Meal Subscription Review- Gobble

We wrapped up our meal box series before summer, and it was a lot of fun. After being a funk for a bit where i just wasn't cooking, we decided to start getting a box again, just once a month. Because i signed up for a service again, i got inundated with ads and discounts for ALL the services I've already tried (so honestly, i could probably try them all again if that's what i was feeling), BUT Gobble wasn't available in my area when we tried them all 6 months ago (and i was kind of disappointed because they tote single pan, 15 minute meals which sounds fabulous). When a code popped up to try Gobble, I was all over it.

Week 12: Gobble

Biggest Perk: 15 minutes. One pan.
On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$
Portion:*****
Variety: ****
Prep (Difficult to Easy):***** 
Website: *****
Sustainability?

Promo used: $50 OFF from Facebook.
Other Codes? The main website has a pop-up discount of $30 off your first box.

Shipping: This box is a little smaller than the others with padded paper packaging, but the proteins are still right on top of the icepacks and the rest are packed as 1 meal in 1 bag (which honestly, anyone who isn't doing this really needs to step up their game.)

The Recipes: Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Brown Sugar Crusted Salmon, and Paneer and Cauliflower Tikka Masala.

Prep/Time: These are all designed to be 15 minutes and one pan. I had a hiccup when i dropped one of the recipe cards down behind my countertops and had to pull it up online instead, and i spent maybe an extra 5 minutes making my soy free substitutes for asian sauces, but i'd say 15-20 minutes is pretty accurate.

Price: This is usually 3 meals for ~$71. With the code we paid $21 to try it out

Variety: There were about 7 meals to choose from, but one was marked "sold out". Allergens are clearly marked on the selection page, making it easy for people like me. There are 8 meal options (though frequently one is sold out as i looked ahead at future weeks), and you can add dessert and sides by the portion too (ranging $2-$6 per portion). The sides includes soups, salads, mac and cheese, and garlic bread. Dessert options are unbaked cookies for $2/cookie (think panera prices)

Portion: Portions are good. Every dish does come with a side of some kind (like rice, or salad, etc). For the lettuce cups i plated 3 for me and 3 and for DH and 1 for the tot, and DH went back and made another plate of 3 and then we had a kind of snack bowl left over after that.

Flavor: As mentioned, i have to make my own substitute sauces for Asian flavors, but we found everything really flavorful

Cancelling: There's a button on the website which was easy. There are skip options as well.

Overall: I liked this box. I liked the variety, i liked the flavor, i liked the convenience concept.

Extras: Our first box has 2 balls of cookie dough with baking instructions and i just thought that was adorable.

Meal Subscription Review: Dinnerly

We wrapped up our meal box series before summer, and it was a lot of fun. After being a funk for a bit where i just wasn't cooking, we decided to start getting a box again, just once a month. Because i signed up for a service again, i got inundated with ads and discounts for ALL the services I've already tried (so honestly, i could probably try them all again if that's what i was feeling), BUT a few popped up that weren't available when we tried them in the spring, so we decided to investigate!

Week 13: Dinnerly

Biggest Perk: Lowest price available
On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:***
Price: $
Portion:***
Variety: *
Prep (Difficult to Easy): *****
Website: ****


Promo used: $50 OFF from Facebook.
Other Codes? The main website has a pop-up discount of $30 off your first box.

Shipping: standard. a small box with ice packs. Protein + bag style.

The Recipes: Honey Mustard Drumsticks, Spicy Sausage Pasta, and Mexican Bean Stew.  The recipe cards are digital only, and were not printer friendly which was definitely a downside in my opinion.

Prep/Time: ~30 minutes

Price: The price is $5/portion all the time. i didn't use a code. They do charge shipping at $8.99/box but the whole box is still $38.99 for 3 meals for 2 people.

Variety: There didn't appear to be any way to tailor your box. There's 3 meals set for the week and that's what you get.

Portion: The portions were adequate, but nothing awesome

Flavor:  I wasn't wowed with these. They tasted good, but weren't particularly special.

Cancelling: There's a button the website which was easy. There are skip options as well.

Overall: Having tried pretty much every box, this one wasn't a standout.

Extras: 

Meal Subscription Services- The Low Down

Meal Subscription Services

 Reviewed

We tried 10 different meal subscription services and reviewed each and every one. This post includes the pros and cons, and our ranking of the favorites, as well as links to reviews of our experiences with each service individually.

