13 tingkat delivery services perfect for those with no time to cook
Perfect for busy parents who don’t have time to cook but still want their families to enjoy healthy, home-cooked meals
By Rachel AJ Lee, Ashley Tham, Jesslyn Lye,Melody Bay -
Nearly all of us are back to working from the office now — which means there’s less time for preparing healthy meals for dinner.
For busy parents who don’t have time to cook but still want their families to enjoy healthy, home-cooked meals, tingkat deliveries are an increasingly popular option. The fuss-free service means freshly-prepared food is delivered to your doorstep, taking one less thing off your to-do list.
We’ve listed a number of tingkat services that boast a wide variety of dishes – including some that offer international cuisines and halal options. Many of them are healthier and more affordable than order-on-demand food apps, and many also accommodate dietary requests like less oil or no MSG.
Previously known as Kim’s Kitchen, the company has now evolved into Kim Paradise, but still guarantees scrumptious and nutritious dishes. We love this tingkat delivery service for its home-cooked taste, variety (there are over 200 dishes), and quality. The company is also very accommodating – for example, you can request non-spicy food, or ask for boneless fish for your children.
There are two types of meal plans available, the regular Tingkat Specialist plan, or their Nutritious Healthy Meal – which incorporates Chinese herbs into the dishes – for either lunch or dinner.
Sample dishes
Family Tingkat: Long bean + baked honey chicken wings + braised beancurd + bai rou xiang soup
Healthy Tingkat: Steamed chicken patty with salted egg + stir fried leek flower and beansports + lotus root and peanut soup
Cost
Family Tingkat: Prices start from $299.60 for two pax for a 20-day package, including three dishes and a soup.
Healthy Tingkat: Prices start from $577.80 for two pax for a 20-day package.
Savoury Kitchen’s tingkat meals are similar to what you will find at a Chinese economy rice stall, albeit with tastier and fresher dishes and a lot less grease. Their food is prepared with less oil, less salt, no added MSG, and cooked using vegetable oil, so you can be sure that their dishes are generally healthy. They are also quite accommodating – contact them in advance for any dietary needs.
There are two options: an Everyday Staples package and a Healthier Choice package, which are available for both lunch and dinner. For the Everyday Staples package, you can choose between an East and West menu, which come with either 3 dishes + 1 soup, or 4 dishes. The Healthier Choice package comes with 2 dishes + 1 soup.
Sample dishes
Everyday Staples: Kai lan + curry fish + fried sausage with onion and egg + red dates and papaya soup
Healthier Choice: Teochew white pomfret + stir-fried huai shan + six herbs black chicken soup
Cost
Prices start at $280 for two pax for a 20-day Everyday Staples package, or $540 for two pax for a 20-day Healthier Choice package.
Halal-certified Yeyeah Delights has a goal to provide nutritious, pre-portioned meals. Their meals are designed by a dietician, so you can be sure they’re healthy for the family.
Their family meal plan consists of one main course, one vegetable dish, one special side dish, a soup, and steamed rice. In addition to the family meal plan, they also offer a variety of other food plans such as weight loss meals, soup meals, and confinement meals.
Their family meal plan menu features a wide variety of dishes that switches up every day, including interesting items such as honey sriracha chicken noodle, and fried mee siam with salted egg yolk prawn. With a menu like that, you can be sure that the kids won’t get bored of the food.
Delivered twice a week, Yeyeah Delight’s meals are blast-chilled, and can be kept for up to three days. Simply warm the meals for two and a half minutes before enjoying them.
Sample dishes
Coconut rice + tomato and chilli fish stew + roasted peanuts + cauliflower and carrots
Cost
A 20-day family meal plan for two pax is priced at $520. Brown rice options and special dietary requests are available at extra cost.
Specialising in Chinese dishes, Ronnie Kitchen is a caterer who prizes quality and ensures you’ll get a great meal delivered straight to your home. Special dietary requests are not possible. They deliver to most areas in Singapore except condos and landed properties, so make sure to check the delivery route before ordering.
Sample dishes
Dou Jiang pork ribs + steamed egg + seasonal vegetables + herbal soup
Cost
Prices start at $260 for two pax for a 20-day lunch or dinner package, which offers three dishes and a soup, or four dishes.
Le Xin Catering offers both lunch and dinner packages. Their dinner package is named Family Deluxe, though you can choose to have an additional dish with their Asian Delight add-on package. These run the gamut from laksa yong tau foo to pineapple fried rice to KL Hokkien mee, so they’re sure to delight the tastebuds, especially for elderly family members who prefer Asian food.
Their regular menu (without the Asian Delight add-on) is also mostly Asian, but with the occasional Western dish like pork chops.
Sample dishes
Salt & pepper pork chop + braised beancurd + seasonable vegetables + green marrow chicken soup
Cost
The subscription starts from $277.70 for two pax for a 20-day Family Deluxe plan, or $317.70 for a 20-day Asian Delight plan.
KCK Food Catering has been delivering in the food business since 1991, so rest assured that their service and food have stood the test of time. They are also one of the few tingkat caterers with a rewards point scheme.
The company’s tingkat service is dinner-only, and their halal-certified menu changes weekly. We love that you can customise your package with modular add-ons such as soup and brown rice. There’s also free dessert on Mondays.
Sample dishes
Prawn fingers with mayo dips + stir-fried bok choy with carrots, tofu and mushroom + lemongrass chicken + seafood mango roll
Cost
A subscription package starts from $278.20 for two pax for a 20-day dinner package, for three dishes and a soup, or four dishes.
