This is Part Two of our experiment with a Meal Kit Delivery Service. If you haven’t read Part One click here. We’ve been doing the Meal Service for two months now and things are moving along nicely. We’re still enjoying and looking forward to getting our weekly box with our food and menus for the week.
In this installment, I want to talk about portions and value for the dollar. This is a big topic online and even amongst my coworkers, family and friends. They ask or say things like, “Is it really filling?”, “That doesn’t seem like a lot of food.”, “Oh, I’ve heard of that but it seems kind of expensive.”, “It looks really complicated, is it?”, etc. So, let’s get to it. Shall we?
When it comes to portions and meal size, you need to understand one thing about me (and my hubby, but me more so) I love food. I love to eat and I really love good food. As I tell my friends, “you don’t get a body like mine, but passing up on seconds or sometimes, if the meal’s really good, thirds.” So, I was worried about portions. When we got our first box, and I looked at what they said was three meals I thought, “well crap, that doesn’t look like near enough food.” We got things like two sweet potatoes as a side dish, or a quarter of a head of cabbage, or basically a cup of dried rice. Those were the side dishes? Ugh. Then I looked at the proteins and I almost laughed. Ten Ounces of ground beef for two grown men. Who were they kidding?
Anyway, our first meal was Burgers and Slaw with Roasted Sweet Potatoes. We skeptically followed the directions and put the meal together. After it was altogether and looked similar to the picture on the direction, we sat down to eat. As I’ve mentioned before the meal was excellent, but the big question came when we finished and looked at each other. I asked Eric, “So, are you full?” he looked at me and said. “Actually, yes.” I nodded my agreement. To our surprise we were both full. Sure, we could have both had another burger, but we didn’t need it. We were satisfied.
And satisfied is how I would describe every meal thereafter. Have we been stuffed? No. But after each meal we were full and comfortable. Which, I’ll admit was a nice feeling.
What the Meal Service does well is portion control. What you think might not be enough food actually is. Are there leftovers? Nope. Not in my house. But I have a co-worker who only eats half her meal and saves the rest for lunch the next day. She’s not a big eater.
A foreign concept to me.
One of the side benefits of the Meal Service is we’re not eating as much, which has the additional side benefit of us both dropping a few pounds. Not a lot, but still I’ve noticed.
Major Disclaimer and I want to make this very clear. The Meal Service is not a diet plan. Not by a long shot. So, don’t confuse the two.
Now, let’s talk about value for the buck.
This is another big area that people question, and I did too. But, what I’m finding is that for the quality of the ingredients (organic, locally grown, blah, blah, blah) we’re getting the cost seems right. “But, how can you say that?” I hear all the collective yells. Very simply, our Meal Service costs $60.00 a week (three meals $20 each, six servings $10 each) Eric, and I have made two receipts on our own, using the exact ingredients from the provided receipts.
When we went to the store to buy everything for the meals it actually cost us more per person. One, was $10.75 per person (this was for the Fried Rice) and the other was just under $11.50 per person (this was for the Chicken Enchiladas). So not a lot, but that is how it broke down on the days we bought the ingredients.
Now, I’m sure if we bought the food on a different day the costs might have changed, but considering how close everything was cost wise it all worked out and I’m not that much a penny pincher.
When it all comes down to it, the quality and the quantity of the meals is worth every cent we’ve paid. However, we’re not paying full price for our Meal Kit Delivery Service plan.
“What?” you ask.
“How?” you say.
Well, you’ll have to wait for my next installment to find out my cost saving tips and tricks. As well as some overall general advice for how to make the most of the Meal Kit Deliver Service.
As with Part One here are my photos from our dinners. Yes, we really did make all of these. I’m quite impressed with how good they all look
Hmm, maybe I should be a food photographer. Have a great week everyone.