We came out of this experience with a binder full of 30+ super tasty recipes

The Ranking

The Overall Favorite: My personal choice likes the variety offered by Sunbasket. It reached a good middle ground on price, flavor and variety as well as making it easy to avoid my allergen.
DH's vote was a toss up between Terra's Kitchen (the easiest and most fun) and Saffron Fix (Indian). Ultimately, I felt TK was too high in price, but we ended up doing both on the regular. We do 2 boxes each month, 1 from Sunbasket and 1 from Saffron Fix, with 2 weeks where we don't get a box at all. We have also repurchased a Chef'd box, which i love for breakfast.

Fish Puttu from Saffron Fix

Panang Curry from Sunbasket

Add caption

The Easiest/Most Fun: Terra's Kitchen comes prepped, and Chef'd offers 10-minute meals which makes them both easy to tag team for "date night". TK's also had conversation starters, which was a cute touch. Ultimately, Terra's Kitchen was hands down the easiest and most fun.

Terra's Kitchen Recipe cards, came hole-punched with drink pairings and conversation starters, and pre-prepped ingredients

The Tastiest: Blue Apron and Marley Spoon topped the flavor charts. If I'm recommending one box on cost, portion, ease, and flavor, I'd say Blue Apron is probably the way to go if you just want to stick with one. If you don't mind a more challenging route, Marley Spoon was also low in price and super high in flavor- it was just more work and more difficult to follow recipes.

The Most Affordable: Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, Home Chef, and Marley Spoon are on par for pricing. Marley Spoon has an edge on flavor, but the work sucked a lot of the fun out of the experience. If you're really comfortable in a kitchen and just want the convenience, I recommend Marley Spoon. If you're more of a novice in the kitchen enjoying a flavor adventure, Blue Apron is not going to disappoint.

No Subscription Needed: Chef'd and Saffron Fix both have subscription-free options. Chef'd offered a fabulous breakfast and delicious 10-minute meals. Saffron Fix is a beautiful adventure in Indian Cooking and we loved both.

Amaretto French Toast with fresh berries, candied bacon, and cheddar egg scramble

With Saffron Fix, we learned to cook dishes like Fish Puttu, Kofta Curry, Kati Rolls, and Lemon Vermicelli

Honorable Mention-Snack Box: We've been subscribed to NatureBox since 2014, when they were still pretty new. They use no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or hydrogenated oils, and send substantial portions (5 servings of 5 snacks) for $20/month in their deluxe box. A lot of their snacks are allergen-free (w/ facility warning) and they have a filter for allergies which is great for me (soy-free snacks! yay!). For people who subscribe (like me) we also get a hefty discount on their retail products. My husband looks forward to the naturebox each month, and some of the snacks are individually portioned for lunch boxes. From oatmeal and granola, to snack bars and fruit snacks, and all manner of spiced and candied fruits and nuts, it is great to have snacks in the house we can feel good about reaching for.

*****

Our Adventure: 

We decided to work our way through the meal subscription services, mostly for fun. In general, they're a little pricey for "groceries", but every service offers a discounted trial and we thought, for an average of $30/week, why not give it a shot? We frequently work opposite shifts, and no one has the time or desire to meal plan or shop appropriately. We also throw away a lot of produce in our house, because produce comes in bulk quantities and buying for one recipe leaves extras. We participate in a crop share every year, but it doesn't begin until late spring, so choosing to do this adventure in the winter time was also strategic. Ultimately, we cooked more in general, ate more dinners as a family, AND learned to cook some cool ethnic dishes we weren't super familiar with. Everything was yummy, and we really enjoyed the adventure!

Who we tried:
Below I've linked the individual reviews for each service that we tried, from price to flavor to convenience.

• Week 1: Terra's Kitchen
• Week 2: Blue Apron
• Week 3: Hello Fresh
• Week 4: Green Chef
• Week 5: Sun Basket
• Week 6: Marley Spoon
• Week 7: Plated
• Week 8: Home Chef
• Week 9: Chef'd
• Week 10: Peach Dish
• Week 11: Saffron Fix
• Week 12: Gobble
• Week 13: Dinnerly
• Week 14: Daily Harvest

Benefits of Meal Subscription Services:

• Easy Meal Planning and Motivation for Family Dinners in an era of workaholics
• Not only do you pick from pre-curated menus with the click of a button, but having these in your fridge and knowing the prep-time made us more likely to cook dinner. We also always ate at the dinner table.
• Less food waste
• Americans throw away so much food. These services plan out portions and send only what you're going to use, eliminating food waste.
• Fresher Ingredients
• Usually produce goes from the farm to a wholesaler to a regional warehouse to a grocery store to your table. Most of these services partner directly with the farms.
• Support for Local Farms & Sustainable practices
• Most of these services source locally and sustainably when they can. Almost all were geared toward non-gmo, hormone-free, antibiotic free, sustainable proteins and conscientious farming practices. It's nice to have that research done for you and access to the kind of ingredients you want to be buying.
• Recipe Books
• All of these services send you quality recipe cards to keep and many keep them available online for free. 

