SupperWorks is a wonderful, clean and welcoming place for do-it-yourself meal prep.
When you first arrive, staff will introduce themselves, give you a tour and offer you a coffee or tea (or water). You’ll get a clean white apron to protect your clothes.
During your booked session you rotate around various stations. Meal fixings are pre-washed and chopped and organized for you at stations dotted throughout SupperWorks.
Each station has been set up for one of that month’s meals.
You assemble the ingredients together, following a simple step-by-step recipe posted at that meal’s station to make a full meal for fridge or freezer. Staff offer lots of help, should you have questions. And they clean up after you, spraying down the station and wiping up any spills.
If you don’t have the time or are not fond of doing it yourself, you can have the SupperWorks team make your meals for you. You can pick up from SupperWorks or have your meals delivered.
How To Do-It-Yourself Meal Prep
- Book a “session” (date, time) on the online calendar at least 72 hours in advance (so they can order in the ingredients).
- You can pay extra to have your meal choices made for you by the staff
- Or, you can go to the store to pick up any pre-packaged frozen entrees in-stock at that time.
- Beef, pork, chicken and vegetarian choices are typically on the menu each month.
- Select 6, 9, or 12 meals from a changing monthly menu.
- Each meal contains 6 servings.
- Smaller families or couples can request “splits” – halves – when you order. This means the meat would be divided into two meals of 3 servings each.
- When you make up a split meal, you add the ingredients to 2 packages and freeze them separately.
It usually takes me about an hour to do 6 split meals (totaling 12 meals, really). It’s fun to do this with a friend or little helper, too.
Because this is do-it-yourself meal prep, you gain flexibility. For instance, if you like or don’t like certain ingredients you can choose to add more or not to add them to your meal. I tend to avoid green peppers, for instance, and add extra green onion or mango. If you have dietary restrictions (low sodium, no sugar), you can choose to not add ingredients and can consult with the staff to see if the recipe will accommodate the changes.
I tend to keep at least one fresh meal out for dinner that weekend. Then I freeze the rest of my meals. I pull them out of the freezer a few days in advance for our weeknight dinners.
The cooking directions are on a sticker you place on each meal package.
There’s little work to cooking them, whether stovetop, oven, gríll or crock pot. Most seem to be cooked within a 20-30 minute time period, with longer times needed for crock pot or casseroles.
Recently I made a grilled Jalapeno Lime Pork Tenderloin, where the marinade was heated on the stovetop to become a sauce for the finished pork medallions. So good. We also love the Flatiron Steak in this house.
At the end of your session, you wash your hands and drop off your used apron. The team will pack up your cooler or cooler bags. They check to make sure you got all of the meal parts (e.g., you didn’t forget the egg noodles). They even tuck in some freeze and bake cookies with my meal package.
If you stick around to decide what you’d like to order next month while at your session, they give you a discount for ordering in advance.
I’ve been going to SupperWorks off and on for many years now, and I have a friend who goes every month, like clockwork. I think do-it-yourself meal prep would be great for not only residents but for travelers to Toronto.
If you are a traveler renting a place with a kitchen and don’t have time or want to save money on restaurants, drop by and pick up a few pre-packaged meals and sides from SupperWorks. They even have smoothies and desserts, now.
You can order delivery through Skip the Dishes.
There are 9 locations in Ontario, including this Leaside store.
Here are some other spots you may want to visit in Toronto.
Enjoying since 2011
SupperWorks
105 Vanderhoof Ave #18, East York, ON M4G 2H1
+1 (416) 913-2881
