Recipe meal delivery services are very popular right now. Over a year ago, I tried a few and while initially loved them, grew tired of the time required to make a recipe and lack of good tasting healthy options.
Either it took 90 minutes to make a recipe that tasted great but was a calorie bomb or you made a recipe you just weren’t excited to eat, that might have been healthy but tasted awful. My last delivery was over a year ago. However, I may now have to give them one more shot after last night.
I was invited to a special cooking class at Sur La Table in Boston featuring Just Add Cooking, a local company that similarly delivers a box to your doorstep with 3 or 4 recipes including already measured ingredients for 2 or 4 people.
What sets them apart is that they use mostly local produce in their boxes. This is possible because they only focus on Boston and Eastern Massachusetts (sorry non-local readers). When you select your meals for the week, you have 7 options. The website tells you where ingredients are sourced from as well as the nutrition information, level of difficulty and time it takes to cook. I’m into eating local but really what got me we that their meals actually are simple and quick to make, perfect for week nights.
We made a recipe called Seared Prawns with Salsa that took us probably 30 minutes to make led by Chef Holly.
We started by preparing to cook our jasmine rice. We then chopped up fresh (and local) dill.
I hate chopping at home but its way more fun in a cooking class when you have awesome knives and a fancy scraper. This was one of two chop required ingredients, the other being garlic and you could use a garlic press.
We then combined the garlic, with the dill, paprika, and olive oil and stirred together. Next, adding in our prawns and coating with the mixture. After letting them sit for about 5 minutes, we added the prawns to a hot buttered skillet. If I’ve learned anything from these meal delivery services, it’s that everything tastes better with a little butter, salt and pepper.
When the prawns were just about finished, we added in the raisins and squeezed half of our lemon into the pan.
The prawns were then plated around our jasmine rice which was topped with Nola’s Salsa, made by a local company.
I enjoyed a large serving myself for dinner. There were not a ton of veggies, but since I had a green juice and large salad earlier in the day, my baby bump was satisfied without the extra volume.
The recipe typically takes about 20 minutes to make and is 450 calories. It is naturally gluten free but does contain butter and shellfish if you have allergies.
If you are interested in trying out Just Add Cooking, it is normally $79 per box for 3 meals, 2-people, which is about $13 per meal or probably equivalent to your Whole Foods salad bar monstrosity or take out dinner but Sarah Fit readers get 50% off for a limited time. Just use this coupon code when signing up Sarahfit50. They also have boxes for a family of four starting at $109, which is also perfect for a party of two with leftovers!
Win a Free 3-meal, 2-person Box!
But also – I’m giving away a gift card for a 3-meal, 2-person box as well. Just leave a comment below sharing whether you’ve tried a delivery recipe service yet! Remember though, this is just for my readers in the greater Boston area – sorry everyone else!
Here are the exact ingredient measurements if you’d like to make this at home:
- 3/4 cup jasmine rice (we used quick cooking)
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- 1/2 small fresh dill bunch
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 10 oz raw shrimp
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 oz raisins
- 1/2 lemon
Additional details:
JAC provides 7 recipes weekly, featuring poultry, beef, pork, seafood and vegetarian options. (Several recipes each week are also gluten-free.) Customers are able to select from any of these seven recipes on a weekly basis to comprise their box. You can view the library of JAC recipes here. Clicking on any of those will give you difficulty level, cook time, etc.
In addition, JAC occasionally puts out a series of chef-inspired recipes. Currently they are on the third recipe from Chef Jason Bond of Bondir (located in Cambridge/Concord). He created these for JAC exclusively using seasonal, local ingredients and they have all been tested for home cooks.
Disclosure: I wasn’t paid to write this blog post but my $13 meal last night was comped. I wanted to share my pictures because dinner was amazing and I plan on making it again soon.
I have not tried a delivery recipe service yet but I cannot wait to order from Just Add Cooking! Looks amazing.
I’ve never tried a food delivery service before! Just moved to Cambridge and this would be great to try especially because I am GF. Thanks for the info! Looks awesome 🙂
This food looks fantastic! I haven’t personally tried a delivery system like this, but my new mommy sister in law ordered it and has loved having easy to cook meals for their new family. Such a great gift idea too! Thanks for sharing!!
xo
Haley | H. M. Willow
I haven’t tried one yet but would love to!
