The meal you collect on Friday should still be excellent on Tuesday. Not acceptable — excellent. Getting there is partly about how we cook, and partly about how you store the food once it’s with you.
Here’s the complete guide, by food type.
Braised mains and curries
These are the most durable dishes in our range. A well-made braise or curry, properly refrigerated, will keep for 4–5 days without any meaningful quality loss. In many cases it actually improves between day one and day three, as the flavours develop.
What to do: Transfer to an airtight container if you’re not keeping it in the original packaging. Let it cool fully before refrigerating — putting very hot food straight into a fridge raises the internal temperature and affects other items nearby. Reheat gently with a splash of water or stock added; see our piece on reheating for full guidance.
Freezing: Almost all of our braised dishes freeze well. Portion into individual containers, cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight; don’t defrost at room temperature.
Grain and lentil bases
3–4 days refrigerated. Grains and lentils absorb moisture as they sit, which changes their texture slightly but doesn’t make them unsafe or unpleasant. When reheating, add a little water and stir — they’ll loosen up.
What not to do: Don’t freeze cooked rice that’s already been in the fridge for more than a day. Rice is safe to freeze when it’s freshly cooked and cooled quickly, but not after it’s been sitting for a day or two.
Salads and grain bowls with dressing
These are the most time-sensitive dishes we make. Eat within 1–2 days. Once a grain salad has been dressed, the acid in the dressing continues to soften the grains and wilt anything green. If you want to extend the life of a grain bowl, keep the dressing separate until you’re ready to eat.
Fish dishes
1–2 days, and eat them sooner if you can. Fish doesn’t hold as well as meat-based dishes and the texture changes meaningfully after 48 hours. We’d always suggest eating fish dishes on the day of collection or the day after.
Reheating fish: Use the oven at 150°C, covered with foil, with a tiny splash of water in the container. 10–12 minutes is usually enough for a portion from the fridge. Do not microwave fish on full power; it creates uneven hot spots and toughens the proteins.
Soups and noodle dishes
3 days. Store noodles and broth separately if possible — noodles absorb liquid and become soft quickly. Reheat the broth on the hob, then add the noodles to warm through briefly rather than cooking them again from cold.
A note on dates
The dates on our labels are conservative. They’re based on the earliest point at which we’d want you eating the food, not the point at which it becomes unsafe. Your nose and eyes are good instruments — food that’s turned has very clear signals. Trust them, but trust the label first.
When in doubt, freeze it on the day of collection. A dish frozen fresh is almost indistinguishable from one eaten fresh. A dish that’s been in the fridge for five days before being frozen is noticeably different.