we tried Terra’s Kitchen. here’s my view.

I write a lot here about the trials and tribulations of cooking for family.  I have a love-hate relationship with weekday dinner.  On one hand, I am relaxed by the simple act of preparing a meal for myself and those I love.  I am rejuvenated after even just a few minutes of happy chatter from my children and a glance of contentment from Gary.  On the other hand, it is stressful.  The advanced planning is hard enough; after a long day, a commute, and probably arguing with those children about not ordering pizza for the third time this week, cracking a cookbook and tackling a recipe is the last thing on my mind.

photo by jenn kosar

I know I am not alone.  Family dinner is now a candidate for outsourcing, with services ranging from basic menu planning to hand delivered organic buddha bowls designed by a celebrity, and all the levels of meal prep that lie between.  Dozens of startups have arrived on the scene since 2012 to create a $400 million market that is projected to increase tenfold in the next five years, according to Technomic, a research and consulting firm for the food industry [source: Consumer Reports, August 24, 2016].

The American evening meal was particularly ripe for disruption. Takeaway shops and food halls popular in major European cities offer high quality, ready-made meals to pick up on your way home to your flat and form the base of a reasonable dinner.  In my view, we never quite got this right in the U.S. (and certainly not in northern New Jersey), further opening the market to help hungry, exhausted power couples and families get something decent on the table.

photo by syd wachs via unsplash

I may have mentioned I am a consultant in real life, so I know first hand that paying someone else to do something that is normally your responsibility takes many forms, from licensing to full-on third party outsourcing.  Offloading family dinner can range from simply purchasing a weekly menu plan and accompanying grocery list [licensing], to meal prep kits [staff augmentation], to a personal chef [full outsourcing].  In each category, there are multiple companies offering slightly different takes on the strategy.  I cannot claim to have tried every one, but I have tried four that I feel are representative of what’s out there.  Let’s walk through a brief history of my family’s adventures in assisted dinner.

Menu planning services

In my power Manhattanite couple days, before I really knew what busy was, I tried a menu planning service called The Six O’Clock Scramble. More recent competitors include PrepDish and CookSmarts.  The concept is simple: at a defined frequency, usually weekly, a list of recipes arrives accompanied by a grocery list.  A good service will sort the groceries between pantry staples you are expected to have on hand and fresh items to purchase that week.  The recipes tend to use common ingredients to avoid waste, and ensure variety in your proteins throughout the week.  You have to do all the shopping, prep, cooking, and cleanup, but the thinking is done for you.  It fit the bill for a young wife learning to cook and needing some inspiration.

photo by jenn kosar

fresh meal delivery services

Then babies arrived.  Thinking about food, much less cooking, was out of the question. We knew if we wanted to ever stop eating takeout, we needed a strategy.  Baby phase called for full meal delivery, but we wanted it to be fresh. Personal Chef To Go was one of the best options at the time, delivering healthy lunches and dinners, mostly salads or a protein and vegetable, in microwavable containers.  The food was not delicious, but it was fast and required no mental energy.  The game has changed significantly since 2010, with entrants like Sakara for organic, plant-rich and trendy superfood-based meals, or slightly less stylish Freshly, with high-protein, low carb, gluten- and refined sugar free breakfast, lunch and dinner.

photo by jenn kosar

food and grocery subscription services

Remember the days before you could “subscribe” to virtually anything?  Clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, razors, pet toys — you name it, someone is willing to send you a monthly box.  We tried NatureBox, offering reasonably priced, wholesome snacks we were eager to hook our toddlers on in a desperate attempt to shield them from junk food. Spoiler alert, that didn’t work; but the snacks are good. Tons of options have emerged, including BeanBox for coffee lovers and ButcherBox for those looking to explore new cuts of meat.  I love the concept, but we have not mastered inventory management, and usually find ourselves cancelling once we are drowning in piles of snacks, coffee, or whatever we signed up for last. We use FreshDirect for weekly delivery of staples, and have told them many times they need to automate that process.  Amazon will likely beat them to it.

photo by whitney wright via unsplash

meal prep kits

Babies became kids, and adults started to crave tasty food again.  By this time, the now ubiquitous “meal kit” service had hit the scene.  After careful research, my first attempt was Blue Apron, at a time when only a few real competitors existed.  I liked the farm-to-table focus, the rotation of unique or unusual ingredients into recipes, and the focus on learning new cooking techniques in an approachable way. For an experienced home chef, it was easy to adapt the meals to accommodate kids or ingredients I was avoiding, but ultimately, the longer prep times (at least 30 minutes and almost always 50% greater than what they claimed) and frequent carb-heavy meals made us lose interest.

photo by jenn kosar

Fast forward to today and the dozens of options available. After more research, and the experience of Blue Apron under my belt, I knew what I was after [and what I needed to avoid]. When Terra’s Kitchen hit my radar, it seemed to hit all the right marks.

• Fresh food, but with less prep. Terra’s Kitchen sends nothing frozen, and all ingredients arrive pre-cut, pre-washed, trimmed, portioned, and ready to go.  Like most of the meal kit services, Terra’s Kitchen assumes you have nothing in your house but salt, pepper, and olive oil, and eliminates waste by providing you only the amount you need.

• Lower commitment and flexible meal kits.  You can order as little as two dinner meal kits per week and you can skip weeks anytime. You’re not locked into meals for 2 or 4 or some defined quantity per week [just a minimum dollar amount which is 2-3 meal kits depending on their size].  Terra’s Kitchen allows you to mix and match, throwing in a family-friendly meal for four, dinner for two, whatever works for your week.

photo by jenn kosar

• The ability to add extras. Terra’s Kitchen ships your meals in a “vessel”, which is essentially a small refrigerator. Once you add your meal kits, you are free to fill the rest of the fridge as you see fit. Sliced fruit, extra protein for a dinner, snacks, whatever your family needs. This works really well for a family of kind-of-picky eaters. Mom and dad can have steak with shallot dijon sauce and a arugula and asparagus salad, while kids eat extra steaks plain with raw broccoli for one and watermelon for the other.

• Really simple cooking.  All Terra’s Kitchen meals claim to be ready in about 15 minutes.  So far, this has been reasonably accurate. There are no complicated techniques, and easy instructions are provided with pictures. The foodie who loves to learn new things will find this extremely boring, but it is unintimidating for the non-chef. It makes it really easy to follow through on your commitment to healthy, homemade dinners after a long day.

photo by jenn kosar

Making dinner at home has been a journey. I look forward to future stages: my foodie family hosting amazing feasts for extended families and friends. Retiring from my primary career and finally making my way through every single recipe in my rapidly growing cookbook collection.  For now, I am happy to have a little help from Terra’s Kitchen.

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What’s your favorite meal delivery service?  Tried one of those food subscription services and loving it? Share your view!

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook for more of my culinary adventures. And check out my Pinterest boards for both Real Recipes I’m making for weeknight dinner and Inspiration Recipes to up my culinary game.