Member Stories: For Anna Robertson, Food and Recipes Are About Making Memories

At Thrive Market, we’re working hard to make healthy eating easier and more accessible to everyone—but we know it still takes time, energy, and planning. That’s why we’re so inspired by stories from our members. We love hearing how they find creative ways to make wholesome meals a priority. Occasionally, we’ll share their stories with you here on our blog. We hope you love reading them as much as we do!

For working mothers like Anna Robertson, dinner is more than just the last meal of the day—it’s a time to connect with her husband and young children. And even though she finds it extremely gratifying to cook a homemade, nutritious meal for her family, it’s definitely not something that happens every night.

With two children under the age 3, Anna and her husband often have to factor in fickle taste buds when planning family meals.

“My kids are very finicky about what they’ll eat. Sometimes they’ll eat really well and sometimes they’ll be pickier than usual, so I try to have options, including at least one safe thing that I know they’ll always eat.”

Anna relies on Thrive Market to keep her pantry stocked with healthy staples. She’s a fan of Jovial products because the tomatoes and noodles are perfect for creating quick and healthy pasta dishes that the whole family will love.

But she doesn’t stick to tried-and-true favorites. Anna has always enjoyed trying new recipes and the creativity involved in putting together meals on the fly—with whatever she has on hand. She draws inspiration from foodie blogs including Thrive Market’s (she has the Tahini Chicken recipe bookmarked), and even started her own recipe sharing site, TasteTrades, among her friends and family.

“I think there is something really special about preparing and eating a homemade meal,” Anna says. “It doesn’t have to be a complicated, but I think sharing food and preparing it together, involving your family in it, even if it’s just once a month or once a week, can be really powerful.”

Thrive Market helps make that possible for her. In addition to the convenience of having high-quality, nutritious foods delivered to her home at reasonable prices, Anna was also drawn to the company’s mission to give back by providing memberships to those who can’t afford them.

Sharing food and preparing it together, involving your family in it—even if it’s just once a month or once a week—can be really powerful.

“We’re learning so much more as a society about the importance of food in terms of our health. So when I think about what to feed my children, when I think about what kind of food people should have access to, it’s the kind of food that Thrive Market supports and sells,” she says.

Beyond the food, Anna appreciates how Thrive Market encourages families of all socioeconomic backgrounds to gather around the table and enjoy a nourishing meal together.

“I feel like it’s really important to at least have one moment in the day where everyone’s sitting around the table and talking about what happened in their day. When we do it, my three-year-old son will turn to the group and say, ‘Isn’t this fun? We’re all here, we’re all sitting around the table.’ It’s those kind of comments that make any extra effort worth it,” Anna says. “Food and recipes are so much more than food and recipes. They’re memories—making moments together with your family and friends.”

Photo credit: Paul Delmont