FAQ
Pete's Real Food - FAQ Content Structure
ORDERING
What are the cutoff times and delivery days?
Every order that is in by Friday at midnight PST will be shipped from our kitchens on Wednesday to arrive by Thursday or Friday, based on your location. Please note that since we cook to order, we only ship once a week on Wednesdays.
How Do I Skip A Week?
Please visit the page below in order to manage your subscription: https://www.petesrealfood.com/account/login
How Do I Cancel My Subscription?
Please visit the page below in order to manage your subscription: https://www.petesrealfood.com/account/login
How Do I Manage My Subscription?
Please visit the page below in order to manage your subscription: https://www.petesrealfood.com/account/login
Can I make substitutions?
Pete's feels it is crucial to your health that you are eating a varied, seasonal menu. That's what our menus are based and designed around. Don't be afraid to try new things and find out how delicious they are!
Can I cancel my order?
If you need to cancel your subscription order, you can do so in your account portal before your order is renewed late Thursday night. If you've already been charged or have a one-off order and need our assistance on Friday please email us at hello@petesrealfood.com or call us at 619.363.7136 no later than Friday 5 pm PST. Since food is cooked fresh to order, late cancellations will be in the form of coupon codes for store credit.
How Do I Apply Pete's Points To My Subscription?
With each order placed you can accumulate reward points that can be applied towards your subscription order in order to receive a discount.
All you need to do is log into your account and redeem the reward and apply it towards your subscription. Please follow the steps below:
Step 1: Log into your account then click Pete's Rewards. Step 2: Click on your rewards and the one you would like to redeem and copy the code Step 3: Close the window and click manage subscription Step 4: Click view your next charge and add the discount
INGREDIENTS
What Is The Sodium Content In Your Meals?
Each meal comes with nutrition facts on the label and will indicate sodium. If you're looking for a specific meal, please shoot us an email and we can let you know ahead of time! (hello@petesrealfood.com)
Nerdy details: For someone eating 3 meals a day, the FDA recommends consuming no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. Our meals average around 400-600 mg of sodium per meal, putting you well within healthy ranges.
What quality of ingredients do you use?
Here at Pete's, we're not just about creating tasty meals - we're about creating meals that are good for you, too. We steer clear of preservatives, fillers, processed stuff, or any ingredients that would make you scratch your head. All vegetables are local and seasonal to the long growing season we have here in Southern California. All meats are hormone and anti-biotic free. Chicken is cage free. Beef is grass fed and clove/alfalfa finished. We're proud of the food we make and we want you to feel good about eating it!
What kind of fats/oils do you cook with?
We cook with avocado oil, animal fat, coconut oil, and olive oil (below the smoke point). We do NOT cook with butter. If we ever feature ghee in a menu item, we will indicate it in the ingredients on the site, but this is an extremely rare occurrence.
Are Pete's Paleo Meals compliant with the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)?
Yes! We have a specific line of individual order meals that are AIP friendly. These meals ship fresh (The Chef Choice bundle ship frozen) each Wednesday and will arrive to you anywhere from Thursday-Friday based on your location.
I have a food allergy, what are your ingredients?
All of our Paleo & Keto meals are free of gluten, dairy, soy, corn, legumes, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and natural sweeteners (e.g. honey & maple syrup). We also have AIP (Auto Immune Protocol) Friendly meals in the Mix and Match collection that are free of nightshades, nuts, seeds, and eggs.
Our facilities are completely free of gluten. We do manufacture meals for other brands which contain dairy and nut flour.
SHIPPING & PACKAGING
Where Do You Deliver?
Thanks for your interest in our meals! We deliver nationwide to the lower 48.
How long does shipping and delivery take?
First please note - Every order that is in by Friday at midnight PST will be shipped from our kitchens on Wednesday to arrive by Friday (based on your location). Every order that comes in after Friday at midnight PST will go into next week's order and be next week's menu.
All of our orders will arrive within 1-3 days once shipped and are protected with insulated liners and appropriate coolants.
Why do you charge for shipping?
Most online businesses hide the cost of shipping by bumping up the price of their products to incorporate it. For a long time, we tried to do that (thanks Amazon Prime!). Unfortunately, the rates move up quite often and we aren't able to raise our prices to reflect that. What's the difference if you pay it in one column or another, right? You're still paying for it, and everybody knows there is no package transport fairy!
So here's what we've done. From now on, we are charging for what our food costs to make, and then you will be billed at checkout for exactly what our shippers charge to get the meals fresh to your door. As I'm sure you're familiar by now when ordering Grub Hub, Uber Eats, etc. there's a cost associated with having these great meals brought to your doorstep. Thanks as always for understanding and enjoying your food.
How Do I Dispose Of The Packaging Materials?
Great question! Our goal when choosing our packaging materials is to always maximize the convergence of being environmentally friendly, having an efficient combination of materials, and cost effectiveness.
Gel packs are made with tough, recyclable polyethylene plastic. The gel is a mixture of 2% sodium polyacrylate (salt) and water. To recycle, cut open the pack and dump the gel into the trash. Rinse the plastic and sort with other #4 recyclables according to your local and state guidelines. They can also be reused or donated to local food pantries.