Downsides to Meal Subscription Services:

• Cost
• Having someone do your shopping for you, with quality ingredients to boot, and ship it to your door, is going to cost you. Plans range from $60-$100+/week (or $10-$20/plate). Not everyone has it in their budget to do this.
• The counter to The Con is that pretty much all of these offer flexibility. You can skip as many weeks as you like, so if you just want to use it once a month, you can set your account to do that. 
• Packaging
• Most of these companies make an effort at recycled or recyclable packaging, some don't. They all come in a cardboard box and individual goods are usually packaged in paper or plastic, so you're often offsetting your farm sustainability with some extra trash. There are varying levels of wasteful packaging, and there are definitely practices you can be comfortable with, but not for every company. 

Standards for All the Boxes:

• Lacking simple basics- salt, pepper, olive oil, butter (i had 1-2 send butter, milk, and eggs, but most don't)
• They arrive in a cardboard box, with ice packs, and usually some kind of eco-friendly insulation. The boxes vary in size and style, but at the end of the day, it's a cardboard box.
• You receive recipes printed on cardstock, so you can always make it again. Most of these companies actually give you access to their recipe cards online, whether you're a subscriber or not. 
• Websites allow you to skip, cancel, or tailor your subscription easily. 
• Trials- pretty much every service has an intro rate or coupon of some kind, all of the ones included here do.
• Most of these are offering some kind of sustainable conscientious ingredients sourcing
• Yes, it's going to come out just like the picture, which is nice
• Overall, we ended up with a lot of ethnic dishes-which is something we enjoy, but- if that's not your thing, these boxes might not be for you.

*****

Who we didn't try:

There were some services we just weren't interested in, like pre-made meals, and soup and smoothie subscriptions. Others just weren't available in central Pennsylvania right now. A big part of the appeal in trying all of these was that the trial price point is low. There are so many of these services, so if you didn't really offer a promotion, you weren't really worth my dollar. Just because they didn't tickle our fancy doesn't mean we can't share the info!

Not in our area or overpriced:

•  Handpick was a standout from the others in my research in that they don't re-package smaller portions. They build 3 meals around shared ingredients with separate proteins. They only deliver in California, so we couldn't order the box, but because their meal plans are designed around purchasing standard produce and using it in all 3 meals, i thought their app was worth mentioning. It's a recommendation for their meal-planning app, rather than their subscription box.
• Meal Time Box- MTB15 - Honestly, this one just looked a little boring. It's things like meatloaf, baked penne, and jambalaya. Each meal is $19.99
• Burga Box- HelloBurgaBox - I just felt like this was overpriced for a single meal. Their "feast kits" are a full dinner for 2 with gourmet burgers, gourmet mac and cheese, specialty fries, and side for $65.
• Purple Carrot "Purple20" gets $20 off. This is a vegan/vegetarian box and even the trial ran $48/box. DH really wasn't interested in a vegetarian box and the price point made it a no-go. From what i could tell, the menu is set every week with no substitutions, so all you can tailor is regular or high protein.
• Fresh Realm-" EMAILPW35" gets $35 off a box. Super similar to Terra's Kitchen, their trial price is on the higher end and we just didn't feel like paying more to try something similar. They charge $10 shipping if you fill your box (and i think $20 shipping if you don't fill your box).
• Raddish- This is a kid's club. It comes with a grocery list, cooking tools, and recipes. It looks fun, but since it doesn't come with ingredients, and our toddler is still a bit small for such a thing, we didn't try it. "FACE15"
• HungryRoot- vegan. currently on hiatus as they move to a larger location.
• Takeout Kit- "WELCOME" or "ADDICTION" These ingredients aren't fresh, which was a turnoff, but it's a way to try dishes from around the world.
• Just Add Cooking (Boston), Madison and Rayne (Chicago), Miss Fresh and Buddha Station(Canada), Gousto (UK).

Premade meals (linked from Urban Tastebud, Daily Burn, Refinery 29, and others):

• Freshly--Also doesn't ship to PA, but "RADSPRING30" for 30% off
• Munchery
• Lean Meals
• Nurture Life- This one is for babies and toddlers!
• Veestro- for vegans and vegetarians (20% off with "20PLEASE")
• Sakara- At $69/day, who would try this?!?!?
• What A Crock- Crockpot meals. They're partially cooked and designed to be finished all day in your crockpot

We also didn't try the mini services for fresh soups and smoothies, but being able to send soup to a sick college kid or friend is kind of awesome:

• Green Blender- smoothies
• Frozen Garden-smoothies
• Grandma's Chicken Soup -soups and comfort foods (like mac n cheese) for sending out
• The Soup Shop-soups
• Spoonful of Comfort- soups for sending

Meal Service Review- Saffron Fix

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun.

