28 November 2024

Meet the family bringing quality food from local farms right to your door

| Morgan Kenyon
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family on farm

Farm Door Riverina works with suppliers across regional NSW to share nutritious, delicious, ethically sourced meals with families around the country. Photo: Farm Door Riverina.

When this husband and wife team took on a small ready-made meals business in 2016, they never imagined it would blossom into a thriving farm-to-table venture fuelled by passionate local producers.

Having both grown up around good food, Zoe Lamont and Frank Coorey always wanted to start something together that would promote vital nutrition to everyday families in an accessible, authentic way.

What they came up with is now known as Farm Door Riverina. It began with a team of three, which is now 30-strong, working from a custom-built commercial kitchen and packing facility 10 minutes outside of Wagga.

“We have always been super passionate about where our food comes from, so it’s super exciting to be in a position to promote good, nutritious food as its own form of medicine,” Zoe says.

“What you eat nourishes your body, mind and soul, so it’s super important to make sure you’re putting the right fuel in, so to speak.”

Every meal is cooked from scratch using individual ingredients with no added preservatives, colours or flavours. Even the gravy is derived from a family recipe with a base of homemade stock.

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Improving accessibility is a big passion point for these foodies. Zoe says with stress and anxiety levels remaining high and caregiving responsibilities, burnout and loneliness on the rise, her family’s mission is to ensure sustainable, nutritious food is available to everyone.

“Every meal is packed and shipped from our Wagga site, which means no supermarket giants acting as the middle man and jacking up prices for the end consumer.

“We don’t supply major supermarkets. Our food can be ordered direct to your door, picked up from Farm Door freezers in local pharmacies or accessed through community programs such as Meals on Wheels.”

The third piece of the puzzle is Farm Door’s commitment to regional farmers, crafters, artisans and producers.

“We source locally from smaller-scale regenerative growers passionate about the health benefits of chemical-free produce, as well as improving soil health and carbon capture for future generations,” Zoe says.

“This means fresher food, fewer food miles and more of our Australian farmers making a fair living from their hard work.”

Within a short drive of the family’s farm, the team can pick up barrels of olive oil, locally farmed beef and lamb, buckets of seasonal strawberries and locally made cheese. They source their pork, eggs and chocolate a little further afield, from surrounding towns including Cootamundra and Junee.

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The team has just launched its Christmas menu, featuring seasonal roast veggies, strawberry pavlova, homemade gravy, roast turkey with homemade stuffing, and delicious Murray River Smokehouse ham and trout.

“This Christmas, we would love to have more families feeling confident that their roast meat, veggies, sides and desserts come from local farmers who care about their health, happiness and wellbeing,” Zoe says.

“We eat our own meals every day, and as busy parents, being able to get home and have a meal ready in 10 minutes that would usually take an hour to cook is absolutely invaluable.

“It gives us more time to connect and enjoy good food as a family. That’s what it’s all about in the end, isn’t it?”

Home delivery is available across the Riverina, Canberra, Sydney and Central Coast regions, their surrounds, and into regional centres including Albury-Wodonga, Coolamon, and Junee.

Frank and Zoe’s next step is to expand the Farm Door offering to include food and wellness experiences such as pop-up long lunches on the farm – watch this space.

Keen to serve up a world-class Murray River Smokehouse ham this Christmas? Get your orders in at Farm Door Riverina before Sunday, 8 December, to avoid missing out!

Region readers can access a special discount at checkout using the code REGION30. Minimum spend $75.

Original Article published by Morgan Kenyon on Riotact.

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