Roast with vege is available for home delivery to Levin from next week.
Roast with vege is available for home delivery to Levin from next week.
A new delivery service of delicious home-cooked meals to Levin homes will start next week. Every Wednesday a refrigerated truck will be in Levin delivering the meals, which must be ordered the day before.
Capers Cafe on Broadway in Palmerston North is behind the new service, and it is something they have been doing for a while in both Palmerston North and Feilding. Increased demand out of Levin has been on their minds lately and they are finally ready to provide the service here.
Russell and Sue from Capers Cafe with a staff member.
Owners Sue and Russell said they would offer a range of 10 meals to choose from and these come in two sizes, original and small, as well as in family size, catering for four. “Special requests or dietary requirements can be catered for as long as we get at least 24 hours’ notice.”
Capers Cafe has been in operation for the past 18 years, the last 10 years on Broadway. Prior to that, they were Church Yard and Capers.
Sue and Russell said they had all the necessary checks and balances completed and the operation was approved by MPI.
This is how your meals are delivered to you.
“During the lockdown, we found that many people, especially the elderly, found it hard to cook meals themselves. So we decided to try a non-contact delivery service. They can pay online and pick up in the cafe or get them delivered. A number of Levin people get our meals delivered via family and friends who live or work here in Palmerston North, so we deliver to them and they deliver to the family members in Levin.”
The Russells said getting their food plan needed for this service was rather involved and expensive, but the service is fully certified by MPI and gets checked regularly by the council.
“We intend to deliver to Levin, to everyone’s door — so they must be home — on a Wednesday from March 20. Once we have a route or two worked out we can give an indication as to what time we will be at a customer’s house, so the food can go straight from our refrigerated trailer into their fridge or freezer.”
The service has been quite successful in Palmerston North and Feilding and the cafe staff prepare 1000 meals each week.
Some of your choices are: roast lamb with vege, chicken curry with rice, beef casserole with vege, sweet and sour chicken with rice, bacon and egg pie with vege, and mac and cheese.
The macaroni and cheese offering from Capers Cafe.
They also do deserts for $5.50 and shortbreads at $5.
Small meals cost $10.50 or $50 for five, original size cost $13 or $60 for 5.
Customers can order their meals in advance via Facebook, text, or phone.
The meals come with instructions on how to reheat them and are date stamped. For example, they recommend eating the meals within three days if left in the fridge, or freeze immediately for later use.
“Orders can be picked up from the cafe any day and for orders under $60 there will be a $5 delivery fee.”
Horowhenua District Council compliance manager Vaimoana Miller said councils are a co-regulator with the Ministry for Primary Industries, which sets the national food safety rules and regulations for all of Aotearoa.
“The rules set out that a food business is required to have a plan or programme in place to manage the food safety risks appropriate to their business.
“There are different plans or programmes depending on the services offered by a business and the risks associated with the activity.
“Food businesses are checked regularly to make sure they are operating within the plan or programme the business has in place, and when problems or discrepancies are identified the business is informed and given the opportunity to comply; a process called verification.”
She said the rules don’t prohibit chilled meals and meal deliveries, but anyone wanting to provide such a service must have the appropriate food plan for their business in place.
“Businesses that want to prepare chilled and frozen meals for the community (including the elderly) will need to check in with MPI because the food safety risks are greater for these processes.”
