Ever Thought About One of those "Heatlhy" Meal Delivery Programs?

Picking how you wish to eat can be complex and then you have to actually plan, shop for, and prepare your meals. I love to cook, but when my husband is on the road, and I am going to use my evenings to write th latest book, I really don't want to prepare a meal just for myself.

So when I heard about a company that would take some of this work away for me. I was happy to try it on a week my husband was on the road for work.

Kettlebell Kitchen, the customizable meal delivery service that does all the prepping (and thinking!) for you, I had to try it. I liked that you could just buy a few meals, no commitment. But they also have a process where they will help you with your selections and meal plans. For Kettlebell Kitchen, the process starts with a simple and develops a meal plan totally customed for YOU.  I ordered from the a la carte menu though, just to see if I liked the food well enough to do a full meal plan.

They have an easy to use ordering system, and you can leave instructions for the delivery person.

I ordered two meal-sized salads  - both chicken bacon Waldorf, a medium dinner entree of turkey and mashed parsnip with Brussels sprouts, a kale side salad and a breakfast entree of Paleo nut muffins and sliced apple.

They state the food is never frozen, but is super chilled and then delivered to remain cold, shipping twice a week so you get the freshest food possible. It arrived packed well with three very large ice packs to keep the food cold. Two of the salads were directly next to the ice pack, with the meat and roast veggie item on the outside, probably not the best idea

Despite the claim that the food is not frozen, one of the entree salads and the single side salad were indeed frozen on arrival.  That could be from the shipping in direct contact with 3 large ice packs combined with being in a box in a delivery truck in Chiberia when wind chills were down in the 20's. I brought it in immediately on delivery.

Here is the Kale side salad from the website. I was going to add some veggie protein to this for a lunch with a friend.

Here's mine after it thawed out.

The Kale Side Salad, unfortunately once thawed, was a limp mess.  It went into the composter.  It did have a nice selection of cabbage, carrots, and kale but it was just soggy.

Here is a photo of the Chicken Waldorf salad entree from their website. I ordered this for my best friend, who loves chicken Waldorf. 

Here is a photo of the non-frozen one upon opening.

It only filled half the container, and there was a LOT less protein than in the website picture. 

I pulled the chicken out of the frozen salad and threw the rest in the trash as it was so soggy after thawing out so I could show you the protein content of the salad.  The photo from the website has 25+ pieces of chicken in the entree (and six grapes.) 

Here is the chicken from her salad, on a small salad plate.

That's right 8 small pieces of chicken, not 25+.    I couldn't find any bacon and there was only one grape. Unlike the dinner entrees, there is no "medium" and "large" serving of this entree, so this is the chicken amount for the full priced portion.

That was really disappointing.  We ended up going out for Thai.

I had better hopes for the Mega Muffins. 

Here is a photo from the website.

Here are mine as they arrived.

They were indeed "mega" sized though one was broken in pieces from shipping. They recommend heating.  Heated up it was quite good and very generous with the walnuts.  Cold, it was pretty crumbly and a bit dry. So I'll probably stick with my "grab and go" gluten free muffins I make at home.The sliced apple was also starting to brown and dry out on arrival. It went to the squirrels that live in our Spruce trees

On the plus size, the Turkey Entree with Parsnip Mash was VERY, VERY good, with some high-quality turkey, some mashed root vegetables and some roasted Brussels sprouts with a little side of cranberry sauce.

Here's a picture from the website.

Here's a photo before I popped it in the microwave.

Here it is plated on a regular sized dinner plate.  This was the "medium" serving for $11.95.

They do post clear nutrition on their website but unfortunately do NOT list sodium content, something I'm always wary of in pre-packed food.  But carbs and fat and calories are easy to read and the meat and veggie dinner options have good amounts of protein.

Cost with shipping for my 4 entrees and a side was a little over $60, with the average entree price being around $12. That's too pricey to do on a daily basis for 2 people.  I spend $360 a month on groceries for two doing my own baking and batch cooking with bulk purchases of baking and frozen veggies, buying my organic meats at a locally owned store and not Whole Foods, which is a bit of a drive for me to shop at weekly.

I think it's just time to make my own food.