Cooking is something I've always enjoyed and though I'm no gourmet chef, I consider myself a pretty decent cook. In fact, I think my cooking skills are one of Craig's favorite traits about me. What I don't like is the meal planning and all that it entails--the side dish, the grocery list, etc. It's tedious and never-ending. I go in phases of making consistent, delicious, and thorough meals, but then other times, I'm super thankful to live in a day and age when meal planning is easier than it's ever been!
I've tried a number of options that assist in meal planning and today, I'm going to share pros and cons of each!
Pros of Social Suppers
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You can attend alone. I love being able to schedule a time that works for me (and me only). You can also attend with a friend or with a group, whatever your heart desires!
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You can select half-sized or full-sized meals. Half-sized meals are meant to feed 2 to 3 and full-sized meals are meant to feed 4 to 6. The half-sizes were perfect when it was just Craig and me.
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Social Suppers takes care of the shopping, prepping of the ingredients (onions chopped, for example), and clean-up. You literally just leave your dirty dishes at the station and they take it from there!
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They also have the baggies of meat portioned and ready to go!
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They also have the baggies of meat portioned and ready to go!
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It's quick. You can be in and out with 6 or more meals in an hour's time. The stations make it super simple and Social Suppers limits the number of customers per time slot, so it's easy to move about and quickly prep your meals!
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You select your meals from a rotating monthly menu of about 15. The menu typically includes a great variety of meal options (soup, pasta, a variety of different proteins, quicker lunch-style meals, etc.).
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Each meal generally includes a side dish suggestion, which is exceptionally helpful in my opinion! The less thinking on my part, the better!
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Cons of Social Suppers
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Social Suppers does not share their recipes, so although you could likely find similar recipes online, if you want an exact match, you have to go back to their kitchen.
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It can be pricey. Social Suppers suggests about $4 per person per serving and full-sized meals range from $23 to $32.
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When they say a meal feeds three, they're not joking. A half-sized meal with chicken usually includes three small chicken breasts. The meals generally aren't big enough for leftovers.
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When they say a meal feeds three, they're not joking. A half-sized meal with chicken usually includes three small chicken breasts. The meals generally aren't big enough for leftovers.
Pros of Wildtree
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If you know me at all, you know this is the least of my worries, but Wildtree products claim to be healthy, natural, and preservative free.
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The meals sizes are significant. Each meal will easily feed 4 people and some will feed as many as 8. This is especially nice now that we have four real eaters in our house!
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Wildtree shares their recipes so you can easily re-create the meals if you wish! (However, there's also a con to this. See below.)
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I find most of the meals to be very flavorful and not at all bland like some other freezer-style meals.
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I find most of the meals to be very flavorful and not at all bland like some other freezer-style meals.
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You can customize and/or substitute. Craig has a shellfish allergy, so I always replace the shrimp with chicken, for instance.
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Cons of Wildtree
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In order to re-create Wildtree meals, purchasing the WT products is necessary. The Wildtree products are where I find most of the flavor to come from and they can be quite costly.
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Before attending a WT workshop, you receive a grocery list and you are responsible for the grocery shopping. Womp womp.
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It's pricey. In addition to the groceries, you must purchase the Wildtree bundle (all of the WT products for your meals), which range from $60 to $80 per 20 meals. I believe Wildtree estimates $12-13 per meal.
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You must attend a party to prep these meals. This isn't something you can plan and/or schedule yourself. Additionally, you must go through a WT rep.
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Everyone at the workshop prepares the same ten meals--it's usually the party host who chooses the meal bundle. You're at the liberty of their decision.
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Everyone at the workshop prepares the same ten meals--it's usually the party host who chooses the meal bundle. You're at the liberty of their decision.
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Some of the meals require additional ingredients (buns, pasta noodles, etc.) the day of cooking. I tend to forget about this and not have everything I need come time to prepare. This also adds to the already high cost.
HyVee is a local grocery store chain (based out of Iowa, actually!) and they offer meal prep workshops at a few of their KC locations. I started attending these once-a-month workshops over the summer and have plans to go again tonight actually! The main difference between the HyVee workshops and others is that one person preps all of the same meal at HyVee and you trade meals as you leave.
Pros of HyVee
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HyVee shares their recipes, so you can re-create your favorites, if you so desire!
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You sign up for the workshop as a group - usually your friends! (This can also be a con.) So not only do you prep a bunch of meals, it's a nice social outing at the same time. (We usually go to the HyVee bar afterwards for drinks and apps!)
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This is probably the most cost efficient. There is literally no fee for this service other than what you pay for the groceries. HyVee splits the total bill among all of the participants.
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HyVee does the shopping and cleanup! Yes, please!
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This is probably the most cost efficient. There is literally no fee for this service other than what you pay for the groceries. HyVee splits the total bill among all of the participants.
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HyVee does the shopping and cleanup! Yes, please!
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Cons of HyVee
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You must go with group. You can't attend one of these workshops alone since HyVee shops and splits the total bill.
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You don't prep all of your own meals. Remember, each person makes all of one meal and you trade before you go. Not the best thing for control freaks like myself. What if they mess it up?!?!
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Since someone else is preparing all but one of your meals, you can't really customize or substitute ingredients.
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In my opinion, some of the meals are on the bland side.
Good news--if you have yet to try this service, Blue Apron is giving new customers two free meals! Follow this link to sign up!
(Note: I am in no way compensated for this; just passing along a good deal!)
Pros of Blue Apron
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Your Blue Apron box is delivered directly to your door. Not home? No worries. The perishable items are packaged in cooler-type packaging with ice packs.
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You can select between a 2-person or family plan.
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Included is a main dish and a side (or two). The fact that a side is included is my most favorite part of this service!! Did I mention I hate trying to come up with a side for every meal??
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Blue Apron shares their full recipes. I recreated an entire BA recipe on my own about a month after trying the original.
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This is per their website, but BA claims to never repeat meals in the same year. That's pretty impressive!
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The meals I had were ah-mah-zingly delicious!! The best of the best!
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Cons of Blue Apron
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It's expensive. I received two free meals from a friend who subscribes, but never in a million years could I justify spending this amount of money to do this on a weekly basis.
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These aren't freezer meals. Since many of the meals include fresh produce, you must use the meals in a timely manner.
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Some of the meals were more intense to prepare. Or perhaps it was just me and my perfectionist ways, but I had to read directions about 19 times before I was certain of what to do next.
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This is a weekly service. Though you can skip a week if needed, there's no option to receive one shipment per month (which is what I would prefer).
Hello
Fresh is a subscription service very similar to Blue Apron. I don't know that there are too many differing pros and cons; though I will say, I tried Hello Fresh this fall and I was pleased, but I liked Blue Apron a whole lot better!
Pros of Hello Fresh
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You get to select which meals you want delivered from a menu of about six weekly options. (Versus with BA, I think I got what I got.)
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There is often a Groupon or Living Social to get a box at a discounted rate! Click here for a current Groupon and here for a current Living Social!
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Pros of Hello Fresh
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You get to select which meals you want delivered from a menu of about six weekly options. (Versus with BA, I think I got what I got.)
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There is often a Groupon or Living Social to get a box at a discounted rate! Click here for a current Groupon and here for a current Living Social!
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Cons of Hello Fresh
My only con is that I thought Blue Apron was a little better.
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And that's it! Are there any companies (local or non-local) I'm missing? Anything I haven't tried, but should??
And one final tip when it comes to freezer meals. This is what my freezer usually looks like. If you store the bags flat like this, they are very organized and stack super nicely. They also thaw much quicker than they would frozen as a big blob!
