Plant-Based Meal Delivery: Erica’s Meals
I first ran into Erica’s Meals (also Erica’s Eats) at the Playground Market in Braam. I immediately gravitated to the stall because love tacos and plant-based meals. Besides being active at markets around Joburg, Erica’s Meals offers a convenient and delicious food delivery service.
The plant-based meals are available fresh or frozen. As you’re preparing for a busy week ahead, pre-ordering your meals sounds like the perfect way to reduce the stress of figuring out where to eat and when to order.
The menu is available on Instagram on the “how to order” picture (linked here).
Erica’s Meals Menu
Erica’s dishes give me a feel of home-style meals with a twist. There is a large variety of options from soups and salads to curries, savory pies, and even Asian favorites like fried rice. There are four menus to choose from: fresh, frozen, soup, and dessert.
The dishes are around R60, and I think it’s a total steal for the goodness you’ll receive.
This is how the food arrived; a mix of fresh and frozen items that was about 4 meals (with some supplements at home) worth for 2 people.
Fresh menu
I had a really difficult time choosing what plant-based meals I wanted to order and went wild the first time. So many things look good from the bobotie, roast and glazed tofu, fried rice… In the end, I decided on the gnocchi with marinara sauce with chorizo-style “meat” balls, the mushroom, leek, and nut pie, and the noodle curry.
Wow. That’s really all I can say. I devoured the “meat” balls and the gnocchi was fresh and delicious. The noodle curry had a great kick to the sauce as well.
The pies came fresh and unbaked—this was great because I was too full from eating all the pasta to eat anymore. I saved the pies for lunch the next day and baked them 180° C for about 25 minutes. That day, I messaged Erica to ask her about how to bake the pies as I don’t usually bake, haha. I got a quick response and advice!
Frozen menu
The frozen menu option is perfect for preparing to have a lazy week. You can order several dishes and just pop them in the microwave for lunch or dinner. Besides the famous chili “non” carne taco filling, you can also order interesting dishes like Thai green curry, dhal curry, and buttery bean curry.
I ordered the West African okra and plantain curry and ate it the evening after I ordered it. It was so good! I love okra and plantains but would not have made this combo myself. It was flavorful and so easy to pop into the microwave for a couple of minutes. To complement the dish, I made a quick couscous and some leftovers. Easy dinner in 10 minutes!
The Asian Baozi buns (filled with smoky cabbage or cashew creamed spinach) and Vietnamese crispy rice paper rolls sound perfect to keep in the freezer for snacks.
Soup Menu
There are several soups that will warm you on the chilliest of Joburg nights with combos that’ll make you excited to be having soup for dinner. The red masala and peanut pumpkin soup sound like a serious winner, though I was going through a Tom yum soup craving at the time. We received the soup frozen and let it sit on the counter to defrost before heating it up in a pot—we added some ramen-style noodles to the soup but it’s great as-is too.
Dessert menu
Order silken tofu chocolate cups, raw vegan pecan pie, pistachio and cardamon cake, and other delicious combos.
The Ordering Process
Ordering is done through WhatsApp. I found the process very straightforward. Check out the menu on Instagram and then place your requests. Payment is then completed through a yoco link.
There are two ordering cycles in a day. If you order by 10am, you’ll get lunch delivered at 1pm. If you order by 3pm, you’ll have dinner delivered starting at 5pm.
Deliveries are available within 10km of Melville for R10, included in your yoco payment. If you’re beyond that, orders will only be accepted for orders over R750.
WhatsApp directly at +27812479203.
Erica’s Eats at the Playground
For absolutely incredible tacos in person (which you can also order fresh), you can visit the Playground in Braam on Saturdays. It’s my favorite stall and I always get 3 tacos to myself (and more if I have to share).
Have you tried the deliciousness of Erica’s plant-based meals? Let me know in the comments!