Meal Kits

[dlockers]

Anyone on here have any good recommendations?

I have tried Mindful, HelloFresh and Gousto. Frankly Mindful was amazing but too expensive and the packaging was a bit annoying. HelloFresh was mostly salt and I wouldn't recommend it; the packaging even worse and non-recyclable. Gousto has been the best balance at £35 for 4 decent meals for 2.

I should probably get off this 'crack' though and just do a normal shop. But the easiness of it is totally undeniable in a really busy house.

Thoughts?

 

[dlockers]

I'd love to have Mindful Chef because of the 1 portion ingredients, I don't have much freezer space to store bulk cooking.

When I looked earlier though, it was like £11 per meal for a single person which is quite frankly mental, I might as well get Deliveroo each evening.

Yeah it is quite costly. I am black listed from abusing new Customer codes, as that was the only way I could take part! The food was incredible though. Really well thought through. I saved all the recipe books to recreate at a later date.

Have tried Gusto and Hello Fresh in the past but once the offers ran out we didn't bother. I dont like the ton of packaging and its pretty much better to find things you like and get all the bits yourself.

Just find recipes, build an online order, delivered.

How many weeks did you do them for before you "switched" back? Do you make recipes you learnt through HF/Gousto? Whats your net spending position going solo? I used to definitely waste quite a bit as I'd have incomplete recipes/ forget to oven cook bits of the overall meal. Following the cards has been the life saver from a timing perspective with a very hectic job.

Personally, and it's just my opinion, I think they show the worst side of laziness there is. I just don't get it. Pick what meals you want, decipher the ingredients, then go buy. Simple. Furthermore, some of those ingredients can carry on being used.

My son and his girlfriend get them and the packaging is shameful.. In an age when we are supposed to be reducing packaging and waste, how on earth they get away with this is beyond me.

Good luck to the people that run them though.. Profiteering from sheer laziness.

Gousto is cardboard so not really that impactful. Better than buying a load of food which ends up being thrown away. Meat is definitely reduced packaging as well, as it comes in catering style vacuum packs.

Regarding the laziness, it is actually less about being lazy and more about convenience: I value my time more than supermarket shopping and trawling the internet to discover and try new recipes 4 days a week. I also dislike the daily grind of working out what todays recipe is. Cooking is only a way to switch off from a 10-14hr shift if it doesn't require vast amounts of mental energy.

Give it a go on a voucher code instead of being a moaner and you might be surprised that there is a world outside of corn beef hash and meat and 2 veg Unless of course you are generation microwave meal.

 

[dlockers]

You know you can discover the world out there by looking up recipes online, and buying the ingredients yourself.

It's not "Meal kits" vs meat and 2 veg + microwave meals.

Well, I'm sure you get this, but that was the point of this thread. Is really the alternative to getting decent, different meals each week, me putting in a load of time to research and buy my own stuff? Feels like a step backwards in terms of trying new things, food waste, and freeing up time.

I was kinda hoping someone would link a recipe site, much like Gousto or the others offer, that I can then click through and it creates my cart in Waitrose or whoever. That'd be cool.

 

[dlockers]

You understand this comes across as pretentious, and is very ironic. You understand books have existed for thousands of years, right?

Not getting you but sure thang.

I used to do Gousto a few years ago. It's expensive but I like to use it every now and then if only to try new meals and keep the recipe cards.

Not something I'd commit to full time though, too expensive

I think thats the inflection point I am going through now! £35 quid a week for 4 nights meals...

 

[dlockers]

I laughed at it. Him claiming superiority because he uses a service which provides all ingredients, portioned into little plastic boxes, with very easy to follow instructions whereas people like you and I who cook from scratch, prepare our food, plan our meals and do the shopping are clearly on corn beef hash and meat and 2 veg. The mind boggles. I'd be willing to bet that I eat a much more varied and 'exciting' menu than he does with his 'ready' meals! So incredibly pretentious. He also got a Waitrose mention in!

Glad someone got what I meant. I cook from scratch, nearly always everyday - most days twice. I don't need some subscription service as I research and travel the world to find amazing foods I love and want to replicate. But of course, I must be eating hash or microwave lasagne

OK so my alternative is to travel the world, find amazing foods, learn how to replicate them and then go and shop myself?

