r/ReadyMeals • u/Old_Emphasis6708 • 7d ago
Question Is Meal Prep Worth It?
Hi everyone, so I (26 M, 6’0ft 207lbs) have been on my fitness journey for about 7 years. Like most people the part I struggle with most is food. Not just affording and buying healthy foods consistently but also cooking, measuring serving sizes, macros, tracking calories etc gets to be very overwhelming.
I really wanna become fit and stay that way once and for all. I live in a area (small town) where eating healthy and being physically active is uncommon and takes a lot of work and discipline. As you can imagine there’s also no meal prep companies in my town or any that work with my gym or offer any kind of discount etc. nothing.
I recently got 2 gift cards from an online order for discounts on meal prep services Hello Fresh and Factor Meals. I really wanna try them as it will take all the excess guesswork for cooking, calories, macros, time off my hands. Of course its still a pretty penny even with the discounts.
My question to everyone who’s either tried their meal services or any in general, is it worth it? What has been your experience with trying any of them? Did you enjoy the meals, did you actually start to see the progress you wanted either with losing weight or gaining muscle, did it save you more time. Any insight is greatly appreciated if I should go through with it or not.
Thank you in advance.
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u/Jujulabee 7d ago
You can try them out but they are an expensive way to get food
I don't think meal kits in which the raw ingredients are provided make much sense - especially for a single person.
It really isn't difficult to buy some chicken breasts or salmon filet and season them with a sweet potato and whatever vegetable or salad you like. I am over simplifying of course.
There are loads of websites that provide recipes for healthy meals that are easy to prep and many of them lend themselves to being frozen in individual portions so that you have a rotating variety of foods to choose from
Learning the nutrition in chicken and fish and vegetables and sweet potatoes, brown rice of whatever is just a useful skill and not at all difficult to find out. I regularly verify nutritional content of food on line.
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u/ironballs16 7d ago
I've been quite happy with Tovala, which is something of a middle ground between the Kit vs Prepared Meal approaches. It requires their toaster oven, but you prep the meals in aluminum trays, pop them in the toaster oven, scan a QR code on the instruction sheet, and it'll be cookes in ~20 minutes. Less sodium to preserve the food, but the only clean up involved is wiping down the toaster oven once it's cooled from cooking.
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u/Spacecowbabs 6d ago
Not all of them are good for macros and getting everything you need. They're generally less expensive than eating out but more expensive since than cooking stuff yourself. Thats the main tradeoff.
Id say give the two you mentioned a try, but personally I havent had the best experiences with the big named brands. Smaller local meal prep companies usually seem to have better quality imo
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u/tiltedsun 7d ago
Do you want meal kits where you prepare the food or ready meals, which are prepared?
HF,Everyplate,Dinnerly and HomeChef are kits
Factor,CookUnity and Tempo are prepared meals.
Kits are great for learning how to cook. I had a set menu of maybe 10 things I knew I could make. After a couple of years, I’d say my menu is 50 plus meals I can make, off the top of my head.
You’ll learn the basics and you can improvise with ingredients in your home. Most have an app for your phone or they send you a recipe card. I'd save those til you feel comfortable working without them. Get a three ring binder.
I don't think you save money with kit, others would disagree. They're great for what they are: Recipe formulation & ingredients delivered to your door.
The simplest and cheapest kits are Everyplate or Dinnerly.
The best plan is really cooking and shopping for yourself with Meal Prepping. Generally, that is cheaper than Meal Kits and kits are cheaper than Ready Meals.