Cooked with care: Farm Door Riverina’s range of ready-made meals use ingredients sourced from local producers. Photos: Farm Door Riverina.
It could very well be in the gravy, laughs Zoe Lamont.
Made the old-fashioned way with stock and all those yummy juices from the meat, it’s flavour-filled proof of the care and passion that goes into Farm Door Riverina’s ready-made meals.
“People say to me, ‘Oh, this tastes just like the roast I used to make’,” she says.
People like the elderly man from Chinchilla in Queensland who emailed to say he hadn’t enjoyed a proper meal in four years before he discovered their frozen meals available at the local pharmacy.
Now he’s eating at least one decent meal every day thanks to Farm Door Riverina.
Feedback like this warms the souls of Zoe and her foodie husband Frank Coorey, who took on a small business based just outside of Wagga in 2016 with a shared vision to create delicious, nutritious and convenient meals using locally sourced ingredients.
The venture, which has grown primarily through word of mouth, now produces more than 15,000 meals a week with a team of 40 full-time and casual staff working in a custom-built commercial kitchen.
But for Zoe and Frank, this is about so much more than what’s dished up on the plate.
Ensuring healthy, home-style food is accessible to all, including the most vulnerable members of the community, forms part of their over-arching mission. It’s why they are particularly excited about an ever-expanding partnership with independent pharmacies across Australia offering subsidised meals to eligible NDIS and Home Care Package (HCP) clients.
In much the same fashion as a Streets ice-cream freezer at the local cafe, meals are available from specially branded Farm Door freezers at more than 200 pharmacies in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT, according to Zoe.
“We even recently installed one on Thursday Island,” she says.
“Customers come in to the pharmacy for their Webster packs or other medications and can pick up a nutritious meal at the same time (or have them delivered).
“It’s awesome because the pharmacies involved look at this as a preventative health measure. We know food is medicine and we also know having access to affordable ready-made meals can help people stay independent for longer.”
Pharmacists work with plan managers and care providers to organise subsidised meal-plan options with clients paying 30 per cent of the cost up front.
The menu is expansive and enticing – ranging from roast lamb and corned silverside to butter chicken, beef stroganoff and lasagne, along with dessert and soup options, using ingredients from local producers.
Farm Door Riverina’s Zoe Lamont and Frank Coorey say their family’s mission is to ensure sustainable, nutritious food is available to everyone. Photo: Farm Door Riverina.
Wagga’s Southcity Pharmacy was one of the first to jump on board; it now has up to four Farm Door freezers in store and delivers meals daily to customers.
Assistant retail manager Sarah Ward, whose role includes liaising with Home Care Providers and NDIS support and care co-ordinators, says there are currently about 30 HCP and NDIS clients accessing Farm Door meals through their pharmacy.
“It’s great to be able to offer nutritious meals in store, especially to elderly people living by themselves, and the feedback is really positive,” she says.
“I think because it’s all freshly made, it locks in the flavours and everyone comments on how nice the meals taste.
“I actually take them home and eat them myself on nights when I don’t feel like cooking – I like the chicken schnitzel!”
Sarah says one couple in their late 70s has been getting Farm Door meals through the pharmacy “for quite some time”.
“The man is an ex-farmer and is the full-time carer to his wife with dementia,” she says.
“He comes in to get her medications and picks up meals, which really takes the pressure off and it’s helped them remain in their own home.”
Interestingly, it’s not always a case of more meals being sold in bigger towns.
“Braidwood sells more meals per month than there are houses,” Zoe says.
“It’s the pro-active pharmacists that have close relationships with their customers and the local support workers and providers … that’s why this is just such a beautiful arrangement.”
She believes their passion for producing authentic food – just like Grandma would have made it – is evident in every bite.
“People can taste it,” she says.
If you are interested in whether you or a loved one are eligible for meal subsidies through a HCP and NDIS package, find your nearest Farm Door stockist and pop in or call. Your local pharmacist can contact your provider for approval.
For more information visit Farm Door Riverina.