This dinner-only service aims to provide balanced, wholesome meals that consist of up to four dishes and a soup. Their menu is mostly made up of Chinese favourites, including dishes such as glass noodle beancurd, ginger soya chicken, and a daily seasonal vegetable. Their dishes contain no pork or lard.
They’re one of the few caterers that can accommodate different family sizes, since they offer packages with fewer or more dishes depending on your needs.
Sample dishes
Lemon fish + fried wonton + seasonal vegetables + winter gourd barley soup + ginger chicken with onion
Cost
Prices start at $235.40 for two people for a 20-day plan of three dishes and a soup, or four dishes. White rice and brown rice are available at extra cost.
For homeowners who love freshness and look forward to being surprised
To ensure that their dishes comprise of the freshest available ingredients, Hong Choo doesn’t have a fixed weekly or monthly menu. Their dishes mainly revolve around Chinese Cantonese cuisine, and examples include steamed minced pork, braised tofu with mushrooms, and stir-fried long beans. You can take a look at their website for images of what they prepare on a daily basis — their dishes look extremely appetising.
Sample dishes
Thai style chicken + steamed ginger fish + bittergourd sliced pork soup + xiao bai cai
Cost
Prices start at $288.90 for two people for a 20-day meal package, for three dishes and a soup, or four dishes. Hong Choo provides their food in re-usable tiffin containers that are collected the following day, which also helps to save the environment.
For families who love trying different cuisines
FattyDaddyFattyMummy was initially a small business founded on the premise of providing assistance to busy working parents by delivering daily home-cooked meals, but is now a full-fledged catering company. Their kitchen director is a professional chef who used to work at Brasserie Wolf, Hiroki 88, and Jewel @ Mount Faber, so you can be sure that the menus are top-notch.
On offer are three subscription plans. The Regular Tingkat menu is reminiscent of a Chinese economy stall’s dishes and includes dishes such as fried cereal chicken and herb roasted potatoes. Meanwhile, the Love, Tingkat! menu focuses on nutrition for health-conscious families, and uses zero processed or canned food, and zero MSG. Lastly, the Delightful, Tingkat! (dinner only) offers varying cuisines such as udon, nasi briyani, and chicken chop for more discerning tastebuds.
Sample dishes
Regular Tingkat: Stir-fried pork with basil + steamed egg + seasonal vegetables _ winter melon soup
Love, Tingkat: Grilled chicken with mushroom sauce + tomato omelette + stir-fried cauliflower with carrot + white carrot red date soup
Delightful, Tingkat: Kimchi fried rice + Korean soy garlic fried chicken + Korean pancake + honey grass jelly longan
Cost
Regular Tingkat: Prices start at $300 for two pax for a 20-day meal plan
Love, Tingkat: Prices start at $330 for two pax for a 20-day meal plan
Delightful, Tingkat: Prices start at $336 for two pax for a 20-day meal plan
The catering company aims to provide sumptuous and nutritious meals just like your mother makes. In classic Asian style, all meal plans comprise of three dishes and one soup, and its home-style dishes include dishes like stir-fried spinach with wolfberry and nyonya laksa prawn. There is also the occasional Western fare such as grilled chicken chop and spaghetti.
The company caters for common dietary requirements such as a non-spicy diet, no beef, or no prawn, but are unable to accommodate additional requests.
Sample dishes
Deep fried chicken with sweet soya sauce + steamed homemade otak-otak + stir-fried xiao bai cai with minced pork + cordyceps and sweet corn pork ribs soup
Cost
Subscription plans start from $535.00 for two pax for a 20-day dinner service plan.
If you’re looking for variety instead of sticking to the same old cai fan dishes, Royal Cuisine Group is able to offer just that. They offer a variety of tingkat options, including Hawker which features classic local favourites, International for a variety of cuisine, low-carb, nyonya, vegetarian, and more.
Sample dishes
Low-carb: Grilled smoked duck breast superbowl + rosemary baby potatoes + couscous
Premium: Baked cod with miso sauce + premium organic vegetables + braised Shimeji mushroom with homemade tofu + double-boiled Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup with abalone and kampong chicken + fresh fruits or dessert
Cost
Low-carb: From $270 per pax for a 20-day meal plan
Premium: From $720 per pax for a 20-day meal plan
Best Catering has two plans on offer – a Healthy Tingkat and a Family Tingkat. The difference, as its name suggests, is that the Healthy Tingkat meal plan will feature Chinese dishes cooked with healthier methods such as steaming and braising.
A new menu is out every week, and the company also provides re-usable tiffins that they collect the following day, which helps to cut down on plastic waste.
Sample dishes
Family tingkat: Beijing cabbage + spicy fish fillet + braised beans with tau po + ten herbs chicken soup
Healthy tingkat: samsui chicken drumsticks + beancurd with crab meat + seaweed and mushroom soup
Cost
Family tingkat: Prices start at $220 for two pax for a 20-day package.
Healthy tingkat: Prices start at $518.80 for two pax for a 20-day package.
This catering company was founded with the goal to make sure that the elderly get the proper nutrition they require daily. Dishes are cooked with less salt and oil, and are generally softer in texture and easily digestible, making them an excellent choice for your young children and your elderly parents. They also accommodate common dietary requests, such as no spicy food, no seafood, and no fish with bones.
This tingkat company stands out for its seven types of speciality rice (olive, yam, garlic, long beans, pumpkin, lemongrass, cabbage), as well as desserts that can be added on to meal plans. It’s also one of the few that also delivers food all year-round, including weekends.
Sample dishes
Assam fish + silver bait spinach + pineapple sweet and sour pork + wintermelon pork ribs soup
Cost
Prices start from $594 for two pax for a 20-day meal plan.
This article was first published in Singapore Women's Weekly.