You’ve just come home after a long day in the library. You’ve got a headache, you just want to fall to sleep, and you just really can’t be bothered to cook. You’re considering ordering a takeaway but you’ve also committed to eating healthily this term. It’s tough, we’ve all been there, and now that we’re more than halfway through the academic term these days are only going to become more frequent.
This is where Hiventi comes in. Hiventi is a new, local start-up business on our very own Penryn Campus. Hiventi provides students with access to locally produced and quality assured meals right here on campus through their meal delivery service. Hiventi works with local catering companies to offer different meals from different areas of Cornwall.
In bigger cities, companies like Deliveroo are thriving on the desire people have to get their meals delivered straight to them. Rather than taking time out of your own day to prepare and cook meals, it’s much easier and time efficient as a busy student to opt for delivery. Hiventi offers students a local alternative, emphasising their strong bond with caterers in the nearby area in order to supply wholesome meals that are much healthier and filling than your standard takeaway pizza or mid-week Cornish pasty.
Hiventi currently delivers on Penryn Campus free of charge. For those of us who live off campus, as of today Hiventi can also deliver straight to your door in Penryn or Falmouth, with a small fee of £0.60 per delivery. Orders must be placed in advance through their website, to be delivered on either Mondays or Thursdays.
The full price of each meal was initially at £5, but Hiventi have negotiated it down to £4.20 a meal – which is extremely reasonable considering that can include free delivery to wherever you are located on campus. For the more regular customer, you have the option to pay a £1.99 monthly subscription free to reduce the price of each meal down further to £3.90. Hiventi currently have an excellent offer for all new customers who order with the code “HerCampus”: if you buy three meals, the third meal is free!
There are currently six meals available, with one dish currently in the process of being altered. Three contain meat, whilst the other three are suitable for vegans and vegetarians, so we decided to check out Hiventi’s dishes to give you a run down of each one.
It’s worth noting that each meal comes with a handy nutritional information slip that is also available on their website, listing the ingredients the meal contains as well as their portion sizes. For the more health conscious among you, this is a great way to track your food intake, as well as reminding you to place the food container in the microwave to cook for two minutes before you eat it!
Every meal comes in a handy Tupperware container, and they are all absolutely full to the brim with food (400 gram portions). The portion sizes are pretty spot on and are filling enough for a single serving, be it lunch or dinner.
First up to be tasted was the Veggie Lentil Dahl. Containing the mildest amount of curry spice, it’s perfect for those who can’t handle any heat but can still appreciate a full-bodied flavour. The inclusion of sweet potato really topped off the dish, as the slight sweetness strikes a nice balance to the curried aftertaste. It was my favourite veggie dish by far, and is one that I’ll definitely be ordering again.
Next up we sampled the Veggie Thai Red Curry. I really like how chunky the vegetables are in this dish, and I think you could even split the serving and keep half for a meal the next day served with some of your own rice. It’s quite a spicy curry and definitely dials up the heat compared to the lentil dahl, so it’s good that Hiventi have two different curry dishes to cover your preferred spice option! Hiventi are always open to ideas and suggestions and are currently looking to add rice to this meal as well.
As I am a vegetarian, I asked my housemates to taste test the meat dishes on my behalf. Pictured below is the Piri Piri Chicken dish, containing spiced chicken accompanied with noodles and kale.
Once more, the portion size is very generous and contains a substantial amount of chicken and the homemade Piri Piri sauce is delicious considering the low price of the meal. Piri Piri is now a popular spice thanks to Nando’s, so it’s nice to see it coupled with the healthier option of noodles and kale as opposed to stodgy garlic bread and chips!
Again, if hot and spicy food isn’t really your thing, then the Chicken BBQ meal provides a milder substitute heat-wise. It’s served with sweet potato, broccoli, kale and carrots – a range of flavours that complement each other really well, all while offering a low-carb dish full of protein and nutrients.
Unfortunately, my housemate demolished the Beef Mince dish before I could snap a photo – but here’s the one from Hiventi’s website! It’s the dish with the most carb content due to the pasta, however, this is balanced out portion wise with there being more mince than pasta. It’s cooked in a delicious tomato sauce akin to bolognese, but also includes a serving of spinach and peppers to add an extra level of flavour. Hiventi have worked hard to make sure all of the dishes are well rounded ingredients wise so that nothing is lacking, and whilst a dish such as Beef Mince may seem simple the flavours certainly still pull through. They decided not to season this meal strongly as they respect the fact people like it differently in terms of pepper and salt content.
Overall, Hiventi have successfully created a range of meals that will appeal strongly to the taste buds of hungry students on campus. As a vegetarian, I really appreciate that the non-meat and dairy options are equal in number to those containing meat – they’ve even taken the extra step to ensure they are suitable for vegans! It’s a much cheaper alternative to your standard takeaway, whilst also saving you the hassle of trekking to the shops to spend your study-time attempting to recreate similar dishes.
Check out the Hiventi website for more information, follow them on Facebook and Instagram for regular updates, and make sure to order a meal to sample these tasty dishes in the near future!