I don't always schedule meal plans. Sure, most weeks I order meals from my preferred meal-plan providers to make my nutrition easier and more convenient, however, sometimes my schedule is too erratic to ensure I'll eat all the fresh deliveries, which is where meal plans that are flash frozen, like Faba, come in handy.)
During these erratic weeks, I instead grab food from places in and around Singapore's CBD. The challenge is that most restaurants and takeaways in Singapore do not provide calories and macros on their menus, which means I have to spend an inordinate amount of time calculating them myself.
To make life simpler, I frequent the places that do provide calories and macros on their menus (mercifully there are some), which include:
Guzman Y Gomez (I love Mexican food)
Shake Farm (the pita pockets and protein bowls are great)
Haakon (the acai smoothie bowls are a great sweet-tooth cure)
SaladStop! (it's got some good options for plant-based meats now)
I'm certain there are more and I'd love to hear from you if you are aware of any I've missed that you recommend.
There is one place I keep going back to that is, in my opinion, a great balance of convenience, choice and easy macro tracking, and that's The Daily Cut.
Why The Daily Cut is great
Starting or maintaining a diet that is good for your body isn't rocket science. Use a macro calculator (free) or do a health screening (paid) to ascertain how many calories and how much protein, carbohydrates and fats you should consume daily. Consume a little more protein if you do a lot of heavy weightlifting, consume more carbohydrates if you do a lot of cardio or HIIT (a little less if you don't), and prioritise healthy fats.
Once you know what you're aiming for each day, places like The Daily Cut make the task of tracking your calories and macros easy by providing a calculator online that mimics their seasonal menu. As you select each ingredient, the calculator shows the nutritional information of each one as well as the total nutritional value of the meal.
The Daily Cut changes the items on its menu seasonally and most of the ingredients I've tried have tasted good with enough diversity to keep me going back weekly. I also appreciate that there are options for non-meat eaters with a choice of 2 fish (generally salmon or dory) and numerous vegetables (as well as tempeh).
The price is comparable to a meal plan with prices ranging between $12 and $20 depending on the size of the bowl you order (small, medium or large) and the premium ingredients you select (salmon or avocado etc.) They've also just launched a new rewards programme that gives you a 10% rebate on all food and drinks items, which works out to roughly 1 free meal every 10 meals – not bad!
Any downsides?
Honestly ... nothing significant, but if I were a pedant, which I totally am, I would suggest the following improvements:
The temperature of individual ingredients can vary from hot to hardly warm, which can impact the enjoyment of a meal. It would be great if this was more consistent.
The same can be said for the portion of ingredients you receive; a serving of fish or baked potato one day can be noticeably different from another.
I'd appreciate it if The Daily Cut staff didn't automatically put every takeaway meal in a plastic bag and instead only provide one if asked to do so.
I recall once seeing a poster in an outlet that showcased "Charlene Chew's favourite Summer bowl", which I thought was an awesome idea. It would be cool to see this community engagement occur more often, even if it was just posted on social media. In fact, on that note...
Try these combinations
After ordering from The Daily Cut so many times, I have a few favourite meal combinations that I can quickly "tick off" on a menu. I tend to only go for large bowls, but you can easily amend these to small or medium – feel free to try these next time you're there.
1. Root Fitness' high protein, low carb bowl (pescetarian)
642kcal, P61 C36 F28
2. Root Fitness' high protein, low carb bowl (vegetarian)
419kcal, P36 C42 F13
3. Root Fitness' vege roast bowl
539kcal, P23 C59 F27
Protips
You can double-up any ingredient by putting a "2" next to a tick box.
Don't get caught out by the dressings, which can add a huge amount of calories and fat to your meal. For example, there's a huge difference between rosemary olive oil (265kcal, P0 C0 F30) and a lemon wedge (8kcal P0 C2 F0).
For vegetarians: You can substitute a protein for 3 supplements, up to a maximum of 6.
If you'd like to keep up to date on the workouts I do and the meals I receive, you can follow me on Instagram.
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