Organic Prepared Meal Delivery, Cooked From Named Illinois Farms
White Oak cooks with organic and locally grown produce, pastured poultry and pork, grass-fed beef and wild-caught fish, buying from named Illinois growers including Broadview Farm and Gardens in Marengo, Spence Farm in Fairbury and Andrew's Heirlooms in Buffalo Grove. Meals are prepared fresh in Long Grove and delivered across Chicago's northwest suburbs.
Where our ingredients come from
Most prepared-meal companies describe their sourcing in percentages. We would rather give you the list, because after twenty years we know these growers by name and you can go and look them up.
| Farm | Where | What we buy |
|---|---|---|
| Broadview Farm and Gardens | Marengo, IL | Organic vegetables |
| Spence Farm | Fairbury, IL | Organic vegetables and grains |
| Andrew's Heirlooms | Buffalo Grove, IL | Organic produce |
We also buy through Down at the Farm and the Central Illinois Marketing Co-op in Fairbury, and through Local Foods in Chicago.
Alongside the produce: pastured poultry and pork and grass-fed beef from local farms, wild-caught fish and shrimp, and expeller-pressed grapeseed and coconut oils and extra virgin olive oil rather than industrial seed-oil blends.
What "organic" means here — and where it doesn't apply
Plenty of food companies use the word organic without saying what it covers. Since we are asking you to pay more for it, here is exactly what it means on our menu.
Produce
Organic where we can get it in season, from growers we know by name, bought locally and in season rather than shipped in year-round.
Meat and poultry
Pastured poultry and pork, grass-fed beef, from local farms. Pastured and grass-fed describe how an animal was raised; organic is a separate certification covering feed, land and inputs. They are not interchangeable, and we would rather use the accurate word for what we actually buy.
Fish
Wild-caught. Wild fish cannot be certified organic in the United States — there is no USDA standard for it — so anyone describing their wild salmon as organic is describing something that does not exist.
Where it doesn't apply
Not every ingredient in every dish is organic — some pantry staples and some out-of-season produce are not. We would rather tell you than let the word do work it has not earned.
Organic, pastured, grass-fed, wild-caught: what each term means
These words are used almost interchangeably in food marketing and they mean quite different things. This is the version we work to.
| Term | What it certifies | What it doesn't |
|---|---|---|
| USDA Organic | A federally regulated certification covering seed, soil, feed, and permitted inputs across the whole operation, verified by an accredited certifier | Anything about animal welfare beyond the standard's own requirements, or about how far the food travelled |
| Pastured | That the animal was raised outdoors on pasture rather than in confinement | Not a USDA-certified term on its own. Says nothing about feed being organic |
| Grass-fed | That cattle ate grass and forage rather than grain | Not the same as organic, and not the same as pastured for their whole life unless stated |
| Wild-caught | That the fish was caught in the wild rather than farmed | Cannot be organic — there is no USDA organic standard for wild seafood |
| Local | Distance. For us, mostly Illinois farms within a few hours of the kitchen | Nothing about growing method. Local and organic are separate questions |
| Expeller-pressed | Oil extracted mechanically under pressure rather than with chemical solvents | Not a statement about the crop being organic |
Why we cook this way
White Oak Gourmet started more than twenty years ago as a catering and personal chef business run by Thomas and Lori Leavitt out of Arlington Heights. The name comes from White Oak Pond in Holderness, New Hampshire, where the family spends its summers.
Chef Tom trained in classic French technique, and that is still how the food is built — stock reduced rather than thickened, vegetables cooked until they taste of something, seasoning layered rather than dumped in at the end. It is also why the sourcing matters so much to him. French technique assumes the ingredient is good. It has very little to hide behind.
Twenty years of buying from the same Illinois farms means we know which fields the tomatoes come off and when the good ones stop. That is not a marketing position. It is just the difference between cooking and assembling.
Does organic mean it costs more?
Entrées run $10 to $15, which is comparable to a national frozen service and well under restaurant delivery. Buying in season, cooking twice a week to order rather than holding stock, and delivering within an hour of the kitchen is how that arithmetic works. We are not absorbing the cost of a national cold chain, national advertising, or a warehouse full of frozen inventory.
Organic meals available this week
Our whole menu is built the same way, but if you want to start somewhere: the Health-Focused & Plant Based collection leans hardest on the produce — Mujadara Lentil Bowl, Mediterranean Vegetable Bowl, Thai Quinoa Salad, Vegan Mushroom Marsala. The Anti-Inflammatory Low Sodium plan is where the sourcing does the most work, because low-sodium cooking depends entirely on the ingredients tasting of something.
Where we deliver
Chicago's northwest suburbs, the North Shore and Lake County, with collection in Long Grove, Lake Zurich and Chicago's Rogers Park. Delivery days, cut-offs and pickup locations.
Questions about our sourcing
Are all your ingredients organic?
No, and we would rather say so. Our produce is organic where we can get it in season and our meat is pastured or grass-fed from local farms, but some pantry items and out-of-season produce are not.
Which farms do you buy from?
Broadview Farm and Gardens in Marengo, Spence Farm in Fairbury, Down at the Farm through the Central Illinois Marketing Co-op, Andrew's Heirlooms in Buffalo Grove, and Local Foods in Chicago.
Is your fish organic?
Our fish is wild-caught. Wild fish cannot be certified organic in the United States — there is no USDA standard for it — so any company describing wild fish as organic is describing something that does not exist.
What is the difference between grass-fed and organic beef?
Grass-fed describes what the animal ate. Organic is a certification covering feed, land and inputs across the whole operation. Beef can be one without being the other. Ours is grass-fed from local farms.
What oils do you cook in?
Expeller-pressed grapeseed and coconut oils, and extra virgin olive oil.
Are your ingredients GMO-free?
We buy the best organic and GMO-free ingredients we can source locally and in season.
Browse this week's menu, or read more about who we are and how we started.