Have you ever just gotten really tired of the recipes that
you cook every night, and wish you could cook like one of those cooks on a food
channel? Or better yet, have someone do it for you?!
I sure have! "What are you thinking is for dinner,
Mom?"
I'd get that text almost every day, and I DREADED it!
Let's see….meatloaf, spaghetti, shepherd's pie, hamburgers,
hot dogs….the same menu went thru my head every day.
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| Delicious, Healthy Side-dish to One of the Meat Menus |
I don't know if it was because my sons complained a little
bit too much to my daughter, or my daughter was just intuitive, but on Mother's
Day this past year, she sat me down on the couch and said, "Mom…what kind
of food do you think you like….Vegan, Omnivore, Carnivore, Keto or Paleo?"
I said I would guess probably Omnivore. And she signed me up
right then and there to get some meals sent to my home for me to cook!
It took about a week and a half or so, but one day a box
showed up on my doorstep with three meals in it.
Now, I live in Arizona, so I was a little…ok a
lot!....concerned that the food would have spoiled in the heat, seeing that it
was already close to June and the temps were inching up towards the 100's!
Low and behold, when I hurriedly slipped the knife thru the
tape to open the box, I pulled the box
opened and there was a long icepack with three sections, and I couldn't believe
my eyes!
The box was so well insulated around the entire inside…top,
bottom, and sides… of the box that the icepacks were still frozen!
The food inside didn't have a chance to get warm up and get
spoiled!
Three meals came in that box, and in each box that came
after that. That definitely put a new spin on my cooking skills!
My first reaction when I tasted my first meal was …
"Wow! This tastes like I'm a chef!"
One of my favorites is their corn muffin recipe….it is to
DIE for! It is soooo good…with a healthy type of milk (almond, I think) and
applesauce in it. Soooo moist, and sooo good. Yea, I said it twice...it's that good!
Yes, some meals were better than others…..in fact, my sons
actually refused to eat the meals with tofu in them! Lol! But the vast majority
of the meals were absolutely delicious!
If You Have High Blood Pressure, Are These Meals Safe to Eat?
Being on a blood pressure blog, you have to know that
I have to bring this up……..
The sodium…….Am I going to pay with higher blood pressure if
I eat this?
So me being me, I decided to look up how much sodium is in
each meal. It's actually not bad! Usually, it's about half the amount or less
of something you would get at a restaurant, or even some of the packaged foods
you eat.
You can find out ahead of time by looking at the website
what meals are coming, and each meal has a recipe card both online and that
come packed with the meals.
There may be a week with meals that you don't really care
for, or there is too much sodium, or even if you won't be home the day it's
going to be delivered. With this home delivery service you may want to
raincheck for a week or so, but it's really easy to control.
Just let them know by noon Wednesday the week before your food box is
scheduled to arrive.
Sodium Happiness
But seriously…..some of the meals have total sodium amounts
in the 700's, 800's and 900's!
Compare that to a restaurant meal where it's easy to find
even a burger with a sodium count of 1380 mg to 2880 mg….and that's just for
the burger, not the fries or any sides! At the restaurant I'm checking right
now, even the Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad has 3360 mg of sodium! Headache….here
it comes! (I found this info on the Chili's nutrition link on their website. Don't get me wrong….I LOVE Chili's, and
usually get the black bean burger there…yum!)
Just be sure to check what's coming on the meal kit company's time frame so if you notice the meals that week have more sodium, you can easily change to another better set of meals for you or even skip a week...just keep track of the last day available for changing orders.
Unexpected Portion Control
Not long ago, I realized there was yet another reason I love
getting these meals on my doorstep.
You know when you have a really good meal, and you just really want to go back for seconds?
Well, with this service, they pack just enough for each
person to eat a filling meal, but not enough to overeat.
The plate looks full, and
when you're done eating, you are too! They even tell you how to plate the food
for presentation…step by step, of all things!
Uh Oh...Something Went Wrong!
Truth be told, bad things can and do happen…..after all,
companies are run by humans, right?
So July 4th this year was on a Wednesday this
year, and that was the scheduled day of my food delivery. It did not come….so I
figured they had taken a couple days off and it would come next Wednesday.
But on Thursday, July 5th, a box arrived at my
door, and yes….it was HOT out!
I felt the box, which usually is cold to the touch, and it
was not cold. It actually was warm…..which gave me a clue as to what was
inside.
I opened the box and inside was chicken that you could tell
was spoiled….it smelled…..and even through the plastic wrapper that was usually
so tightly sealed, the chicken felt slimy. YUCK!
And there was steak….also bad.
The veggies that came with were so sad to look at….so
wilted.
This box was definitely NOT going to be consumed!!!!
So I let my daughter know what happened. I obviously don't
know for sure where the food had been for that extra day, but it seemed to me that the food had been sitting in the
delivery van overnight.
The food is guaranteed to be cold and fresh in the box until
10:00 at night the day of delivery. So my daughter contacted the company, and
the next week another box came to replace the spoiled box.
Although we had a kind of gross delivery, we discovered that their customer service is A#1. The delivery driver might
have done a wee bit too much celebrating on the holiday, but all ended well!
So, if you are looking for a way to get new recipes where
most of the ingredients are cut up or at least the size of what you need, and
where you get a great variety of healthy food……
Once you click the link to greenchef.com, I am sure they will have a special discount for your first order. (The link is not an affiliate link).