Stress Free Meals During COVID-19
I tried four major meal prep services during self isolation, so you don’t have to. Here’s what I learned…
I tried four major meal prep services during self isolation, so you don’t have to. Here’s what I learned…
Let’s face it, this pandemic is tough. Hyper-vigilance is exhausting. And staying at home, especially in New York City, means many less trips to the store. There are so many things to stress over that I’m stressed that I’m missing something that I should be stressed about.
One of the ways I find peace is through cooking. My father was a Sous Chef when he was young (unverified, but believable) and he taught me the way around a kitchen. If you follow me on social media you know that my bio says I have pretty good mise. Knife work is my happy place. And yes, I too am making a lot of sourdough. But cooking from the pantry can make food a bit routine and I wanted to know that I had at least three meals each week planned and sourced. So, I decided to use this as an opportunity to try four meal kit subscription services and see how they fared.
Friends of mine have used these to save time and add variety to their meal plans. I always scoffed at the idea, knowing that I could buy the ingredients for a far less cost per plate then the cost of the service. Spoiler alert: I was right. They do, however, have some benefits:
- They remove the time burden of going to the store. This is a win, especially if you work until 6:00PM and have a commute.
- They remove stress as you know that you have all of the ingredients for a meal; You don’t have to check to see if you used all of your demi-glace, or realize that you have to spend seven dollars on a spice that you’ll only use once a year.
- And they let you try things out of your flavor comfort zone. Confession — I’m totally ripping a couple of these recipes off for my own repertoire.
- They are convenient. You browse the menus, select, and they magically appear the day that you ask.
One important note. These meal kits do require some cooking skill. The recipe cards do instruct properly on the correct order of cooking — prep, mise-en-place, roasting, cooking, plating. But timing and orchestrating everything to come together at the correct time is a large part of cooking well. Some of these recipes had me sweating and dancing around the kitchen like Thanksgiving day.
So, let’s get to the reviews of the four services and find out which one I’m keeping.
4. Blue Apron (Blue Apron)
Cost per plate: $9.99 — $12.00. Free shipping if you order three meals or more a week.
I asked my friends which services they used and what they thought of them. Blue Apron came up a lot and it was the one I was most familiar. They came in at number four, because I couldn’t get a delivery for five weeks. This is understandable given the increased demand, but all of the services were under the same constraints, so I counted it as a demerit. When I did get a slot, NONE of the available meals were appealing. They were all, kind of “meh”. A lot of the meals were discontinued. Maybe this, again, is due to sourcing issues, but the experience was so unsatisfactory that I deactivated my account before getting to try a meal.
3. Dinnerly
Cost per plate: $4.99. Shipping: $8.99
Dinnerly is the lowest cost coming in at $6.50 per plate when you add in shipping, but that savings comes in the method of meal preparation and portion size. All of the ingredients for all of the meals came in a single bag. Most of the items were individual serving size packages for the item and were not as fresh as the other contenders. It was my least favorite, so much so that we skipped cooking the last meal and repurposed the ingredients to other recipes and then put our subscription on hold. It was worth the cost, but wasn’t as convenient for storage purposes. It was also only a meat and one veg, where the other services are generally a meat and two.
Meals Cooked.
- One-Pot Tortelloni Florentine with Quick Marinara Sauce
This was a quick and easy dish. Average. - BBQ Cheeseburger with Crispy Onion Rings
An okay burger with potato rolls. Had an issue with the onion rings as they were dredged in a flour/water mixture and then coated with panko bread crumbs before baking. This created a bit of an uneven crust and tasted a bit of uncooked flour. The barbecue spice is mixed into the burger and the cheese was a snack serving of cheddar. Average. - Fork & Knife Meatball Parm with Garlic Bread & Green Salad
I totally skipped making this as it was going to be meatballs on a half of sub roll served with chopped romaine lettuce. Disappointing.
2. Home Chef
Cost per plate: $9.95 -$13.95. Shipping: Free
Home Chef are meals that are created by specific chefs who work for the company. It was a nice touch to know who created your recipe, and the meals were good. Each meal was portioned in individual breathable clear zip lock bags and the ingredients were fresh. However, the value of the cost per plate, when compared to the winner, was not great as, again, it is a protein and veg, instead of a protein and two veg.
- BBQ Ranch Steak Tacos with Pickled Jalapeños
Not bad, but not really steak tacos, more like Steak-um tacos. Think the steak sandwich slices cooked in a BBQ sauce. Three tacos, no sides, jalapeños, cheese, tomato, and a bit of rice wine vinegar to pickle the jalapeño. Average. - Scallops and Corn-Bacon Cream Sauce with roasted Parmesan Potatoes ($13.95pp)
This was the splurge meal for this order and the scallops were fresh. The corn-bacon cream sauce was decent and the potatoes were simple. It was lacking a little bit of flavor, but overall above average. - Pork Chop with Creamy Shallot Demi-Glace and Asiago Roasted Cauliflower
This, again, was a decent dish and the items were fresh. The roasting of the cauliflower boosted the flavor, but it left me wanting something green with a bit of brightness as well. Average.
And the winner is…
1. Hello Fresh (HelloFresh US)
Cost per plate: $9.99 -$14.99. Shipping: Not free, but I included it in the cost per plate.
Hello Fresh does a really good job of packaging the ingredients in paper bags and vacuumed sealed proteins. The paper bag is brilliant as it breaths and keeps moisture away from the vegetables without drying them out. See below how I stole this idea for my own use.
They also know the tricks to amp the flavor. I’ve noticed a lot of their dishes use lemon zest to brighten the vegetables and bold sauces to bring a bit of wow. They also use one of my favorite techniques to reduce the stress and clean up in the kitchen. They use the baking sheet to roast one vegetable and garnish, like a roasted lemon, and two pans on the stove. That’s it. Three pans and multitasking to the max.
My favorite thing about Hello Fresh is that they use ugly vegetables. I LOVE ugly vegetables and I appreciate this approach to their business model. Where other services use less, they procure the vegetables that won’t make it to the store but end up in restaurant kitchens all the time.
The first week, my order came three days late. They sent me an email to notify me of the issue and then credited my account $10. Customer service win. All other orders have come one time or the day before (which could be an issue if I wasn’t staying home), and nothing has been missing.
Once I found my favorite, I stayed with them. Below are the meals that I have cooked. And the final does look like the picture, I’ve provided a start to finish at the end of the review to provide proof.
They have been so good, I will no longer be using them. Find out why below.
Since they are the winner, they get the pics…
Here’s the start to finish:
Why I am Leaving
If this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, why am I leaving? Because of what I said at the beginning. These subscriptions are costly. And having cooked since I was put in charge of slicing shallots for my father’s Steak Diane, I know how to manage weekly menus and ingredients.
But they were worth it for the stress they reduced during this highly stressful time and that they taught me a few tricks to mimic the service they provide.
- I’ve fired up my menu app (Paprika Recipe Manager, if you’re asking) and started planning the meals for the week
- I use Instacart and my local market delivery to get the fresh produce and non-protein ingredients for the week
- I ordered protein from the Hunt’s Point butcher, now that their restaurant business is down. Cut it into proper portions and popped in the freezer
- I ordered paper bags to store the pre-portioned produce and non-protein ingredients for the meals for storage in the refrigerator
- I place the correct amount of each ingredient in the paper bag, label, a pop in the fridge… job done.
I love the ease of use with the above services, but since I don’t have the overhead my $3.00–$5.00 cost per plate is much more of a value.
I hope my journey into the meal kit abyss brought you some information of value. I know it taught me a few things. Stay well. Stay Safe. And comment below to share your experience with any of these services.
