Not everyone is a chef. Making a tasteful dinner takes a combination of skills and talent. In this day and age, where many things are fighting for our attention, we tend to take some things for granted, one of which happens to be one of the most important things we should be taking care of – our health.
Being healthy and taking steps to improve your well-being, consciously, can be quite daunting, and, to be honest, it just tends to be too much work for many of us. This is where meal kit delivery services can come in and aids us in this journey towards a better and healthier life.
Benefits of Availing of a Subscription Meal Kit Service
What is a meal kit delivery service? Well, this has been one of the most raved about innovation in the line of healthy eating and dieting.
The Choices Available Can Be Very Freeing
There are two ways that a person can avail of this service: one is by subscribing to a meal kit where you will be sent the ingredients for a week’s worth of meals (or it can be for a few days, depending on what meal plan you choose). Along with the ingredients are simple to follow the step on how to do the meal prep. This way, you still enjoy home cooking without all the hassle of doing menu planning and grocery shopping. The tedious tasks have been removed, and you do not have to go through all the tiring process of mapping out your dinners for the whole week. It also saves you from having to experience the time-consuming visit to the grocery store.
The second option would be the meal kit service, whereby the already prepared meals are delivered at your doorstep. Like with the first option, this service offers various pre-portioned meals that you can enjoy throughout the day. Typically, this covers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. This does away with all the other steps involved in the other option as it provides you with cooked meals. This way, you will not have to guess the number of calories in your food because all of that is calculated, measured, and weighed depending on the set of specification you will have to make when you choose your meal plan. These meal kits come in significant variations, so; you will not repeatedly be consuming the same meals.
When using a meal plan, you will not be limited to the usual menus you and your family have been partaking in. You can try different cuisines from different countries. If you are curious about trying veganism or a paleo diet, these two methods can be a great introductory course for you as it can guide you and educate along the way. Indeed, the possibilities can be endless.
Caters to Individual Needs
As mentioned previously, these meal kits can be customized to suit every individual’s needs, may it be because of dietary restrictions or a lifestyle choice. Even picky eaters will be able to choose meals that can suit their preferences and tastes.
Various sites cater to particular needs; Purple Carrot, for example, offers a plant-based menu. Green Chef offers not just organically produced but gluten-free ingredients, as well. Another, Home Chefs will provide you with grill-ready meals or fifteen-minute prep meals.
Provides a Healthy Alternative
Since most of us barely have time on hand, we usually opt to go to the easiest meal options – fast food or take-out when hunger strikes. That usually means having a greasy and fat-filled dinner. With meals that have been thought out and planned for you, you will not have any excuse not to eat healthily. The meals are easy to prepare; the ingredients have been portioned and prepped many times for your convenience.
It also gives we an avenue to discover healthy ways of dieting. We need not go through the unhealthy practice of eating only one type of food, which tends to be bland and most unappealing. Not to belittle sweet potatoes, but how many ways can you prepare it to aid your weight loss journey?
With Sun Basket, you have a choice of paleo, carb-conscious, lean and clean, vegetarian, pescatarian, Mediterranean, and even diabetes-friendly. Dieting does not have to be sad, flavorless, and restricting at all.
The Freedom to Opt-Out
Like Martha and Marley Spoon, Hello Fresh, and more, meal kit subscription services offer flexibility to skip weeks. You can also choose to subscribe on a weekly or every two weeks basis and choose specific days when you want the delivery to arrive.
Drawbacks of a Subscription Meal Kit Service
Not for The Fickle-Minded
If you tend to change your mind about the meals you want to have, having a set meal plan can be a little confining. You may find it hard to adjust to the idea of having a defined menu for the week. It may take a while to cope with the set up since these are perfectly portioned for the meals included in the menu. You may not have a lot of room for improvisation.
Can Be Wasteful
The primary stone being thrown at meal kit services is that they tend to be wasteful and leave such a significant carbon footprint. But some services make headway and are proactive towards addressing this issue. Blue Apron, for one, provides recyclable ice packs and packaging, which lessens their environmental impact and lets their subscriber be aware of environmental issues, as well.
As you can see, there are many advantages to using meal delivery services and a few disadvantages to consider. With these points in mind, you can make an educated decision whether using a meal kit service is suitable for you and your family.