Is a Meal Kit Service Worth it?

Do Meal Kits Pay Off?

I get asked a lot, if I think food kits are a worthy investment. I’m talking about the companies that ship all of the meal ingredients to your door, for you to complete the final meal preparation. I had never used such a company, so I was never able to comment. I thought it would pay off for me to answer this question for you guys, so I decided to try out the service for myself.

It was perfect timing to test a meal kit company out. I had just received a $45 off coupon in the mail to test out goodfood. After a quick research session online, I thought this would be a reputable company to try. The meal variety seemed great, lots of veggies are included in most selections and many of their ingredients are sourced from Canadian farmers, which I liked.

If you go online, many of the meal prep companies including HelloFRESH, Chefs Plate and Miss Fresh, offer discounts for your first week of meals. This is a great way to try out the different companies before getting locked into a plan.

After testing out goodfood for one week, here’s what I found.

General Pros and Cons of Using a Meal Preparation Service

Meal Kit Pros

1. Quick and easy meal making.
   Finally, you can stop worrying about planning a dinner menu each week! goodfood allows you to select super quick (15 minutes or less of prep) menu options. Many of the other meals take no more than 40 minutes to make, which is pretty good considering you’re often making quite elaborate dishes with fresh ingredients. The goodfood recipe cards are very clear; if you follow them you will be following all possible cooking shortcuts.
   
2. Great Variety.
   You will no longer be bored with your dinners! The meal kit menus change weekly, giving you lots of options to choose from. There are meals made with any type of meat you can think of, and a wide variety of vegetarian selections available. I have always had difficulty thinking up creative seafood meals, and I was given numerous different meal selections containing fish. This benefit makes the kits a great service to use when you are tired of your old standby recipes.
   
3. Creative and flavourful options.
   With goodfood I have made Kimchi Jijigae with Pork Strips and Cod Agrodolce with Roasted Carrots; dishes I never would have thought up on my own. The flavour injected into these meals makes them delicous. My husband even loved the fish dish I made, something I never thought would be possible!
   
4. Clear calorie count.
   For those of you trying to balance your macronutrients and calories, this information is provided for each goodfood recipe. Calories, fat, protein, sugars and sodium information for each meal and serving, can all be found online. This is a nice option, since may of us are eating portions that are far too large and calorie laden.

Meal Kit Cons

1. Creates a dependency.
   There are often ‘spice mixes’ or staple ingredients (ie. full, pre-made veggie patties) included, so it’s difficult to replicate the recipe entirely on your own. Being given each and every ingredient for the meals doesn’t allow you to slowly build up your own unique arsenal of seasonings, spices and vinegar. Until I had the basics on hand, I was always a little hesitant to get too creative in the kitchen on my own.
   
2. It’s costly.
   The meals are generally $11 – $15 per serving. This is cheaper than most restaurants, however, you’re still doing a lot of prep work. My calculations show that you could make a similar meal entirely on your own for half the cost. But of course, you’d then have to spend extra time meal planning and grocery shopping. You have to figure out if the upcharge is worth it to you.
   
3. Limited veggies.
   Most of the meals seem to contain two servings of vegetables per meal. I know this is a good veggie count for most people. However, I like to use, and encourage my personal training clients to consume three or more servings of veggies during dinner. This is the time of day when we should be eating more low-calorie vegetables.

To Sum it up…

Overall, I think meal kits are a terrific way to make a healthy, flavour-bursting meal when you’re tight for time or pressed to come up with a new favourite dish to add into your regular meal cycle.

I like getting creative in the kitchen on my own, and switching up recipes by adding my own flair. For this reason, I find the kits too restrictive to use over the long-term. They are also too costly for me to consider using on a regular basis, but I will use them as an “occasional” option.

I will continue to explore some additional meal kit companies over the next few months to create a comparison of a few companies for you, in the future. In the meantime, if you have used a meal kit company, I would love to hear your feedback below.