Need suggestions for stores with pre-made meals?!

Rannoch3908

I am sure many of you know what Factor or Freshly is right?! Delicious chef made meals that you can just pop in microwave (not frozen).

Do you know any stores (King Soopers, Safeway, Walmart, Sproutts, Luckys, Trade Joes, etc) that might have something similar I can just go get on Sundays, throw into fridge, and grab and go each morning to have fresh lunches for the week we can just toss in microwave?

I found some at Sproutts but they are like $9 each which is pricey for us.
We like to meal prep every other week - then in between do something like this or frozen meals.

janejellyroll

I am not as familiar with the other stores, but I know that Trader Joe's has wraps and salads. I don't think they have fresh food that you can reheat.

SuzySunshine99

Quite honestly, even at the chain stores, what they offer as far as fresh meals is going to vary from store to store. My Kroger might have very different offerings from your Kroger.
You really just need to visit your local stores and see what they have and what works for you.

Rannoch3908

Was trying to avoid driving to 4-5 stores today - ha ha.

cwolfman13

Sprouts and Albertsons and Costco...but those are the only stores I go to for groceries. I would imagine most stores would have something like that in the deli area. I don't know that any of them will be particularly cheap as it is fresh food that is being prepared for your convenience to just reheat, and unfortunately convenience comes with a heftier price usually.

whoami67

I've only seen them places for much more than the $9 Sprouts is charging you, like at the old My Fit Foods store( I miss that place). In pre-covid days, you could make up some meals from the prepared food buffet at Whole Foods or similar stores. Those are gone now.

Rannoch3908

Might just have to go with the Sproutts stuff.

goal06082021

I think you're likely to find a similar price point at any store that offers this kind of thing - that's the tradeoff of not preparing the food yourself, the person who does must be paid for their time and energy. My weekly meal prep works out to under $5 per serving at most usually - I understand if your schedule simply doesn't allow you to spend your own time on this, sometimes it be like that, but it may be worth looking at your day-to-day and seeing if you can scrape together a couple of hours one day a week to batch-cook and portion things out.

Rannoch3908

I could - I have plenty of time if I wanted to eat the same 1 or 2 things over and over again.

But I want to be able to go buy stuff like this - kinda hard to meal prep just 1 of each:

---

1 - pot roast meal
1 - meat loaf meal
1 - pesto chicken plate
1- spaghetti meatball
1 - chicke alfredo
1 - carne asada bowl
1 - pulled pork bowl

kshama2001

Rannoch3908 wrote: »

I could - I have plenty of time if I wanted to eat the same 1 or 2 things over and over again.

But I want to be able to go buy stuff like this - kinda hard to meal prep just 1 of each:

---

1 - pot roast meal
1 - meat loaf meal
1 - pesto chicken plate
1- spaghetti meatball
1 - chicken alfredo
1 - carne asada bowl
1 - pulled pork bowl

Pot roast meals should freeze well so you can have a serving or two and freeze the rest for later meals.

For the chicken dishes, you could prep the chicken ahead of time, or make for one dish with extra for the second type of dish. Even alfredo sauce made from scratch comes together quickly, and I've found some brands of jarred sauce to be perfectly acceptable. Ditto with pesto - I can make this from scratch in the time it takes to cook pasta, but my Mom who is Ms. Cook From Scratch uses Classico brand pesto. In the summer I make big batches of pesto and freeze them it it little plastic containers.

My favorite meatballs are ones I make from scratch, with does require some time, but I have also used precooked frozen or refrigerated meatballs with jarred sauce, and the meatball and sauce part is done in the time it takes to cook the pasta.

For carne asada and carnita bowls - is there a Chipotles near you? (I personally have to be very careful with portion control at Chipotles, but with pre-planning this is not an issue.)

kshama2001

Rannoch3908 wrote: »

Was trying to avoid driving to 4-5 stores today - ha ha.

Well, you don't have to do that all in one day. Over time you can learn what's offered where and plan accordingly.

Strudders67

I can't help re your actual question, as I'm not in the US, but do you have a freezer? Much of what you've listed could be made as a larger meal - and then freeze additional portions.

