Meal Prep Companies?

mrschwarten

I've been seeing lots of ads for mail-order meal prep companies, ranging from shakes to smoothies to microwave dinners, you name it. For example, Trifecta, Huel, Splendid Spoon. Does anyone here do them? I am interested in the ones you just microwave - no cooking. Any suggestions, are these good, why are they always a stinkin' subscription?

For the record, I am not interested in cooking - yes, I know I can meal prep for myself for cheaper and it's theoretically more economical. But, no. That's not what I am looking for in this discussion. Just any insight into ordered meal prep!

COGypsy

I used Splendid Spoon for a few months. I liked the food and the selection. Most were much improved by adding some kind of protein. That's a personal call though. They were fine without, but I'm not a vegetarian and I like a higher protein diet. What I didn't like is that every single thing they have is "two servings" even though I can't imagine anyone only eating half of each container. But the price was okay for the amount of food and the convenience, delivery was reliable. I just eventually got tired of a constant diet of soup variations.

I would also add that Splendid Spoon now has an "on-demand" option to just make a single order without the subscription that might be a good option to try without a commitment.

mrschwarten

@COGypsy Thanks! They look interesting, their smoothies look so good! The "on-demand" option makes me want to give it a try. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

cwolfman13

I haven't done any of the big national companies. My sister's friend has her own company here in town and rents a commercial kitchen on her prep days. I've purchased from her before and her stuff is the bomb and always super fresh. My mom and her boyfriend practically live on it. I like to cook and it gets a bit expensive for my taste, but well worth it when we want to have something on a weeknight really quick that is prepared from scratch, but for which we don't really have to do much work.

I'm a little more leery of the quality and freshness of the larger companies...plus I like supporting local and I can just put in an order, I don't have to have a monthly subscription or anything. You might want to check around. I often see flyers for local meal prep services at my gym and various fitness places.

mrschwarten

@cwolfman13 I would love to support small and local - great idea, checking out gyms and stuff! And congrats to your sister's friend for having a successful business That's a lot of it for me, is that sometimes I don't mind cooking but some nights I just don't have it in me.
Thank you for your time and suggestion, I will look local!

hesn92

My coworker did a local one here that is more tailored to getting a lot of protein, and they also had a keto option. She would order a week's worth of meals at once and they were delivered in little plastic meal prep containers. A lot of small gyms have collaborations with these little meal prep companies. She liked it because she hates to cook. She's single and doesn't like cooking for just herself, and she's always so busy. She gave me a few of her meals to try. personally I didn't think they were that great compared to something I can make at home and I also hated the plastic waste, plus I also thought it was kind of pricey, but I also love to cook and have a family to feed so it's a little different for me. For her it was nice because she didn't have to cook, she didn't have to worry about what she was going to eat for lunch and dinner every day, and it was easy for her to stay within a certain calorie range assuming she didn't eat a bunch of extra snacks.

westrich20940

My housemate has one called Factor. They are frozen meals that you can cook in the microwave (possibly also in the oven...but I'm not for sure on that).

I'd say they might be a bit pricey but she really likes them. They also have pretty excellent customer service. She was just supposed to get a delivery like on Friday but got it late -- and she just messaged their customer service to ask where it was and the person like gave her a full refund and credit on top of that...and she still got her delivery a couple days late.

They go from 4-18 meals per week.

I have eaten a couple of them in a pinch when I didn't have anything or needed something quick and the regular ones worked for me. Seems like they are usually 600-750ish calories, but I know they have a low calorie plan that's like 550 or less per meal and a keto one too if that's something you're into or need.

Basically she said as long as she can afford it she likes those. And she's tried multiple meal subscriptions.

The only one I've tried myself is the Daily Harvest ones (bc the online ads got me) but I cannot recommend them because they are expensive (IMO) for so little calories that it's laughable to call some of them a 'meal'.

lesleyannegordon2

i'd look locally, I do enjoy cooking but im a nurse and sometimes when I'm doing extra shifts or nightshift I just dont have the time or motivation. I have ordered a few times from a local company, 12 low calorie home made meals for £30 delivered, theyre all really fresh and has veg and proper meat rather than processed stuff you get in ready meals.

Xellercin

You could also just hire someone to cook for you. Many independent housekeepers will do cooking as well. Back when I worked too much, I hired my housekeeper for an extra few hours a week to bulk cook meals. It was much cheaper than I've seen for a lot of meal services because I was buying the ingredients, so not paying a markup for them, just an hourly fee for the labour.

ehju0901

westrich20940 wrote: »

My housemate has one called Factor. They are frozen meals that you can cook in the microwave (possibly also in the oven...but I'm not for sure on that).

I'd say they might be a bit pricey but she really likes them. They also have pretty excellent customer service. She was just supposed to get a delivery like on Friday but got it late -- and she just messaged their customer service to ask where it was and the person like gave her a full refund and credit on top of that...and she still got her delivery a couple days late.

They go from 4-18 meals per week.

I have eaten a couple of them in a pinch when I didn't have anything or needed something quick and the regular ones worked for me. Seems like they are usually 600-750ish calories, but I know they have a low calorie plan that's like 550 or less per meal and a keto one too if that's something you're into or need.

Basically she said as long as she can afford it she likes those. And she's tried multiple meal subscriptions.

The only one I've tried myself is the Daily Harvest ones (bc the online ads got me) but I cannot recommend them because they are expensive (IMO) for so little calories that it's laughable to call some of them a 'meal'.

I really want to try this one out, but man it is expensive! They look really good and filling though!

mrschwarten

Thank you all for your input here! I've been looking locally and finding mostly large-scale catering services, so I will have to keep hunting. Factor has been popping up recently a lot for me and it looks appealing. And @Xellercin , ngl that's a good solution too...I know what I like and what works, I just don't like the cooking and prep part. I could just give them basically a list!
Thank you all!

Xellercin

mrschwarten wrote: »

Thank you all for your input here! I've been looking locally and finding mostly large-scale catering services, so I will have to keep hunting. Factor has been popping up recently a lot for me and it looks appealing. And @Xellercin , ngl that's a good solution too...I know what I like and what works, I just don't like the cooking and prep part. I could just give them basically a list!
Thank you all!

I have a recipe app with a pre-loaded collection of recipes that my housekeeper used to follow. It would take her about 4 hrs/week to batch cook all lunches and dinners for the week and clean up, but she was particularly fast as she had been a prep cook in a restaurant.