My confinement meals review - Tian Wei, Natal Essentials, Richfood, Chilli Padi
As I did not engage a confinement nanny or maid to help with my confinement period, I thought to cater meals so that my mothers from both sides will not have so much to do.
I am glad I did it.
It's difficult enough to plan a nutritious meal every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 1 whole month. Plus, you would have to use ingredients that can replenish blood for the mother and cook them with ginger and also come out with different recipes. My mother only prepared my breakfast and yet, ended up running out of ideas and cooked the same food for me every day. There can only be so much porridge or mee sua with fish, eggs and pork that I can take.
Confinement meals are more expensive than normal tingkat meals as it is expected that there will be more herbs and nourishing ingredients used. One meal is around $30 for confinement meals while normal 2 dish + 1 soup delivery is around $5 per person. Thus, it is definitely important to choose a tasty and nutritious confinement caterer.
These are the caterers I have tried:
1) Tian Wei Signature (28 days double meals - $1,688) - Most variety caterer. I am very impressed that they have a wide variety, not just on dishes but also on the types of rice. From barley millet rice to pumpkin rice, you can choose from 8 different kinds. Not just that, they also have some western confinement meals from Week 3 onwards to keep you excited. Like Coq qu vin, seared salmon with quinoa, kurobuta pork and grilled chicken, how very appetizing! I have written a more detailed review here.
2) Natal Essentials (28 days double meals - $1,699) - Most nutritious caterer. They have the best soups and their meals are less oily too. Their meals were quite delicious but they have very limited vegetables options. I kept having spinach with ikan bilis and I felt quite sick of their meals going into the second week. Some note worthy dishes include fried rice, lean pork with black fungus and pig's trotters.
2) Richfood catering (28 days double meals - $1,529) - Most tasty caterer. They have the best pork dishes and longan red date soup. However, their sheng hua soup is really bitter. I can say that their dishes are quite delicious because it is more oily and salty. Some health conscious mothers may not want that. A point to note is that they are cheapest among these 4 caterers. Their note worthy dishes include pork ribs with pumpkin, grilled salmon and braised sliced fish with potato.
3) Chilli Padi (28 days double meals - $1,678) - Most healthy caterer. They have the healthiest menu because most dishes were quite bland and less oily. Some of their fish options were quite fishy but overall, it was still good. The disadvantage was that the dishes came in washable tingkat but it is also their advantage as the food can be kept warmer. I would rather not have to wash the wares though. Some note worthy dishes include steamed salmon, home made bean curd and stir fried asparagus.
Confinement is already difficult enough, meal times are what I can look forward to. If I have a second child, I would definitely just go for Tian Wei for the variety and taste.
I am glad I did it.
It's difficult enough to plan a nutritious meal every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 1 whole month. Plus, you would have to use ingredients that can replenish blood for the mother and cook them with ginger and also come out with different recipes. My mother only prepared my breakfast and yet, ended up running out of ideas and cooked the same food for me every day. There can only be so much porridge or mee sua with fish, eggs and pork that I can take.
Confinement meals are more expensive than normal tingkat meals as it is expected that there will be more herbs and nourishing ingredients used. One meal is around $30 for confinement meals while normal 2 dish + 1 soup delivery is around $5 per person. Thus, it is definitely important to choose a tasty and nutritious confinement caterer.
These are the caterers I have tried:
1) Tian Wei Signature (28 days double meals - $1,688) - Most variety caterer. I am very impressed that they have a wide variety, not just on dishes but also on the types of rice. From barley millet rice to pumpkin rice, you can choose from 8 different kinds. Not just that, they also have some western confinement meals from Week 3 onwards to keep you excited. Like Coq qu vin, seared salmon with quinoa, kurobuta pork and grilled chicken, how very appetizing! I have written a more detailed review here.
