I love to cook. I enjoy my time in the kitchen with my music and a glass of wine preparing a home cooked meal. But with a toddler and an infant, gourmet meals are few and far between. We are a take-out family and sometimes that’s just the easiest way to go. After much influence from sponsored social media posts, I decided to try out a meal kit delivery service.

I liked the idea of recipes and all the right ingredients showing up at my doorstep without having to leave my house. Recently, the grocery store has become a two hour ordeal as my toddler insists on pushing his own cart. Sometimes I just don’t have the patience for it.

Here are the PROS and CONS I’ve experienced with a meal kit delivery service:

PRO

Everything shows up at my house fresh and portioned. The only ingredients you really need to have on hand are olive oil, salt, and pepper. You will use those a lot. It’s nice to not have to worry about all the random ingredients that you don’t have on a regular basis. There is nothing cuter then opening a tiny bottle of rice wine vinegar or miso paste. All I do is unload the contents of the box into the refrigerator and my toddler has a new box to play with.

CON

Everything needs to be cut, chopped and diced. It takes a lot of time and I am no Master Chef chopper. I fear I might lose a finger as I try to speedily chop a zucchini while my legs are being used as a tunnel for Thomas the Train. I use some cheat techniques like buying frozen crushed garlic and pre diced onions. The majority of the cooking is spent cutting vegetables and herbs and it is time consuming.

PRO

My family and I have tried new foods and recipes that we wouldn’t have normally experienced like squid ink pasta and honey rhubarb chicken. I had never seen a rhubarb before let alone cook it. I have enjoyed learning some new cooking techniques like how to blanch vegetables and roast garlic. Simple, yes, but things I never knew!

CON

The recipes all call for multiple bowls and pans. After you chop something it has its own bowl to rest in. Not totally necessary in my opinion, but clearly these recipes were not written by busy moms.  I find myself using 5-6 different bowls and at least 2 pans and then I have to wash them all. The last thing a mom wants to do at the end of the day is more dishes.

 

After spending an hour in the kitchen preparing rib-eye, tomato salad, and potato wedges, I asked my husband if all the work for the meal was worth it. His quick response was NO. I almost hit him with my frying pan. He quickly explained that the food was always good but it seemed like I was spending too much time in the kitchen getting it prepared. That was the response I was looking for.

I might explore other options that might be a little more time sensitive for the mom who doesn’t want to spend her whole night in the kitchen cooking and doing the dishes but would still like a home cooked meal. Nonetheless, a well-prepared home-cooked meal is much better than take out or anything we can microwave. We always have the option to skip or cancel at anytime, so I think we will stick with this meal kit delivery service…for now.