Five a day is being made fresher by local farmers

A LOCAL couple who were won over by a small meal delivery service made the ultimate show of support and bought the business.

Lisa Billingham and her husband Dave own a sheep and crop farm in North Bendigo and bought Fresh 5 in April of 2020 when Ms Billingham was searching for a new business to occupy herself with.

“I thought, well this is a good outlet, it’s a great business and we were eating it already,” she said.

Fresh 5 seeks to provide weekday meals to people living in Bendigo and surrounding towns.

“I just thought that it had a really good mantra as well,” she said. “It’s not necessarily about macros or the FODMAP or anything, that’s for those people, this is just good food for people who want to eat delicious.”

Recent studies have found that most adults are eating less than the recommended five servings of vegetables a day, a statistic that is higher in regional areas.

Even though she was raised vegetarian and understands how to get enough nutrients, Ms Billingham said the meal delivery service helped her improve her health.

“When comes to nutrition and feeling better, I think I felt better instantly because I actually don’t enjoy to cook, so I would end up getting take out or eating Saladas and Vegemite,” she said.

One suggested reason for lower rates of fresh vegetable consumption in regional areas is less access to fresh produce, but Ms Billingham said she thinks it has more to do with the time it takes to prepare homecooked meals.

“When it comes to fruit and veg, we have some really good shops and suppliers within Bendigo,” she said.

“I think it’s more to do with time poor, you know it’s not even about ability because anyone can follow a recipe.

“It’s really about what you value and for me it was not only the dislike of cooking but just the time itself.”

Customers of Fresh 5 can order a week’s supply of freshly cooked meals to be delivered to their door at the start of the week.

Ms Billingham said they prepare all the meals at their commercial kitchen in East Bendigo from locally sourced produce and wherever possible, sneak extra veggies into the dishes.

“When you eat a really good meal that’s full of veggies and proteins, you feel fuller for longer,” Ms Billingham said.

“Veggies are actually really, really cheap, when you look at the bulk that you get, carrots for instance I think we pay a dollar a kilo for carrots.

“Rather than using preservatives or things like that or things to make it glitter and colourful, we just use vegetables.”