Thanks chaps, feeling very enlightened about how I get off of these services which you are against, lol.

 

[dlockers]

I laughed at it. Him claiming superiority because he uses a service which provides all ingredients, portioned into little plastic boxes, with very easy to follow instructions whereas people like you and I who cook from scratch, prepare our food, plan our meals and do the shopping are clearly on corn beef hash and meat and 2 veg. The mind boggles. I'd be willing to bet that I eat a much more varied and 'exciting' menu than he does with his 'ready' meals! So incredibly pretentious. He also got a Waitrose mention in!

Glad someone got what I meant. I cook from scratch, nearly always everyday - most days twice. I don't need some subscription service as I research and travel the world to find amazing foods I love and want to replicate. But of course, I must be eating hash or microwave lasagne

OK so my alternative is to travel the world, find amazing foods, learn how to replicate them and then go and shop myself?

Thanks chaps, feeling very enlightened about how I get off of these services which you are against, lol.

 

[dlockers]

It's called a book....

Care to share your favourites or are you just focused on increasing your post count?

Gousto for example, lets me select 4 meals in about 3 minutes from:
15 min recipes
Veg/fish/other specialty categories
5min prep -> into the oven dishes

I get one big box on a Sunday that is paper-packaged containing all the bits I need with literally 0 food waste. I get all the macros presented to me in a way that lets me meet my needs (high calorie/high protein) and timing.

The only way I can see getting off of this drug which is a huge time saver, is by researching on a periodic bases recipes and then going through an online shop (or waste my life in a supermarket to save a fiver).

If you don't have anything to add other than pointing me towards "book" then maybe this isn't the thread for you.

 

[dlockers]

I completely get the convenience of these things, but that is why they are so expensive. You seemed to start this thread looking for something that doesn't exist. You want the conveneicne of Gusto et al but don't want to pay for it. You either pay for it, you create a mealplan and do the shopping or you buy ready meals/take out. You can't have it both, you need to pick one.

I've tried to start a 'share your mealplan' thread a few times but it never seems to gain much traction for some reason but I think it would be a good addition to the threads and make that research so much quicker!

This is our menu this week (it's vegan, but you can easily add meat/fish to anything). I think everything apart from the celeriac will be ready in sub 30 minutes (including prep/cooking) and it takes 45 minutes every week or so to go to the supermarket to get the ingredients. For me, going to the supermarket is the highlight of my week due to lockdown so I don't see it as a waste of my time or an inconvenience but your mileage may vary. Also, you will save substantially more than a fiver.

Beyond Meat Bolognese with Zoodles
Whole celeriac with caper brown butter raisin sauce and turnip roasties.
Spicy peanut butter zoodles.
Aubergine larb with rice.
Walnut meat tacos with refined beans.
Tofu in purgatory and sweet potato 'toast'.
Tofu Cesar.
Cauliflower pizza.
Gado Gado.
Hot & Sour Soup.

It wasn't so much about not paying for it - just the convenience and to remove "meal anxiety" from the list of worries. Saving cash was a bonus side effect which I was hoping to get some anecdotal experience on.

I kind of mused about what I was after, which would be a Gousto type service that linked into some delivery service. I was hoping it already existed but no luck so far. Affiliate links clearly not paying out much to make it a decent business case.

There was a website called "enter your ingredients and we can tell you what you could make" which was useful.

No, no you're totally right. Clearly you're strapped for time. You don't have time for finding recipes online because you spend so much of your time online arguing over finding recipes (rather than finding the recipes themselves).

You want to try Cambodian cuisine? Youtube -> "Cambodian recipes" done.
You want to try Thai cuisine? Youtube -> "Thai food recipes" done.

It's really not that had. But you know it must be hard to find the time to find recipes when you spend all your time researching where to find the best recipes are and then arguing about it.

Great post, thanks, please tell me more.

 

[dlockers]

If it works for you, that's amazing but you don't need to try and put people down for not using it was my point.

There is a million cooking books, youtube channels, and websites.

