The meal kit trend is a good one: pre-portioned food, complete with a recipe delivered to your door. No grocery shopping, no wondering what to eat, no left over ingredients you’ll never use again and you learn some great new skills. But there are so many companies it’s tough to know where to start. Here are three unique meal delivery services.
Salted Eats
The hook: It’s recipes are created by major chefs in the LA-area, so it’s LA-only currently.
How it works: The service offers a meat and vegetarian option and as with others, the ingredients come pre-portioned. They make every effort to use only local and organic meats and veggies, all of which arrive in an insulated bag, so no need to be home when it arrives. Plus, they promise the items will stay fresh in your fridge for up to five days, so also no pressure to cook it the night it arrives. They don’t make substitutions for food allergies or taste preferences–definitely read the menus carefully before ordering.
Instructions come in the form of a video on Salted Eat’s website where chef will prepare the meal step-by-step. While the menus are full of delicious, sophisticated options, they promise even the most novice cook can complete them in around half an hour.
Unlike many others, Salted Eats does not require a subscription. Currently, they provide the meal kit once a month, the second Thursday of the month, so you just sign up whenever you feel like it.
How many does it feed? Just you! Unless you want more. The kit is good for one portion. Most meal kit services start at two servings, so the idea that you can just cook for yourself is pretty rad. You can order additional servings if you’re having friends or family over– it might be the most foolproof way to cook for a dinner party.
A taste of the menu:
Meat: from Chef Corina Weibel of Canelé
Flattened “Brick” Chicken with Peppers and North African Chermoula Sauce
Vegetarian: from Chef Christy Vega of Casa Vega
Vegan Sweet Potato Tacos with Fresh Tomatoes
One Potato
The hook: Healthy, organic meals for picky eaters. And it always comes with their own slice-and-bake cookie dough. Frankly, that’s reason enough.
How it works: Technically, this service is geared towards families, offering the option of child-sized portions, but procreation is not a requirement. You tell One Potato how many people you’ll be feeding and you food preferences and you’ll receive emails with pictures and recipes hand-picked for your tastes. You can make the dishes in 30 minutes or less, which is probably true given they do so much of the prep work for you.
All the ingredients arrive pre-portioned and chopped! Some detractors of the meal kit services complain about all the waste produced by the packaging: One Potato has thought of that. All of their packaging is recyclable or made to biodegrade.
It is a subscription service, but you’re able to cancel anytime or skip weeks whenever needed so long as you’re in the 6 day-before-delivery-window. It currently only delivers to California, Nevada, and Arizona but is expanding.
A taste of the menu:
Omnivore box: Oven Fried Chicken with Smashed Peas, Cheesy Biscuits and Coleslaw
Vegetarian box: Crispy Tofu Rice Bowl
Terra’s Kitchen
The hook: Transparency and earth-friendly practices. They give you the details on every farm and meat supplier they use as well as using a revolutionary new packing option, the vessel!
How it works: No customization here: pick from their weekly menu options, but they give you a lot to choose from. You can pause and cancel your subscription at anytime. They do offer gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and Paleo options.
Their ingredients are all fresh, seasonal, and sourced from sustainable, ethical farms. You can read about their suppliers here. All of the ingredients are washed, pre-portioned, and prepped so you’re ready to start cooking the minute you get home. A recipe card with instructions is included for your chosen meal and includes suggested beer and wine pairings.
Terra’s Kitchen also makes people with allergies a prime focus. Their suppliers segregate allergens during storage and preparation. Anything that might leak onto other ingredients is given a secondary barrier to prevent any contact during delivery.
Everything arrives in what they call the vessel. It’s a locked refrigerated plastic storage unit that is delivered to your door. Once you’ve finished with it, peel off the sticker to reveal the return address label and put it back outside your door for pick up. That means zero waste is created.
They have 1-serving options they call Grab-n-Go which are about $3.99 and the 2-serving dinners are anywhere from $9.99-$17.99 per serving. Shipping is free, however they have a minimum price of $64.99 for delivery. It’s all over the place!
A taste of the menu:
Meat: One Skillet Bison Tacos (also happens to be gluten free)
Vegetarian: Creamy Black Bean Sliders
