Everything You Need About Meal Kits - What Are Meal Kits?

meal kits


Having issues preparing foods? Are you bored with your generic method of cooking meals? Then you might likely want to know what meal kits are. Asking the question "what are meal kits?" has saved a lot of money for several people in the US and all over the world.

Meal kits are subscription-based services, designed on a business model. The company sends its customers a pre-portioned set of ingredients or prepares meals per week, along with prepared recipe cards for you to cook a meal.

This set of ingredients is measured and allocated to each client in a consign and easy way. For further nourishment, each meal kit contains chef-crafted meals designed for a healthy lifestyle, while inspiring growth.

When working with a company that provides meal kit services, you'll get to know and understand how meal delivery services work, and why it's important to work with them. Since they work to provide nutritious meals per serving, you won't need to bother about getting delicious meals per week.

Getting the best meal delivery service is important if you want to get the best out of every meal. Also, to avoid food waste, the meal kits are designed with the number of people in your family or subscribed to the service.

two boxes of takeout

What is in a Meal Kit?

A standard meal kit works with your subscription per week. The meal kit delivery service or meal subscription contains ingredients for a precooked meal.

Sometimes, you get up to three meals per week in the form of recipe cards to help prevent wastage. They contain pre-portioned ingredients per serving, which are designed according to your taste and health needs.

Certain meal delivery services put low-carb meals in low-calorie meal kits to provide well-balanced meals for their clients on a paleo lifestyle. You can also opt for kid-friendly meals if you also plan on introducing your kids to your meal planning.

 

For vegetarian meals or people having dietary restrictions, you can choose ingredients from plant-based meals, organic produce, or others that are gluten-free and delicious. Picky eaters can also order fresh fruits alongside any of their taste preferences or meal kit options.

What are the disadvantages of Meal Kits?

Although meal kits provide enough meal options with healthy meals, depending on your meal plans and food budget, you might not get exactly what you want. While certain meal kit services provide pre-portioned ingredients with weekly recipes that are nutritious, other meal kits might not meet up to standard.

Cost of Subscription Could be Expensive

Some meal kits show and promise customers affordable meals during their marketing campaigns. These companies compare their meal kits to getting and ordering food from a restaurant.

However, when you try visiting the market to get the groceries yourself, you'd understand that their prices aren't affordable at all. Depending on what you're ordering, a typical meal kit dinner or breakfast costs less than takeouts.

Checkout our affordable ready-to-eat Mongolian-style beef:

Tender steak tips paired with a soy-free Mongolian sauce made with coconut aminos, ginger, and shiitake mushrooms.


Mongolian-Style Beef

Scheduled Food

Overcoming the issue of perishable items you receive per week is something of concern. Although certain meal kit services provide frozen meals for clients, avoiding damaged products has a slight possibility of tipping the scale.

Hence, you need to get your meals delivered within a few days. Note how many meals you can finish within the week, to ensure you have less food waste and high-quality ingredients.

Packaging Waste

Your meal kit delivery services label and pack your meal kit individually within a padded box made of cartons or cardboard. Some even come with ice packs for cooling your pre-portioned ingredients and preserving fresh ingredients during transit.

All this packaging during meal delivery could result in excess waste that could cause environmental pollution if not properly disposed of. Meal kit delivery services could opt for organic packaging to ensure easy decomposition.

Planning Ahead

A meal plan is important for individuals watching their weight or others on dietary restrictions. Many meal kit companies allow you sort their products by what is keto diet, paleo lifestyle or plant-based. Hence, you'll need to work with a meal kit service that allows you to skip weeks on your meal kit when you feel picky.

However, there is a cancellation fee for individuals who change and order. You'll also be charged and the original meal kit will be delivered to your doorstep.

Grocery shopping is not Eliminated

Replacing your organic style of cooking meal kits is an amazing innovation, but it doesn't stop the need for purchasing ingredients from the market. Hence, meal kit services can only supplement your actual organic cooking schedule.

Ensure everything stays green chef!

Some raw ingredients for making meals

How do Meal Kits Make Money?

A meal kit service makes money by charging a weekly subscription fee for meals ordered by its customers. You can check their sample menu and recipes online to decide on the best meal for you per week.

Individuals then order two meals or more, depending on their hunger levels or dietary restrictions. Meals delivered also depend on the chosen recipe, however, ordering the best meal kits ensures top nutrition.

When did Meal Kits Start?

Meal kits were first designed and explored in 2007. The world's first meal delivery service was launched in Sweden and was called Middagsfrid.

Within a few years, the concept of a meal delivery service that offers consecutive meal plans and pre-cooked food got all over the world.

However, several other companies have come out with better meal plans to help people eat healthily.

How can I meal prep?

Meal prepping helps to reduce the time spent in a kitchen. You can order recipes that have two or four servings for your entire family.

Since there's a wide variety of meals to prepare, here's how you can find a suitable preparation style for yourself.

Check out our easy-to-prep Chicken Chile Verde:

Refreshing pasta entrée made with tender strips of chicken breast, cauliflower penne pasta, vegetables, and a tomato basil sauce.


Chicken Chile Verde

Meal-preparation in Advance

After cooking meals in advance for the next day or weeks, you can refrigerate or reheat them during meal times. It helps to work according to your meal plan.

Ready to Cook Ingredients

Preparing meals ahead of time will help you to reduce cooking time and stress.

Some raw vegetables

Portioned Meals

Try preparing meals and portioning them individually as a set of accessible portions that can be refrigerated and eaten per serving. Such meals can be prepared and reheated within a half hour.`

How many meal kits and meal kit services are there?

There are a lot of meal kits and meal kit services available all over the world. There's Marley spoon, Green Chef, Blue Apron, Dinnerly, and others.

However, some of these meal kit companies and meal kit delivery services can only boast of two to four recipes. This reduced number of recipes reduces the amount of nutrition you get per serving.

Our meal kit delivery service boasts of a dozen meals that are gluten-free and work according to your diet. Most meals and smoothie kits come from seasonal produce, and hence are highly nutritional.

Check out our Teriyaki-style chicken stir-fry:

Tender chicken breast strips and sous-vide vegetables paired with a soy-free teriyaki sauce made with coconut aminos, ginger, and garlic.


Teriyaki-style Chicken Stir-fry

How are meal kits shipped? What is a Meal Kit delivery service?

After making an order, depending on the specified meal services, your meal arrives pre-packaged. They come in insulated boxes to properly preserve them and keep them cold before they are opened.

The best meal kit offers a variety of ingredients for each particular meal and recipe. They are packaged individually to prevent confusion and ease in cooking.

Meal kit delivery services are hugely helpful if you're wondering how to start keto diet, paleo lifestyle or any other diet.  Some services have specific meals meaning the research has been done for you and starting your new diet is as easy as adding recipes to your cart!

insulated box filled with supplies

Do food boxes save money?

Getting an on-demand box will save you money, depending on how often you plan on eating from a meal delivery service. They offer ready-to-eat meals and the best meal kit that will help you save time used in cooking.

So meals start earlier and are enjoyed with friends or family. In summary, Food boxes save time and money when properly incorporated into your plans.

FAQs

Is it worth getting meal kits?

Ordering meals will save you time and money. You must still get essential food for breakfast, lunch, or the nights when you don't use the meal kit.

Nevertheless, meal kits can help reduce the amount of time that you need to shop and may be able to save some of your purchases!