A Sign of the Times

With all the options out there to make sure we eat (food delivery, pick up, drive thrus and meal preparation businesses), my daughter and I decided to try the meal kits delivered in boxes as we thought this would be helpful for us with our limited time. In our household we have three children, my daughter and myself. Besides limited time we also decided to try these meal kits, so we could try out some other cuisines. I had been getting complaints that the food was always the same, so I thought this seemed like a good alternative to splash up our meals at least for a short time. Either they'd appreciate my cooking more or we'd find something that we might extend to a longer term. I always tried recipes from the internet or recipe books I couldn't part with, so this was a little different.

It's easy to find these boxes of meals on the internet as there is quite an assortment of them: Good Food, Hello Fresh, Chef's Plate to name a few. You can search them on the internet as meal kit delivery. They also deliver coupons to your home offering deals on some free meals or percentages off. There's also some more local meal kit delivery services as well which might also be worth exploring. So if you're going to try this, you'll have a nice selection.

After I chose my first meals, I excitedly waited for our first box, but that first week left me a little less than impressed with the flavours. That is my own fault though as I did throw in meals that some of the ingredients I wasn't sure about ie I did not know what they were. The pictures that were on the site looked better than they tasted at least in that first week, but definitely I think that was my fault in one of the two cases as well because the sauce they sent along with one particular meal was labelled spicy. The kids aka the test subjects in this case are not spice kids, so with that in mind, I put it only on half of the recipe. Well to my surprise the spicy side tasted better; two of the grandkids whom I didn't think would try this, did. And they liked it. The spicy sauce not only added much flavour but a darker more palatable colour than the plain grey colour if it was not added. So what I learned from this is do not alter the meal kit recipes!

I did like the fact that the recipe card laid out everything in a minimal number of steps; I'd say the most steps I had on the card was 7 (maybe). The recipes were easy to follow; but one thing I didn't catch until maybe my 2nd or 3rd meal was in the top left hand corner, there were oven instructions that were to be started before starting the meal. It does say read all the instructions, so I thought that might be better placed in the first step.

Another plus with these boxes is that the time on the card for your meal is accurate if you follow it in the way they lay it out for you. They are also very easy to follow; so if you don't have much experience cooking, this may be the route for you. I had one of my grandkids assist me with a salad and dressing. With the instructions she made a very tasty dressing to go with the salad she prepped, and she looked quite proud of herself. That's another plus if you're getting younger members to help out in the kitchen especially when the end result is delicious.

Just like I wanted as well were diverse flavours and some foods I had not tried before. I do like trying different foods just to see what it tastes like so I was quite surprised that there was more than a few things I hadn't tried before. I found a cheese I'd never even heard of before, but found totally delicious in its saltiness. I did not notice this while I was using it for our meal, but my granddaughter pointed out that it was halal as well which I thought would be a plus for Islamic cooks.

In addition all the ingredients were high quality. The vegetables were bright and fresh; the meat was also high quality as far as flavour goes. This was one complaint from my eldest granddaughter, "It tastes more like chicken than when we buy it." She for some reason didn't like that, but everyone else did. In many recipes they also send seasoning blends, so that you can't duplicate the recipes on your own unless you have a lab to find out what the herbs or spices were and in what measurements.

After you eat your meals, the only thing left are dessert and the dishes. I am not sure if they could package a quick dessert after these meals or how long that would take, so I guess I can still be in charge of that. And dishes well they can be delegated.

The last pro I have for you is that you don't have to set foot out of your house for your meal. It's delivered directly to your door. Overall I liked our meal kit experience as it had way more positives than negatives. I think if I hone my own likes as far as flavours go and stick to those, I'd probably be much less likely to find meals I don't like than meals I do like.

If you would like to read a bit more on the history of meal kits and the affect Covid-19 has had on increasing their popularity, here is a great article.