Week11: Saffron Fix

This was the promotional photo for their kickstarter campaign

Biggest Perk: Pre-prepped. Doesn't have to be a subscription.

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$$
Portion:****
Variety: **
Prep (Difficult to Easy): ****
Website: **
Sustainability? I don't think sustainability is one of their goals, but I did notice the box used the same eco-insulation that many of the others did.

Promo used: GETYOURFIX for $20 off
Other Codes? My own friend-link for $25 off!

Shipping: This came in a cardboard box with eco lining and ice packs like the others. The proteins were under the icepacks. Pretty much everything is prepped with this one, so opening the box hit us with a cloud of smells- curry and onion, and the fridge smelled pretty strongly too.

The Recipes: These are pretty limited so we ended up with a fish curry and chicken kofta curry. Both were very easy to make and super delicious.

Prep/Time: These are all designed to be 30-40 minutes or less, and items are already chopped and prepped. The first took about 25 minutes. The second we rushed in about 30 minutes.

Price: These ship bi-weekly with an option for 2 or 3 meals. We did 2 meals for $50. With the coupon code it was $30 to try it out.

Variety: This is ALL Indian food and you can choose vegetarian or non-vegetarian. There are 6 recipes to choose from each bi-weekly menu (3 veg, 3 non-veg).

Portion: I felt like these were pretty great portions. The fish puttu was a large serving with rice, and the kofta was 4 super jumbo meatballs and 2.5 pieces of naan per person.

Flavor: We really loved the flavor on these. It felt authentic and it was fun learning to cook a cuisine we aren't super familiar with

Cancelling: There's a button the website which was easy. There are skip options as well.

Overall: I really liked this one. It did renew sooner than I expected while I was trying to decide whether or not to cancel this one, but I wasn't particularly upset about that.

Extras: There was a handwritten thank you card, and their website has a "bazaar" shopping section where you can purchase Indian Spice Kits and Indian desserts.

We've reached the end of our Meal subscription adventure. Stay tuned next week for the roundup review and ratings! Update: A few months later, we tried Gobble and Dinnerly!


Update: We tried this box again in October for Diwali. Packaging re: odors has improved a lot. I appreciate the nice large icepacks that they use (which are really convenient for putting in a cooler). Our Diwali box came with a free dessert, and the box we did 2 weeks later came with free chai. They send out discount codes pretty regularly, and have been streamlining their website. I also noticed everything seems to have officially switched to organic, which it was labeled as before. We've done this box about 4 times now and have really enjoyed each and every recipe, including vegetarian ones.

Meal Service Review- Peach Dish

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun. This one is southern style cooking, so you know it's delicious.

Week 10: Peach Dish

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:***
Price: $$$$
Variety: ****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): ***
Website: ****

Promo used: $10 off with HN8ZcQU5 or b9EcvckR
Other Codes? Vergilis

Shipping: Standard box. These are packaged in organza bags with a protein.

The Recipes: We chose Salmon Dill Croquettes, and Chorizo Sopes. However, i had chosen the week of april 26th for our date, and peach dish took it upon themselves to choose meals for the week before that and shipped us a box for that week which really irritated me. i was under the impression that i could choose my start date and that clearly wasn't so. They substituted a stroganoff dish for the sopes (we were really looking forward to the sopes). The recipe cards are folded, and you REALLY have to read them. I missed the sticker on the fish that said to keep it frozen, but it luckily didn't seem to affect the product.

Prep/Time: DH prepped the first meal, which took around 30 minutes. He helped with the second which was around 30 minutes as well (but slotted for 50 minutes). I felt like these used an absurd amount of dishes. I didn't like that this didn't really follow the step-by-step method of other cards where you understood why you were doing a step and how it was being used in the dish. i kept reading ahead to figure these things out. I've mentioned that i have a food allergy to soy. There weren't really allergy flags on this website, and, being southern, it was no surprise that i had to figure out my substitute for a lot of mayonnaise (which is something i'm used to doing, but worth mentioning)

Price: This is on the pricier side at only 2 meals for $50 (which is a guideline. Every dish is priced a little differently, with most- but not all- meals for 2 people being $25). Their promotions are also not great, so the trial was $40 for 2 meals.

Flavor: I was not a fan of the stroganoff dish they chose for us, but DH liked it fine. The salmon croquettes were as expected and yummy as was the salad.

