Why is eating healthy so hard?

There are many services offered these days to help make eating health easier.  For many, there is a perception that eating healthy has to be complicated. I strongly disagree with that thought process, and do recognize that not everyone enjoys cooking, is good at it, nor has the time to menu plan, meal prep & cook. That being said, simple tip on eating healthy…focus on whole foods, aka grilled meats & vegetables. Sound boring to you? Ok that’s fair…more on that later, but first let’s chat about a few others options.

While I do love cooking, a few years ago I found myself in a season of life where I had little time to do the meal prep/planning and we were in the middle of a kitchen remodel so I was limited in my abilities.  During this time I was determined to not spend ridiculous amounts of money dining out or letting my healthy eating way of life go to the wayside, so I decided to try a few meal delivery services.  Below you will find my comparison & feedback.

Prep-Freeze-Cook:

This is a locally owned service (though they have expanded to multiple locations the past few years) where you can go & meal prep then bring your meals home.  The meals are family friendly, freezer friendly, and you can pick what you want.  

Pro’s:  I love that it is a drop in and order when you want sort of system verses a subscription. It is well organized, you can hop of the website to see if you like what meals they have for the week or month, and I like that I can go and see the ingredients.  There are many options and it is very affordable.  It has been a fun girls night, where we drink wine (BYOW) and prep your meals, I can do this for a month’s worth of food and cooking instructions are typically easy.

Con’s:  You have to go pick up the meals and if you want to save more money, you have to go and prep the meals.  It takes time and sometimes I do not have the time to do it.  The menu is somewhat limited, they offer a certain menu and that is what you get for the month.  They do not offer calorie/macro counts for the recipes.

I encourage you to see if you have something like this near you. As I said it can be fun and it is convenient. This local establishment also offers prep-freeze parties as well as this concept in the form of a fundraiser.

To search up and learn more check out their website!

Hello Fresh:

This is one of the most well-known & popular meal subscription services that delivers all over the US.

Pro’s:  When I signed up I had a coupon and continue to get these in the mail 2 years later.  Who doesn’t love a good discount?!  You can set these up for 2 or 4 people and get to pick how many meals you want (this helps with budgeting).  You can choose your date to be delivered, schedule it out in advance and can skip or cancel at anytime.  This was super easy to navigate.  The food was boxed up nicely & good instructions.

Con’s:  This program does not allow you to select meals that align with carb cycling.  You have to pick 1 plan and I found that limiting.  The serving for 2 or 4 was ok but I had hoped to have leftovers.  I like that the serving sizes help you to be more aware of a serving size, but we like leftovers for lunches and did not have enough for that. 

Use this link here to save $20 on your 1st order!

Blue Apron:

This program has a lot of similarities to Hello Fresh, so I am going to just highlight the differences I saw.

I liked this program because you could pick or choose from low carb, wellness, family options each day.  This works nicely with carb cycling.  The food was boxed up & presented better than Hello Fresh.  While it is a bit more expensive, my family liked these recipes better than the meals of the other 2 companies I mentioned above. 

Go check out Blue Apron & if you are interested in giving it a try comment below. I have 3 boxes to gift ($75 value)! Comment & share this blog post and I will email you the details!

So, there you have it.  Just a few high points to look at if you are trying to decide if a subscription meal plan is right for you!  I did not talk prices because they have changed slightly since I tried these 2 years ago (due to inflation) but comparatively the difference of costs and options still look the same.  

The reality is not everyone likes to cook, or is very good at it.  There are so many services that can help you provide healthy & delicious meals for your family so I encourage you to find the systems that works for you!!

Cheers,

Melanie