Home-delivered Meal Plans and Kits
I'm sure everyone has seen the ads; it's all over the TV, and certainly all over the internet. I'm also sure everyone's got a friend or two who's offered to get them their first orders free or at least offered a coupon for a pretty good discount, again, off of their first order. I'm talking about home-delivered meal plans or kits. For one reason or another, these meal services have really taken off and I see how enticing they can be. Imagine the promise of convenience, of never having to go food shopping again (not really) or just the mere fact of not having to plan your daily meal. So I dived right in.
A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine who's a subscriber to one of these services offered me a coupon to Hello Fresh for a free box; that's 3 dinners for 2 people. Her reasoning was simple. First, she didn't really like to cook but her husband did. And second, it was only the two of them as their kids were already out of the house - perfect! My reasoning was even simpler - I lived alone, at least temporarily but, I also like to cook. My big problem was that I didn't know how to cook just for myself. My wife and 2 younger kids are living on the west coast now and I only see them a few times out of the year. When we all lived together, I used to cook for all of us and never cooked just for me. Before this service, I would always end up throwing food out which was a waste. I figured I was saving at least $40.00 per week in wasted food.
So how is the food you ask? The good news is the majority of their choices are very good and the ingredients are fresh and organic. For a 3-dinner order, it averages about $60.00 and that's for 2 people; you can't order just for 1. What I usually end up doing is either have the other half of the meal for lunch the next day or, have it for dinner a couple of nights after. Either way, there's no waste. You also get to pick your meals for the following week on Fridays. All you need to do is go to their website and look at the menu. You then pick the meals you want and the number of servings. There are, however, some meals that are labeled as "premium" like steak or duck which are a bit more expensive but, you do have the choice to indulge if you wish. Hello Fresh even included a wine pairing recommendation with each recipe card.
All in all, the experience so far has been good although I did have to switch to another company due to some bad logistical experiences but the food was always very good. If there's a negative to any of these services, I would have to say it's their packaging because there's a lot of it. Although most of it is recyclable, I still think there's a better and greener way in how the food could be delivered and for the customer to not have to deal with all the packaging. Maybe they should come in a cooler when delivered and be dropped off only when someone can accept them and then the cooler goes back to a depot for reuse - I really don't know. I think this is a dilemma that all these companies are facing and it really needs to be addressed and resolved.
Anyway, on to the food. So the company I'm with now is called Home Chef. It's the same concept, same type of packaging and, for the most part, the same type of ingredients. This company has tons of good reviews so I decided to give them a try this time around. The first meal I tried was their 'Green Goddess Chicken Salad' and the "hardest" part was grilling the chicken in a pan. Most of the effort was for chopping the apples, making the dressing and tossing it together with spinach in a bowl then topping it with the chicken. It can't get any simpler than that, plus, I had it for lunch the next day - win, win! All the ingredients, except for salt and pepper, are included in your kit.
Tonight was a bit different - 'Huli Huli Chicken Rice Bowl'! This was another easy recipe. Make rice, make the slaw, grill the pineapple and then grill the chicken (there's a lot of chicken in these recipes). But, I had to make an adjustment. First of all, I don't know who makes up these names for these recipes but 'Huli Huli' chicken this is not. I lived in Hawaii for almost 2 years and Huli-Huli chicken was one of my favorites. It's basically marinated chicken legs and thighs (not breast) that's grilled over hot coals out on some parking lot somewhere (usually a school or grocery store parking lot). It's main purpose is for fundraising - think Girl Scout cookies but more delectable. The chicken in tonight's recipe, although good, is basically chicken with a teriyaki glaze. What really took it to another level was the slaw which was dressed in lime juice, a bit of mayo and lots of red chili flakes. Throw that all together with the chopped cabbage and green onions and you've got yourself a hearty and tasty side. As for the rice and with the dish having sort of a Hawaiian theme, I decided to throw on some Nori Furikake (chopped dried seaweeds with sesame seeds and various seasonings). All I can say is NEXT LEVEL UMAMI!
