness to prevent you from looking like this. Definitely a chewy meal, thanks to the thick capati and a good amount of chicken strips!

Verdict: Great meal for those on the run. If you need a healthy wrap with something less boring and more flavourful, try this! Now here’s a look into the wrap.

Overall

Hearty, simple, delicious, healthy food. Great for the body, mind and soul. Why would I say so? I definitely cannot deny the nutritional value that’s intelligently packed in all beautifully presented meals which are both good for my body and my mood.

Each and every meal arrived smelling real good, and made me feel like digging into it immediately. They made me smile. They made me feel good. They made me want to eat good food.

They definitely hit their goal of making healthy food absolutely delicious. Guess what is their other goal? It’s to make it affordable, which they really are! Average food deliveries range from RM 15 – RM 20. But at FoodMatters, if you subscribe to more meals a month, the prices could go down to only RM10 a meal, inclusive of delivery! Bonus: 14 days money back guarantee.

The Good:

On time free delivery.
Affordable subscription packages.
Over 40 healthy choices of dishes ranging from Asian to Western to Vegetarian. You’ll never get bored!
Prepared by a certified nutritionist who certainly knows what she’s doing.
Well-balanced meals that are flavourful and tasty.
Beautifully presented meals. Instagram worthy. Conclusion: It makes you feel like eating!
Clean professional packaging with calories and macronutrients’ content stated.
Food are all nicely cooked and well done. Nothing is too tough, too soft, too bland or too overly flavoured.
Very responsive team and passionate people.

The Not-so-Good:

Limited delivery coverage. This is quite common for most health food delivery services. We hope they get to expand soon. Check whether your office is situated within their delivery area by signing up for an account.
Ordering process can be better. You’ll have to sign up for an account first, it will direct you to their meal subscription page. Click “sign up” again for your desired package. Then you will be able to choose your date of delivery and meals.
Seems like they only accept Paypal for now as the check out page leads you directly to it. So if you don’t have one, get one now! It’s super easy!

How to Order:

Head over to Food Matters now and sign up for an account then select your preferred subscription meal.

Hop by their Facebook page to fulfill your need of mouth watering food pictures and videos!

p/s: Meals look really great when served on plates too!

Disclaimer: All healthy meals were sponsored by Food Matters.

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