You have both been triggered by me responding to a chap who said I was the worst kind of lazy. Go figure

Edit: Great contribution again, thanks. We have at least gone from "book" to "youtube channels and websites"

 

[dlockers]

I suppose it's going to be difficult for a food blog to build the feature to add ingredients into a cart with one click unless they have a tie in with a supermarket? I'm no coder though!

Tesco recipes have a button where you can add the ingredients to your basket, Waitrose doesn't which I find surprising but maybe the other supermarkets do. I've not actually looked for this before, but it's a great feature!


(This is Jamie's smoky veggie chilli - seems very expensive!)

Will check this out immediately. Thank you!

 

[dlockers]

Yes, if you visit the supermarket/market you can pick the vegetables and ingrediants that are fresh, and adjust the menu as appropriate - variety.
even the idea of having vegetables and meat delivered from a supermarket is an anathema, maybe some discrete veg/meat boxes are ok;

most days we have green veg of some sort with the meal, cauli/brocoli/cabbage/... if those were delivered as single portions, vs a whole vegetable,
they won't be fresh/nutritious/tasty. .... so I'm out.

Meal boxes and ready-meals have there place, some of the older neighbours use them for convenience, I'd think the frozen ones could be the fresher of the two, too.

Slightly less fresh veg versus risking mingling with the great unwashed (this is a joke!)

But yes Ocado even made fun of this point in one of their ads, suggesting the machines are as picky as we are.

I personally don't mind a wonky veg being delivered a bit bruised in a box if it saves me all the aforementioned time.

Happy to change though, hence the thread.

 

[dlockers]

I'm not wonky/bruised averse , but you can't deliver a few cruiceiferous florettes, or, a cabbage segment, in a box meal.

hellofresh seem to be pushing their brand on tv this evening ... that's an oxymoron company name, if ever I heard one .. a bold claim.

I'll take a picture on Sunday when the box arrives, but I certainly do receive fresh veg. Not sure how you think food gets delivered to stores, but they don't grow it in the back, thats for sure.

 

[dlockers]

Invest in a pantry of ingredients - dried spices, herbs, sauces etc. It's then very cheap to put together a nice meal, just add your fresh stuff and away you go.

As you make recipes, copy them into a cloud app and document yourself some tips. Next time it's a doddle when you're in the supermarket to see what bits you need.
Don't take the recipe at face value, if you like garlic, add more, and note it for next time.

This week for example we've had
Silician Meatballs with Basil and Fennel
Gai Yang Chicken with Oriental Egg Rice

All I needed to buy fresh was Mince, Basil, Chicken, Coriander and some Lemon Grass. I had all the dried stuff and a few other bits in stock (onions, frozen peas, carotts). Total cost less than £10, and that's for a family of 4.

Yeah we have this. Just the convenience is "mega". Especially with the 7mo old. The integrated recipe creators in the big supermarkets seems like a good halfway house.

These things are basically ratpacks, or MREs, for people who like to pretend they're cooking... except MREs are actually cheaper!!
Wife sometimes gets the Abel & Cole stuff when it's heavily discounted, but I'm really not a fan, myself.

I get what you are saying but that is more like Huel/meal replacement territory. These are boxes of fresh veg, meat and herbs/condiments with recipe cards. I get half a lettuce if I only need half a lettuce, for example...

They were attempting to supply exactly the right number of garlic cloves too, but they soon gave up and just bung a load in. They have now given up on that and just bung a couple of bulbs in now, lol.

Edit: Crikey, those A&C boxes are dear.

 

[dlockers]

@dLockers

Morrisons have started something that you might be interested in

https://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/eatfresh/recipes

Works out at £2.50 a portion which is much more acceptable than some.

This is great, thank you. Will take a look.

 

[dlockers]

It's still cooking, it's just that everything is portioned. Not everyone likes cooking and they seem like a decent way for people to learn, although they are overpriced.

The way I have built the business case is, I only need one "bad day" where I am not in the mood to figure out what to cook and defer to a takeaway/Deliveroo and it has paid for itself. The fact the packages sit there waiting to be used is another incentive to not divert.

