meal kit delivery services: worth it?

For the holidays, my sister-in-law gifted my husband and I a week of a meal kit delivery service to use after the baby was born and after our parents left since she said she isn’t close by to come help afterwards. So sweet!

When my mother-in-law boarded her plane that sunny Friday morning, I wondered, what will I make for dinner next week…and how? With my newborn’s lack of a feeding schedule, making dinner was tricky and who wants take out every night?

We love to cook and love fresh meals so I signed up for Hello Fresh with the gift card she got us and we were impressed with the service. We liked our vegetarian option meals and they were simple enough for my husband to prepare while I fed the baby and got our toddler ready for bed. One of the meals was a delicious Chipotle Seitan Chile!

What these services offer you is saving a trip to the grocery store, a few meals per week already planned out and thought ahead, fresh cooked dinner that is unique from what you probably normally make, pretty cost effective in comparison to eating out-plus healthier, excitement every time you get a box, a way to involve spouses and older kids in dinner prep and a way to sharpen your culinary repertoire 😉

In the past, meal trains were super useful for first time moms (and still are!) but now with 2 in tow and my friends trying to equally juggle multiple kids activities etc., it’s hard to have them come drop off prepped meals…although some of my superstar mom friends did this time around and I was so grateful.

Yet the meal kit delivery service is a perfect option to gift to new mommas if you are a busy momma or live far away yourself but want to help out.

And newborn or not, meal prep kits are convenient for all types of families. My single, professional working sister uses Blue Apron, and likes that you can swap meals out and skip weeks. She made me a salad once from her kit that was phenomenal.

We also tried another service this past week to compare to Hello Fresh, called Plated which a friend recommended, and we really loved how there were organic ingredients included, plus was super fresh and had unique choices. With Plated, you could also swap out recipes like Blue Apron, something Hello Fresh didn’t offer us.

Here’s the spring minestrone soup we made the other night- it incorporated leeks and endive… things I normally wouldn’t cook with but loved trying out here! It was delicious, by the way. And yes, that is pesto. And a parmesan crisp on top (I definitely will be making that crisp at other times-YUM).

I wouldn’t say the recipes are all kid friendly, you may have to modify if you have toddlers, but the ingredients are easy to work with if you wanted to make something they would like on the side, (I could give my 3 year old daughter the beans and vegetables from the soup instead of the soup itself since she isn’t into soups)

We are definitely going to be getting more weeks of meal kits in the future! Have you used a meal kit service before? Which one did you love? Comment below, would love to hear:)

-Puja

p.s. I am in NO WAY affiliated with any of these companies:)