My fantasy life, and this is probably going to be a lot more disappointing than you’re thinking, involves morning strolls through a street market like the Left Bank’s Rue Mouffetard, collecting ingredients for that evening’s dinner and pausing for a fresh croissant and a warm cup of coffee. I melt a little just thinking about it. Such an unhurried, serene existence is a luxury I’ve not yet acquired, but the market-fresh meals are available even if I’m not the one doing the shopping thanks to Methodology, a premium healthy-food delivery subscription service.

Chefs prepare seasonal menus daily with 10 unique meals each week and a variety of mix-and-match items. Every meal is ready to eat and takes more than a few minutes to assemble or prepare, but far from mere convenience fare, Methodology provides healthy food for any diet, including vegan, dairy-free, and paleo. 

The meals are built around seasonal fruits and vegetables, pastured meat, wild/sustainable seafood, nuts, and seeds. There are is no refined sugar, gluten, canola oil, hormones, antibiotics, or processed ingredient of any kind. Grass-fed ghee is the only form of dairy used. They’ll even accommodate a variety of food allergies. 

Ingredients are sourced locally from the cities in which the company operates, which currently includes the whole of Southern California, as well as San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, with plans to expand. Meals are packaged in leakproof, microwave-safe containers and the mix-and-match items are sealed in glass jars that are picked up, dropped off, sanitized, reused and recycled, for a nearly zero-sum waste result. 

Customers create their own orders, with food options beginning at $6. Nothing on the menu costs more than $17. Recent options included blueberry turkey sausage & scrambled eggs served with brussels sprouts and sweet potato hash for breakfast; and lunch/dinner options like lemon pepper seabass with pistachio “parmesan” zucchini, and red radish or Za’atar pastured chicken breast, citrus green beans, date-roasted carrots, with turmeric tahini. 

You can even use the ingredients to supplement your own meals. I added probiotic pickled onions to my not-yet-world-renowned filet mignon street tacos and I threw a grass-fed beef slider patty and microgreens onto a brioche bun from my favorite bakery. See what I mean? 

Until the time comes when I can spend my morning constitutionals leisurely acquiring such ingredients, I can at least enjoy finding them already waiting for me on my doorstep. That’s ain’t too bad.