Meal Kits / Ready Made Meals

We have all heard about the new craze that has hit dinner tables all over the world. Australia were slow to get on board, but now that it is here – families, singles and honestly anyone who can’t be bothered cooking are joining the band wagon. And yes, hands up that was me. The meal kits and ready made meals are here!

Unfortunately, studies (Census) show that around 30% of men and 11% of women who are in paid employment, are reported to work 45 hours or more, each week! This is huge, considering in Australia the average full time hours are 35 – 38 hours per week.

No wonder we don’t have time to cook for ourselves anymore. The demand for take-away food was ever growing, but people were looking for healthier options out there.

Now with internet, there are some amazing food delivery options out there now:

Meal Boxes/Kits – Companies like ‘Hello Fresh’ or ‘Marley Spoon’ have you pick a recipe from their web page and then they pack most of the ingredients into a box and deliver it straight to your door. I say ‘most’ because they expect you to have staple items in your pantry, like vinegar or oil. You then have to spend 20-30 minutes, preparing and cooking the food.

Here are my Pros & Cons:

Pros:

Not needing to go to the supermarket
Knowing what you are going to cook for the week
Variety of recipes you haven’t tried before

Cons:

Expensive for someone on a budget
Meal proportions may not be sufficient for a growing family (like me with two very hungry boys)
Come on subscription plans – you will need to keep an eye out for
Tooooooo much packaging

Pre-Cooked Meals

Ok these would be my fav out of the two categories. There are so many companies behind this type of meal service and are more catered to individual needs, than family needs. But you can still order for the whole family, it might just cost you more.

I have personally tried Lite n Easy, and found it fantastic! But I’ll touch on this a bit later. Usually you can select 1 to 3 meals a day with little snacks in between. Whether you want to bulk up, shred those extras kilos or just try to have a healthier lifestyle – pre-cooked meals cater for all. But of course there are pros & cons to everything:

Pros:

No Cooking, just re-heating
Some are freezer friendly and can last a long time
Portable and easy to take to work

Cons:

Can be costly in the long run
Freshness is questionable
More preservatives

I cannot praise highly enough, how far the food industry has come. Even the big retailers like Woolworths and Coles have adapted to this trend bringing out ‘food bundles’ for their consumers.

But (yes there is a but), my family are cautious on our spend, meaning if we could pay less for food – we will. Like I said before, I’ve tried ‘Lite n Easy’. Fantastic variety of meals, great flavours, always tasted fresh….but when I still had to cook for my other three members of my family, it wasn’t working out financially for us.

Our family also gave ‘Hello Fresh’ a good go as well. It was on the pricey side for us, especially when the meal sizes were just not enough for my two growing boys and a very hungry husband. I would sometimes know just by looking at the meal I had just cooked, that I wasn’t eating that night 🙂 But I cannot fault the freshness of the ingredients Hello Fresh sent!

So whether you are a meal kit type of person or into pre-cooked meals, it’s all about what suits your lifestyle and how much you can afford. With the variety out there, prices are sure to come down and you will start seeing more competition out there trying to win their spot on your dinner table x

I have a few discounts for you of course….