Liners are curbside recyclable. They are made with a 100% paper interior, cased inside a recyclable plastic outer lining.
Trays are curbside recyclable, just be sure to peel off film and wash out first.
- 40% LESS WASTE than standard Thermoform trays
- 30% LESS ENERGY used in production process
- 20% LESS EMISSIONS generated in production process
- Up to 20% PC (post consumer recycled) content
Boxes are curbside recyclable and made from approximately 65% recycled materials. Our manufacturer is FC certified and corrugated manufacturing and recycling is one of the most environmentally friendly processes!
If your delivery still has dry ice in it, please place it in a well-ventilated area at room temperature; the remainder of the ice will sublimate away. Never dispose of dry ice in a trash can, chemical waste container or other garbage/waste can.
Does hot food come into contact with the packaging?
No. We ensure all food is fully cooled before plating and sealing, so it never touches the packaging while hot.
SHIPPING PROTECTION
What does shipping protection cover?
Shipping protection covers issues such as delayed deliveries, lost packages, or damage during transit. This means you can have peace of mind knowing that your order is protected from unforeseen delivery problems.
Why is shipping protection necessary for my orders?
Since we offer perishable products, having shipping protection ensures both you and we are covered for unexpected delivery issues.
What Happens If My Delivery Is Lost, Stolen, Damaged or Spoiled?
If you experience a delay in transit that affects the quality of your food, not to worry! As long as you've purchased our Shipping Protection, your order is backed by our shipping guarantee. If your delivery is lost, stolen, damaged or spoiled, we'll reship your order and do what we can to make it right.*
If you purchased Shipping Protection, claims for orders marked as delivered must be filed within 15 days of the order being marked as delivered with Shipping Protection.
Damaged/Spoiled Sometimes, as hard as they may try, FedEx and UPS are not always able to deliver packages on time. And we all know what that means for perishable goods. Don't worry, we got your back. If your food is spoiled because they delivered it late, we will work with you to get you out a replacement!
Lost If your tracking information indicates that your package has been lost in transit and is undeliverable, please contact us and we will arrange for a replacement shipment!
Stolen We've all experienced this at one time or another, porch theft! It's the worst because you're so excited to receive the package delivered email and then poof it's not there! No worries, we can get a replacement order shipped out for you! Please contact us and we will get you all squared away.
*Reshipments are of equivalent value to original purchase. For our subscription customers who do not want a reshipment, we offer the retail value minus any shipping/taxes/coupons/discounts.
ABOUT PETE'S REAL FOOD
What distinguishes Pete's Real Food from other meal delivery services?
Great question! Here's the deal. Pete is a classically trained chef from Le Cordon Bleu and has worked in the restaurant industry for over 20 years. He is an artist and food is his medium. Given that Pete's Real Food puts a high importance on using seasonal ingredients, Pete takes pride in ensuring that each time that specific ingredient makes an appearance on our menu during the season, it's treated differently each time—different spices and cooking methods—so that you're not bored and everything tastes different each week!
Hey we get it, this whole meal delivery thing isn't the new kid on the block of ideas anymore. There has been a proliferation of meal companies big and small since Sarah and I started our little company over 10 years ago. But with that said, we still feel that there's quite a bit that makes us different and honestly better than the rest.
Most importantly, our meals are prepared!!! Most of these other companies just send you ingredients and a recipe card. The whole point of services like ours is to make your life easier.
On average if you get home at 7:30pm and start cooking one of their meals, you won't be eating till 9pm. And you know what? Your kitchen is still a disaster! Sure it might take ME 30 minutes to make those meals. But I'm a pro. It will take the average person an hour, and again, you're still doing dishes.
With our meals, you get home at 7:30, you're eating at 7:40 and there's no dishes! We don't just save you a trip to the grocery store, we really make your life more convenient. No shopping, no cooking, no cleaning. That's a real value and a real help.
When it comes to our meals, we have incredible variety. Our weekly menus have 10 different menu items. That means 10 different types and styles of protein using different cooking methods and flavor profiles. Then there are 20 veggies! Sure you're going to eat kale a few times a week, which you should be, but for the most part you're going to be eating a huge variety of vegetables, certainly more than if you were cooking for yourself or even if you were using another meal company.
Now, let's talk flavor. We change the menus weekly and seasonally. Our spice blends are created by our own chefs and then executed for us by local spice companies for each respective kitchen. Every season we rewrite the menu as a team, incorporating new ideas from our recent travel and continuing education. Sometimes we can be accused of things being a little too flavorful, but we're always going to walk that fine line and bring you exciting, delicious meals that are also quite good for you.
So yes, we're one of dozens of options out there now. But if you're looking for real ingredient, homemade, restaurant quality meals that come prepared and shipped directly to your door, Pete's Real Food is going to be the one for you.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Email: hello@petesrealfood.com
Phone: 619.363.7136
Support Hours:
- Monday: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM PST
- Tuesday: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM PST
- Wednesday: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM PST
- Thursday: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM PST
- Friday: 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM PST
- Saturday: Closed
- Sunday: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM PST
Customer Portal: https://www.petesrealfood.com/account/login