I haven’t tried a delivery service but I am very intrigued in them and would love to try JAC!
I’ve tried another delivery recipe service (Blue Apron), which I liked but ended up not having time to make the recipes during the week. They seemed to always take at least twice as long as the recipe claimed! I love that JAC is local though and this recipe actually seems like it was quick!
omg -- blue apron took soooooo long. That was why I stopped using them.
I have not tried a delivery recipe service yet, but I am so curious!
I haven’t tried any yet but LOVE how this is local!!
The last one I tried was a Purple Carrot (vegan) box, which was pretty good. I actually like the services because I end up making things I might not, but I’ve found that a lot of these services across the board have some produce spoilage and operational issues. Haven’t tried JAC, but would like to!
intersting! I wanted to try purple carrot! I tried to do it last Thanksgiving during a black friday sale but for some reason the code wouldn’t go through. I emailed them but after I got around to it, I didn’t like the new menu :/ haha
I have not tried a service yet, due to exactly the reasons you listed here. Hoping to get to try this one out soon either by winning or factoring it into the budget soon! Food looks amazing and I love that it is local!
I haven’t tried a delivery service yet. Excited about the option of a local one.
I haven’t tried a delivery service yet, although they always look like delicious recipes!
I have never tried a meal delivery/subscription service but am very intrigued. 1. because this features local ingredients which I am all about 2. I’m in college so this would be a much needed break from dining hall food and 3. it would make me do something during the week with a friend other than homework and looking at a computer.
I haven’t tried yet but I’ve been wanting to try it as a fun at-home date night (once the baby goes to sleep!) 🙂
I’ve never tried a
I haven’t tried a recipe/meal delivery service but the idea interests me.
I tried Blue Apron once and liked the idea. It would be great to try a recipe/ingredient service from a local company!
I have tried Plated a couple of times. Most of the recipes were good but I agree that they sometimes take too long and then I end up snacking while cooking!
We are a military family currently stationed in Turkey, which means my daughter and I will be moving back to the states shortly until my husband’s tour there is over. Anyway, the point was I’m was looking forward to getting back to the states and trying out one of these services. Are you able to share which services you didn’t enjoy as much? I keep thinking for a “single” parent something like Blue Apron may be a good choice. Thoughts?
I bought my parents a blue apron subscription but I still haven’t tried a meal service myself, and I’d love to do a local one! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Initially I thought services like this were too expensive, but you make a great point my that my Whole Foods salad bar monstrosity or take out dinners are probably equivalent. This will be a good option as it gets colder and I am less inclined to go out to get dinner.
I’ve never tried a meal delivery service for the exact reasons you listed -- either total calorie bombs or not worth the time and money! The fact that this one helps remove those issues is great, and I’d lvoe to give it a try!!
I completely agree with you about most food delivery meals- they’re just too labor-intensive for a weeknight after a day at work and a workout class in the evening; and even then, I feel like they usually are heavy on the grains and VERY light on the veggies… I love that this company uses local products, I’m all about supporting local business and farmers!
Yes -- I’ve tried Just Add Cooking, Plated, and Blue Apron.
I definitely cook more when it’s a week that a box will be delivered.
I have tried blue apron and have the same complaints…took too long to make and didn’t give you the healthiest options. This looks like a great solution!
I’ve tried greenblender, which wasn’t a plated service but was a smoothie box. I liked it but found the prep to be a bit time consuming, and the fruit wasn’t always in the best condition when it was shipped. Smoothies were alllllllways delicious though.
I would love to win this! I haven’t tried a delivery service as I am not the best cook. I’ve been hesitant as even though they provide you with instructions, it still wouldn’t taste as good as its supposed to. This would be great if I could try it out!
I’ve never tried one but I would love my first to be all local food!
I’ve never tried a food delivery service but this sounds like something I’d be interested in checking out. Looks delicious and I love that the ingredients are locally sourced!
I was able to review and giveaway a week of JAC about a year ago and I loved it, it would be great to do again!
I’ve never tried a cooking meal service but this looks incredible! Great if you’re in college~
I’ve tried Blue apron but would love to try another!
I haven’t tried one yet but I’ve been wanting to! I live about 35 minutes north of Boston so I think I’d be in the range!!
I tried a delivery recipe service that was expensive, and the food didn’t taste very good. I tried it for a month, and it wasn’t worth the cost.