Sometimes you’re busy and it’s hard to think of meal-prepping or grocery shopping, right? How easy would it be if there was a company that delivered delicious local foods and meals right to your door? Oh wait, that’s what 9 Miles East does!

9 Miles East describes themselves as “Local food for busy people” and that’s perfect, because it is (they should add the word delicious in there too). The name comes from the fact that they’re “9 miles east” of Saratoga, in Northumberland. They use their farmed ingredients, paired with other local ingredients to create these delicious meals that you can have delivered to your front door.

I had the opportunity to enjoy the “Summer Meal Mix.” Each week you would receive meals each week in a cooler delivered to your front door. Then, the following week, you leave the cooler outside and they’ll come and pick it up and leave you with a new cooler.

Inside my cooler I had the chance to enjoy some GoBox salads which were incredible. The flavors in these salads tasted like they were from a fancy bistro or overseas. The complexity they created in simple, local ingredients was the best part for me. I enjoyed:

• Casbah- based in flavors of Moroccan cuisine, it included high-protein quinoa and chickpeas, organic carrots, sunflower seeds, parsley, and a spice-infused Middle Eastern vinaigrette. Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free. Also available in Pro and Paleo versions with high-quality chicken.
• Ambassa-  spiced sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, tomatoes, organic black beans packed with antioxidants, sunflower seeds, and a gluten-free wild rice blend over organic baby greens. The vinaigrette dressing is pure sunshine. Vegan and gluten-free. Also available in Pro and Paleo versions with high-quality chicken.

Then, I had a few Ready-to-Heat meals. Each of these meals were not something I would have had time to create myself. It was so nice to be able to just go into my fridge and take them out and heat them up was amazing. Even though I waited a couple days to eat one of them, it still tasted fresh like it was just delivered. The beef barley soup was also great to freeze! The dinners I tried were:

• Mexican Chicken Plate Dinner to GO– roasted and chili-crusted chicken at the center, surrounded by the fresh veggies including sweet peppers & corn, onions, tomatoes and garlic black beans. Served over fiber-rich whole-grain rice. Gluten, soy and dairy free.
• Beef Barley Soup– made with grass fed beef, season veggies, and barley. The organic pearl barley literally scrubs cholesterol from your body. Vegetarian version is made with a mushroom veg stock. The mushrooms minimize cancer risk. Soy and Dairy Free.
• Italian Basket– Roasted mushrooms and squash served with quinoa and Italian spiced chickpeas. Topped with a vegan Bolognese sauce. Pro version includes antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken braised in olives and tomatoes. Gluten, Dairy and Soy Free.

Think of how much money you spend on fresh groceries and then, you have to take the time to make everything and put it together. $89 provides nine prepared meal servings plus a rotating specialty item, a dozen pasture-raised eggs and a bag of fresh veggies from the farm. The vegetables they delivered were so great. There’s something different in the taste of locally-grown vegetables versus just picked from a store, I can’t explain it but it’s better.

Next, 9 Miles East is also planning a restaurant in Saratoga, according to the Times Union. After being a vegetable farm for 15 years, they’re expanding to a 40-seat restaurant on 64 Excelsior Ave in Saratoga Springs. They have the plans, they just need help with the funds to get there. As the Times Union describes it, “Coffee, grab & go breakfast, weekend farmers’ market brunch & lunch, & alternative grain baking program. Great coffee, great wifi, no rush until table service starts at 5 p.m.”