My freezer is full of different curries, different stirfries, chilli, bolognese, tagine, different roast meats, cheesy tomato pasta bake, casseroles, cottage pie, fish pie and more, including rice that is cooked and bagged in me-sized portions. Most of my 'main' dishes contain a lot of veg as well. Sometimes I'll have grilled chicken or grilled fish on rice, with veg, but mostly, at least 3 or 4 times a week, I just have to get something out of the freezer in the morning and reheat it in the evening. You could just as easily get something out of the freezer the night before and heat it for lunch.

I rarely have the same thing within any 3 week periods. If you prep during week 1, you could make enough to do week 2, part of week 4 and part of week 6. During week 3, you cook different things and make enough to do part of week 4 and part of week 6. You then have some variety and can mix things. By cooking during alternate weeks, you can swap things around so it's not a case of "It's Monday, therefore I must be having x".

Noreenmarie1234

Wegmans has everything! A hot bar cold bar salad bar, and like a whole area of like 5 aisles of prepared foods that you just heat up.

spiriteagle99

All of our local groceries have some sort of premade meals like that. You might also want to check out the Hormel meals in the butcher area of the grocery. They have things like pot roast, meat loaf, pork roast, steak tips, etc. Add a vegetable and you have a good dinner. They aren't frozen and are really pretty good. There are also some pulled pork in that part of the store that are pretty good and some that are more sauce than meat.

lgfrie

If you live in the DC metro area (DC VA MD) take a look at Mighty Meals. eatmightymeals.net. I have been eating their stuff for 20 months and it's done me wonders. I've lost tons of weight while eating their somewhat huge portions of mostly healthy food. The food is substantially higher quality than anything you will get from Freshly or Factor, which I've also tried; some of the meals are restaurant quality gourmet. They are delivered fresh (never frozen) to my door on Sunday mornings. Their lasagne (630 calories) is hands down the best piece of lasagne I've had in my life. Calories are precisely counted out and it's put my diet on total autopilot - eat their food, lose the weight, because I can set up a perfect food day of 1800 cals and be pretty stuffed all day.

missysippy930

Our local grocery store has meals like this. Usually $4.00 to &6.00, depending on what you get, in the deli department. I purchase one every week for my husbands dinner as a change from his normal supper. He works 2 to 10 pm. They even have prime rib, but it’s expensive. There’s a gas station here (Kwik Trip) that has recently began selling them too. I haven’t purchased any from them so I don’t know prices.

Since you meal prep, you probably already know it would be cheaper to just prep more. Sometimes it’s just nice to take advantage of convenience, and get something different, even though it costs more.

Kait_Dee

I’m in Canada - but I just sent a host of fresh, organic/grass fed meals to a family in the states coping through COVID. I think I sent 24 meals and 20 snacks/add ons for $350 or something from Realeats.com - they were delicious looking and the family is really enjoying them. They only ship to certain states, but the quality is great, the cost wasn’t terrible and the customer service is fantastic.

You can select from 7 days of three meals, 5 days of only lunches and dinners ($120/10 meals) etc. The calorie values may need to be something to look at to keep yourself in range, but the selection was great and the menu changes weekly. You set up a subscription (which can be paused or cancelled with no penalty) and they send it out to you. I think it arrives fresh every Wednesday, lasts up to a week in the fridge and freezes well.

Psychgrrl

janejellyroll wrote: »

I am not as familiar with the other stores, but I know that Trader Joe's has wraps and salads. I don't think they have fresh food that you can reheat.

Being a fan of Trader Joe’s wraps and salads, I can say they only last a few days (expiration date is 3-4 days after purchase). I would suspect other fresh food solutions have similar freshness limitations. You’ll need to plan on a couple shopping trips a week.

I usually meal prep on weekends with my instapot and some chicken/potatoes and reheat during the week with some frozen veggies thrown in.

Akg103

Fresh Market does weekly meal deals. They are $20 for a family of 4. They are not exactly ready to go you do have to do a little work when cooking . But most of the prep is done for you. And they can also be modified to be lower calorie for the most part. Ex burger no bun or they have a veggie side as an option vs pasta.