Home Delivered Meals/Meal Kits (“half-fast” review-ish)

[Spiky Bugger]

Cooked the last one tonight. Chicken fajitas. Don't buy this one Spiky! So much slicing, dicing, and prep. Took forever to end up with 6 taco size fajitas. They should have just included salsa as a seasoning. Way too much work! And a sink full of dishes as well. This one was probably my least favorite. Jeff agrees with me and if we were going to do it over we would use steak instead of chicken. But we both liked the fresh jalapeno pepper so I learned that Jeff doesn't dislike spicy at all. He just doesn't like burning hot.

If I had to make this again, I would do all the slicing and dicing much earlier in the day and make the pico and the lime crema hours in advance. Give the flavor more time to develop.

So the experiment ends. We both enjoyed it and it was nice to try some different 'normal carb' meals. I will keep an eye out for some coupons and try another service down the road. Probably after the Holidays. Back to no carbs tomorrow!

Well, I hope you got your $11’s worth!

 

[Munchkin]

Well, I hope you got your $11’s worth!

We certainly did!!! And it was fun to try different things.

 

[talitali]

I canceled the HomeChef service but keep buying the meals at the store. What I save with that is the decisions and the shopping. They don’t save me time beyond that. I do find some of them inefficient in terms of how they are cooked but doing it differently means more dishes usually (simultaneous cooking) which doesn’t bother me usually I just feel like their recipes are written poorly.

tonight is chicken bordelaise sauce and asparagus with Parmesan potatoes.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I canceled the HomeChef service but keep buying the meals at the store. What I save with that is the decisions and the shopping. They don’t save me time beyond that. I do find some of them inefficient in terms of how they are cooked but doing it differently means more dishes usually (simultaneous cooking) which doesn’t bother me usually I just feel like their recipes are written poorly.

tonight is chicken bordelaise sauce and asparagus with Parmesan potatoes.

We got a discount on our Home for the Perpetually Bewildered rent in exchange for providing our own meals. I have to go for Low FODMAP meals, which are impossible to get anywhere except two companies…
Epicured.com and Modifyhealth.com

But MrSue really likes the HomeChef, which we used to get delivered, but that was before I figured out that Low FODMAP really cured my issues.

 

[talitali]

I’ve been buying the Factor_ meals. They are precooked and you just reheat and it’s fantastic. I buy them for lunches at work. It saves me money and I’m not making bad choices. I also just got blood work done and my protein levels have definitely increased and I attribute that to the meals.

I’m fortunate that I can throw money at problems at this point.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I’ve been buying the Factor_ meals. They are precooked and you just reheat and it’s fantastic. I buy them for lunches at work. It saves me money and I’m not making bad choices. I also just got blood work done and my protein levels have definitely increased and I attribute that to the meals.

I’m fortunate that I can throw money at problems at this point.

Great! I think I liked Factor, too. But the “okay” low FODMAP meals cost the same as Factor; the good ones are AT LEAST twice as much. Still…it’s better than feeling lousy all the time.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I’m fortunate that I can throw money at problems

I am very glad for you!

 

[southernlady]

We discovered that Schwan’s delivered to the house across the street so a couple of months ago, I wondered over to it and yes, I could purchase right then and there. So I did. We’ve done that a few times now. Told Charles we might want to go ahead and sign up. They have a decent selection that we like. And everything we’ve had so far has been very good. You do have to pick thru what’s there. But since it’s already being delivered into this neighborhood, why the hell not.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

We discovered that Schwan’s delivered to the house across the street so a couple of months ago, I wondered over to it and yes, I could purchase right then and there. So I did. We’ve done that a few times now. Told Charles we might want to go ahead and sign up. They have a decent selection that we like. And everything we’ve had so far has been very good. You do have to pick thru what’s there. But since it’s already being delivered into this neighborhood, why the hell not.

We liked Schwan’s, too…except…all that “free delivery” stuff did not apply in my zip code.

 

[southernlady]

We liked Schwan’s, too…except…all that “free delivery” stuff did not apply in my zip code.

I wouldn’t have considered them except I saw the truck delivering across the street so I knew our zip code was covered.

 

[Saranlhess]

We have tried many delivered meals/meal kits. Have you?

(And, DianaCox , it occurred to me today that SOME of these may be a good idea for use while traveling, if for no other reason than all the shopping is done for you and there’s no need to buy/store/toss large quantities of unused things.)

Because of MY intolerances, the nuke-and-eat meals are a no go. Things I cannot tolerate are already in the food, so that doesn’t work. But we did try some services BEFORE I knew what was bothering me, so we have (limited) experience with them. ALSO, I’m not a very discerning diner. My anosmia (inability to smell anything) surely reduces my gustatory acuity. So, no comments on taste, because I’m clueless.

~Homechef.com…starting at $6.99/serving and going way up from there…lots of options…LOTS…some limitations. You must order either two or four of each meal. (But they are part of Kroger and SOME of the stuff sold in stores is single serving.). You can order meals that take about 30 minutes to prepare, or 15 minute meals, or oven-ready no-prep meals or even grill-ready. Look for good introductory offers. A warning…if you decide to cancel, you have to cancel VERY EARLY or end up with one more delivery that you get to pay for.

~Factor75.com…factor75…$10.79/serving…fully prepped, cooked meals. Nuke and eat. But since you can’t take the garlic out of the heat-and-eat Grilled Chicken Parmesan meal, it’s not a service I can use. MrSue says they are good, though.

~EveryTable.com…This is a local, Los Angeles-down-to-San Diego Area, potentially-socialist (because of the pricing structure), service that delivers in some areas and has storefront availability and is even on or near college campuses. Its mission is to compete with unhealthy fast food places. The prices vary depending on location, as in…it costs less in low income areas. Some items have to be pre-ordered. They also offer a la cart items like Mac & cheese, green beans, salmon, chicken, etc. But I put it in here because you may have some relatively unknown service like this in your area.

Last one for right now, although we have done several more:

~EveryPlate.com…pretty cheap, $4.99/serving…we just finished our first week, and so far, so good. It is the Budget Division of HelloFresh.com, which we have also used, but my fingers are tired. Their menu is potentially boring, as even though the protein items are quite good, almost every meal has oven roasted potatoes and carrots as a side dish, so we’ll probably do this every other week.

SO, SPILL!! Have you tried any of these services?


BTW, with osteoporosis, standing for long periods is painful and these services eliminate a lot of grocery store time and standing in the kitchen prepping and cooking time. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I've tried Factor before for 5 months and loved them! They are here local in IL.

I haven't tried them again since my DS and I hate food waste and am not longer able to tolerate leftovers. When I'm able to eat more, I am hoping to try them again.

My FH absolutely loves Factor too, and home chef.

 

[southernlady]

Since I wrote my post in April 2023, Schwan’s aka Yelloh has gone out of business after over 75 years. We got our last delivery on 11/6. The trucks stopped on 11/8, an end of an era. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. Charles adored their ice cream, it was decadent. The richest we’ve ever found! And they did a great pot roast.

I’ve considered Home Chef, since they are at Kroger, we have a couple of large Kroger’s in the area, and I’ve seen some possibilities. But not impressed with most of their options. I guess I’ll just keep cooking myself.