 

[dlockers]

I know what they are. I have used them previously.
It's basically a box of a few 'not-quite-ready' meals.
<snip>

It is no different than a trolley full of veg, meat, herbs and "portion" sizes of things like tomato paste, soy sauce, etc. Not quite sure if you are thinking about the same box as I am...

 

[dlockers]

I am.
Like I said, I have used them before. I still think they're a silly idea, especially at the ******** rip-off prices.
The only thing they teach you is that you can get three or four of the same meals for half the price if you get the trolley-full.

Can you describe what the difference is between a trolley full of stuff touched by loads of randomers squeezing and handling them, versus a box being delivered with the same contents then?

They are a great idea if you aren't as price sensitive/ value the convenience. Which millions do as it is a hugely growing market. As an alternative to food waste, eating out or getting delivery, it is significantly cheaper.

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/meal-kit-delivery-services-market

Edit: I really am not 'triggered' by your opinion, it is just your retort is a bit odd - feels like they have offended you or something

 

[dlockers]

How are they ready meals... if they're not you know, ready?

He qualified it with "not-so-ready, ready-meals".

You know, like raw ingredients that need cooking.

I assume he goes shopping for these not-so-ready, ready-meals too. Raw ingredients must mean him out in the allotment with a hoe I suppose.

 

[dlockers]

About half the price for 2-4 times the number of meals. Both will have been handled by randomers, so you're not saving anything on that front.

If you aren't price-sensitive, then surely Gordon Ramsay comes round to conveniently cook you something, which saves you even more hassle?
<snip>

I'm not a purist cookery snob and will happily grab a can of soup or All Day Breakfast... But kits have always seemed like the worst of all worlds, sold for double the price.

The chap who eats All Day Breakfast from a tin preaching

Price sensitivity is a term that describes the individuals indifference to money leaving the bank account versus the perceived value. For example, I wouldn't pay a cent for a tin of processed entrails ('all day breakfast'). This is how every transaction you make on a day-to-day basis is psychologically processed.

People buy flowers for £19 quid that disappear the next week, same thing.

What is a rip off to you is valuable to others.

They teach you nothing about actual cooking, in terms of how ingredients work in different ways, why things go well with this and not with that, or any of the science and craft involved. It's just following assembly instructions. At least online usually recipes give you some insight into why you're doing things a certain way.



But what if you don't fancy that particular recipe?
You can't use it for something else - It's all been measured and portioned exactly, for just those specific recipes. Is that still not a waste of food and money?

To your last point, they have certainly helped me discover new recipes. I've transcended the stir fry to a cod thai green curry without using a jar of thai paste - so you are also wrong there.

Why wouldn't you fancy the particular recipe? You select it a couple of days before from a huge list of options. Are you sure you have used one of these websites before?

The point of the thread was to see what viable alternatives sat inbetween the grossly overpriced boxes for what raw materials it contains, and going to Aldi to buy all-day-breakfast and a recipe list of a handful of things you can remember.

 

[dlockers]

I sometimes also dine at Michelin starred restaurants. What's your point?


I know... and I see this as a rip-off.
However, I would wonder where the line is between what people actually see as value, and what they think is value just because that's how it's sold to them... Case in point, the numerous AIOs sold as "The ultimate cooling device", when it can't even match a basic air cooler.


Was this with the exact ingredients in the exact portions they give you, or did you come up with this using your own brain?
Were you given a fish, or were you taught to fish?


People do sometimes change their minds. They don't all plan every meal a week in advance and then stick rigidly to it, come hell or high water.


Very.


As you have phrased it right there, I would say a list of ingredients and quantities which can make several possible recipes. Multiply that up to give you enough for a week, and there you go.
You save money by buying in bulk, you're not tied to exact recipes, you get to broaden your exposure to different cuisine and possibly even learn a few things along the way, or experiment with variations.

Okay Victor Meldrew, enjoy living like a cave man /s

Edit: Out of interest, which meal kit provider did you use that didn't give you much broader cuisine options, and enlighten you on the art of the possible with regard to cooking?

And which recipes have you invented "out of your own brain" that you would recommend I try?