From the menu email on Thursday to the empties going back out the door on Friday. The whole rhythm of a Culiene week, step by step.
People ask what changes day to day once they start. The honest answer is: less than you'd think. The point of the service is that food stops being a decision you make three times a day. Here's how a normal week runs.
The menu arrives before the week does
You get next week's menu by email before service starts. It's built around what our farms have that week and what you told us you like in the first conversation. Read it, and if something doesn't land, you have 24 hours to ask for a change. Most weeks nobody changes anything. Some weeks a household is hosting, or someone is training harder, or the kids have decided they don't eat green things this month. That's what the 24 hours is for.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Deliveries run three days a week, generally between 7am and 2pm. The morning of, we text you a one hour window. You don't need to be home. We can put your meals away in your fridge, or bring them to your office, whatever you set up with us at the start.
Each drop covers the days until the next one. On a Five Day plan, Monday covers Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday covers Wednesday and Thursday, Friday covers Friday. On Root, the three day plan, you pick which three days you want covered.
What's in the bag
Everything arrives in ceramic and glass containers inside insulated bags. Lunch and dinner for each day, each one labeled. Each container comes with reheating instructions written for that dish and for your kitchen, so a braise and a piece of fish don't get treated the same way.
The empties go back out
Your container kit has two full sets. While one set is in your fridge, the other is with us being cleaned and refilled. On delivery day, leave the used containers out and we take them when we drop off. You don't wash them. That's the whole return process.
When life doesn't cooperate
Travel comes up. If you're on a 12 or 24 week block, skip a week with 7 days notice and use it later in the window. Guests coming for the weekend? Adult guests are $110 a meal and kids are $40, added to your regular drop. Heading out for two weeks? Add a few days before you leave and we'll stock the freezer.
Questions about this
What day does the menu email arrive?
Before service starts for the following week. You have 24 hours from when it lands to review it and request changes.
Do I need to be home for delivery?
No. We text a one hour window the morning of, and we can put meals away in your fridge or deliver to your office.
Do I wash the containers before returning them?
No. Leave the used set out on delivery day and we take it as is.
Can I pick which days I'm covered on the three day plan?
Yes. Root covers three days of lunch and dinner and we set which days with you when you start.
More from the journal
Foundation, Forge, or Summit: picking a Performance plan
Three Performance Nutrition plans, one difference that matters: how much of your day you want handled. A plain guide to choosing.
Why your meals arrive in ceramic and glass
No single-use plastic, two full sets per household, and a return system that asks nothing of you. How the container kit works and why we chose it.
Feeding kids well on a weeknight
Kid plates come from the same ingredients as yours, sized for them, at $40 a meal. Why we built it that way and how families use it.