2) Natal Essentials (28 days double meals - $1,699) - Most nutritious caterer. They have the best soups and their meals are less oily too. Their meals were quite delicious but they have very limited vegetables options. I kept having spinach with ikan bilis and I felt quite sick of their meals going into the second week. Some note worthy dishes include fried rice, lean pork with black fungus and pig's trotters.
2) Richfood catering (28 days double meals - $1,529) - Most tasty caterer. They have the best pork dishes and longan red date soup. However, their sheng hua soup is really bitter. I can say that their dishes are quite delicious because it is more oily and salty. Some health conscious mothers may not want that. A point to note is that they are cheapest among these 4 caterers. Their note worthy dishes include pork ribs with pumpkin, grilled salmon and braised sliced fish with potato.
3) Chilli Padi (28 days double meals - $1,678) - Most healthy caterer. They have the healthiest menu because most dishes were quite bland and less oily. Some of their fish options were quite fishy but overall, it was still good. The disadvantage was that the dishes came in washable tingkat but it is also their advantage as the food can be kept warmer. I would rather not have to wash the wares though. Some note worthy dishes include steamed salmon, home made bean curd and stir fried asparagus.
Confinement is already difficult enough, meal times are what I can look forward to. If I have a second child, I would definitely just go for Tian Wei for the variety and taste.
Jes
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Jes,
ReplyDeleteAll of sudden, I'm so glad to be a guy :)
Hi Jared,
DeleteTruthfully, I want to be a man for my next life. Haha. You guys have it so much easier...*roar*
hi Jes
ReplyDeletecongratulation. it is always good to have own baby. i want to have baby also can not.
Hi Yeh,
DeleteSorry to hear that. Perhaps you can try adoption. Hope you are doing well anyway!
Just wondering, do you attend prenatal classes? If you have, would you like to blog about it. :)
ReplyDeleteHi LKH,
DeleteI did not attend any prenatal classes as the information online and details given by Mount Alvernia are sufficient for me. If you have any queries, I will try my best to answer them for you :)
So what did you do to pass the time during your confinement period?
ReplyDeleteHi Creed,
DeleteTo be honest, it has been pretty boring. I can't do many things because it would be frequently disrupted by baby's cries so I am pretty much glued to my mobile phone... tv series and books kept me sane :) Don't know how people previously get by without a hand phone last time!
I am totally disappointed in Natal Essential service. Janice even have the cheek saying that you all have 13 years of experience in confinement food. She were telling me that due to customer pool this time round where they request to have lesser ginger and sesame oil, so our meal have to follow suit as well. This is not fair to us and on our perspective, this should not be the way to do business. So if your customer pool request for spicy or more salty, do we have to follow suit and get this kind of unfair treatment as well? Having paid thousand over for confinement food, I would expect to find something decent and the food turn our the same as economic rice we get in hawker center. Confinement food is there to help recondition mother's body. Can't even tell if there is any sesame oil or ginger at all. Yes, there is ginger as we can see ginger slice and other than that, the taste is not there at all. It was more like a garnish than ingredient.
ReplyDeleteJanice also keep using T&C to put me down and she told me that they gotta void out the early bird discount that I am entitled to whereas the T&C doesn't even stated that the early bird discount will be voided if service is terminated. The most ridiculous this that I find is where she say that the refund would only take place when her boss come back from leave. So if her boss gone for a long leave of 6 month or whatsoever, do I have to wait so long? 13 years of service and they does not even have a proper account department to handle cheque issuing etc? This just tell that Natal Essential is saying whatever is to their benefit when it is not stated in T&C and when it come to their benefit which is listed in the T&C, they will use it to put their customer down. They have all the say. We got no right to say anything in a sense.
Hi there,
DeleteSorry to hear of your complaints and I know the last thing in mind during confinement is to have headaches about confinement meals. Good that you share with us so others will be aware of these issues.
Anyway, coming from a business owner, the refund process and paper work do take some time. If there is only 1 boss and he/she is on leave, it's very likely you can't get back the money because the approval/signature has to come from the boss. Hope you have gotten back your money and all the best in motherhood!