When Bianca Monley first launched Eat Fit Food, she was a 22-year-old trying to get a healthy meal plan service off the ground in 2002.
Fast-forward 15 years and Eat Fit Food counts the likes of Hugh Jackman and Miranda Kerr as fans and has more than 51,000 followers on Instagram.
Life has changed a lot for Bianca, now 37, since she first set out to make her pipe dream a reality.
When Bianca first dreamed up Eat Fit Food, she was merely cooking for a few friends in her Sydney apartment.
Bianca Monley (pictured) reflects on her 15 years running Eat Fit Food, which she started in 2002 when she was just 22 years old
The healthy meal delivery service has grown from an idea born in Bianca’s Bondi kitchen to a program that delivers 10,000 meals across Sydney and Melbourne a week
She had no business experience and zero funding, doing everything from the cooking to the driving to keep it up and running.
It took 10 years for Eat Fit Food to finally begin making a profit, but it has only been going up since.
‘When I started the business, there were no other companies delivering premium, fresh healthy meals daily,’ Bianca told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We helped pioneer the industry that exists today.’
Eat Fit Food really hit its stride three years ago, and now serves 10,000 meals a week in Sydney and Melbourne.
‘It’s been an incredible few years,’ Bianca said.
It wasn’t until 10 years in business that Eat Fit Food began making a profit, as Bianca began when there were no other companies delivering premium, fresh healthy meals daily
But now both the demand and offerings for healthy food has grown. To keep up, Bianca said she is constantly diversifying what Eat Fit Food has to offer
‘We’ve seen significant growth in sales, which has allowed us to diversify our product offering as well as expand our geographic footprint in Sydney and Melbourne.’
That includes introducing a variety of new programs like the three-day Vegan Reset, which Bianca said was inspired by her own customers.
‘We received impassioned feedback to develop healthy, plant-based, and nutritionally sound options,’ she said.
Eat Fit Food now also offers cleanses for five, 10, or 20 days that are free of wheat, gluten, dairy, and red meat and meant to reset eating habits.
That includes offering a variety of programs like the three-day Vegan Reset that Bianca said was inspired by her own customers
Bianca revealed they were designed to ‘clear out stored toxins, built up chemicals, or any other inflammatory disease-causing agents that have made a home in our digestive system’.
‘By adding rich, nutrient dense foods into your diet and removing the heavy processed foods, your body will regain a new sense of energy and a reconnection to a more youthful rested you,’ she added.
Bianca first developed the concept for Eat Fit Food for Australians who had little time to waste but still cared about the nutrition of the food on their plate.
And she believes that healthy meal delivery services will continue to see ‘rapid growth’ as people’s desire for eating clean continues to grow.
‘With our lives only becoming busier, consumers are continuing to look at ways they can free up their time from must-do chores to focus on more productive activities,’ she said.
‘That’s where we step in. Our aim is to be the most premium, fresh, healthy option available to consumers nationwide.’
Bianca has plans to expand Eat Fit Food nationwide in the next two years, and has recently partnered with The Foodary by Caltex to distribute healthy grab and go options to make her food ‘more accessible to the wider community’.
And with Christmas on the way, Bianca was happy to share with FEMAIL some of her go-to holiday recipes that are light but still delicious.
Eat Fit Food also now offers cleanses for five, 10, or 20 days that are free of wheat, gluten, dairy, and red meat and meant to reset eating habits
And with Christmas on the way, Bianca was happy to reveal some of her go-to holiday recipes (all pictured) that are delicious but packed with health benefits
When it comes to the classic Pavlova, Bianca swaps out the cream for organic coconut yoghurt – which keeps it refined-sugar free and can still be enjoyed by guests who can’t have dairy or lactose.
Along with fresh berries, she also adds mango and passion fruit to give the traditional Australian dessert a ‘tropical twist’.
For an easy main dish, Bianca suggests cooking up whole green prawns with some garlic, oregano, parsley, and lemon zest.
The recipe is a quick and simple addition to the seafood platter, with plenty of healthy benefits to offset the pies and puddings.
PAVLOVA WITH PASSION FRUIT, MANGO AND BERRIES
When it comes to the classic Pavlova, Bianca swaps out the cream for organic coconut youghurt, which keeps it refined-sugar free and can still be enjoyed by guests who can’t have dairy or lactose.
Bianca swaps out the cream in her Pavlova for organic coconut youghurt, which keeps it refined-sugar free
Cook Time: 2 hours Serves: 10
Ingredients
6 egg whites
1½ cups unrefined sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp arrowroot
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla powder
Pinch of salt
Topping
2 passionfruit
1 cup berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries)
½ mango, chopped
2 cups coconut yoghurt
Method
1. Preheat oven to 120°C. Draw a 20cm circle on baking paper.
2. Whisk egg whites, vanilla & salt to soft peaks. Add sugar gradually in small batches. Ensure sugar is dissolved by rubbing some meringue between fingers. Add remaining pavlova ingredients and mix well.
3. Pour pavlova mixture onto the baking paper, and shape to the width of the circle.
4. Once preheated, reduce oven temperature to 100°C. Place pavlova in oven, and after 15 minutes reduce temperature to 80°C. Cook for a further 1½ hours. Once finished, open the over door leaving the pavlova inside, and allow to cool overnight.
5. 15 minutes before serving, spread the coconut yoghurt across the top of the pavlova and garnish with fruit.
‘Prawns are very low in calories and provide a wide spectrum of minerals including iodine, which is essential for normal thyroid function and metabolism,’ she added.
And Bianca even finds a way to sneak some health benefits into her Christmas ham, which she cooks with oranges, maple syrup, cinnamon, and ginger.
‘The warm, scented flavours of cinnamon and ginger are so strongly associated with the festive season, but a big bonus is that they both have wonderful health benefits too,’ she said.
‘Cinnamon can help to regulate blood sugar levels and ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory.’
While building Eat Fit Food brought numerous setbacks over the last 15 years, Bianca wouldn’t have had it any other way.
‘A big thing I have learnt is to never compromise on the quality of your product,’ she said.
‘Stick to what you believe in and build a brilliant team of like-minded people who complement each other.’
CHRISTMAS HAM WITH ORANGE, MAPLE, AND MUSTARD GLAZE
Bianca even finds a way to sneak some health benefits into her ham, which she cooks with oranges, maple syrup, cinnamon, and ginger and is gluten, dairy, and refined-sugar free.
Bianca sneaks health benefits into her ham by adding ginger and cinnamon
Cook Time: 2 hours Serves: 10+
Ingredients
8 large oranges
4 tsp of orange rind
4 tbsp maple syrup
6 tbsp of seeded mustard
2 cloves
2 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp of ground ginger
1 cup of water
Ham
5kg leg ham
Method
1. Peel and chop the oranges into rough pieces. Place them in a saucepan with the remaining glaze ingredients and bring the mixture to the boil. Reduce to a simmer for a further 15 minutes. Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
2. Place the glaze mixture in a blender and blitz until smooth. Allow to cool and pop into the fridge in a sealed container. *The glaze can be made up to 3 days in advance.
3. When ready to glaze your ham, preheat the oven to 180°C.
4. Remove the rind by pushing your fingers in between the meat and rind, working your way from the bottom of the ham upwards. Continue to pull the rind back and cut off at the bone when you reach the end.
5. Score fat in a zig zag pattern using a sharp knife and brush with half of the glaze. Place the ham on a lined baking tray and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. Remove the ham from the oven and brush with the remaining glaze. Return to the oven