Portion: These were kind of small, not excessively so, but the stroganoff was a one bowl dish and we added asparagus from our garden to round out our salmon dish.

Variety: There's ~8 things to choose from, with some of them being desserts, soups, or salads. Given this is a "southern" food site, i really expected more southern style dishes. We chose the salmon croquettes but...salmon is a northern fish...

Cancelling: There's a button on the website. Easy Peasy.

Extras: They send you some "extras". Our extras were some caramels, oranges, and a southern food magazine. I told my husband that given the name, i thought it would be more appropriate to send a mason jar of country peaches with each box.

Overall: The food was good but overpriced. The presentation was sweet, but lacking the southern charm i expected. There was some miscommunication in the "week" system at sign up, and no allergy flags. Overall, i wouldn't repurchase this one.

Next week we're trying Saffron Fix!

Meal Service Review- Chef'd

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun.

Week 9: Chef'd

Biggest Perk: No subscription needed.

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$$
Portion:***
Variety: *****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): ****
Website: ****

Promo used: WELCOME15 for $15 off
Other Codes? My own friendlink for $10 off

Shipping: They charge shipping if you only order 1 meal, but otherwise shipping is free. While this was packed and shipped like pretty much everything is, we did have one item (pomegranate seeds) leak juice in the bag.

The Recipes: I chose a ten-minute meal and a breakfast: Green Curry Chicken Tacos and Amaretto French Toast with Candied Bacon. Standard cardstock.

Prep/Time: This is kind of all over the place, but if you wanted ten minute meals, you could stick to ten minute meals. We did these both in one day. DH made the breakfast in ~30 minutes, and i did the 10 minute meal. They did send milk, eggs, and butter. For the 10 minute meal, the protein and the rice were both already cooked and vacuum sealed.

Price: These are priced by the dish, and many feel overpriced- certainly so on the desserts. Breakfasts were actually pretty reasonably priced ~$5-$10/person. We did a 10-minute meal and a breakfast for $31 shipped. That said, we didn't do a subscription and subscriptions DO come with a 5%-10% discount depending on how many meals you choose.

Variety: This was by far the biggest variety. There was a massive dinners menu, a gourmet menu, a separate "10 minute meals" menu, a whole array of breakfasts, and desserts. Honestly, the variety was almost overwhelming.

Portion: These were adequate portions. 3 pieces of french toast, 2 tacos. Bacon was sealed by portion and they did accidentally forget one of ours, which was not a huge deal, but disappointing. However, our breakfast ingredients included: 1/2 dozen eggs, a small box of blueberries, a big box of strawberries, half pint of cream, 6 slices of bacon (ours was 3. wahwah), 6 tbs of butter, cheese, and others fixings, so its regular price of $25 isn't a huge leap from what it would normally cost to buy those ingredients yourself with the convenience of not having to go shopping. There was enough fruit left over to do berries and cream for 2 later.

Flavor: This was delicious and i would absolutely make either one again.

Cancelling: While they have subscriptions available, this website is designed for you not to have to subscribe. There are discounts if you choose a subscription. We just picked alacarte.

Overall: I loved both of these meals. Breakfast was delicious, and the 10-minute meal thai tacos were fast, easy, and delicious. There was an oops or two, but overall i was pleased with the experience. The pricing is a little crazy, but i especially love the idea of having breakfast delivered.

Next Week, we'll be trying out Peach Dish!

Meal Service Review: Home Chef

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun.

Week 8: Home Chef

promo image from startupanchor

Biggest Perk: Comes with a binder!

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$
Portion:****
Variety: ****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): ***
Website: ***
Sustainability? Your box comes with a guide to where they source ingredients and how each packaging component can be recycled.

Promo used: 3PLATESOFF
Other Codes? GA30FREE            There are other codes out there, but they pretty much all do the same thing.

Shipping: Pretty standard- basic cardboard box, eco insulation with ice packs. Proteins are in 1 bag, each recipe has another bag. This is the only one that seemed to make an attempt at easy open packaging on the protein (it still didn't open great, but the tab was there).

The Recipes: We went with a Bleu Cheese Crusted Sirloin, Coq Au Vin Chicken, and Shrimp Pomodoro. These are hole-punched like TK's were, BUT HomeChef is the first one to send a binder to put them in. It's nothing fancy, but i appreciated it. I generally found these easy to follow, and we had a busy week so i even made 2 recipes at the same time one night, but when DH made the third, he had some stumbles, so maybe the recipes aren't as straightforward as some of the others :/

Prep/Time: Our recipes were ~40 minutes. We had a busy week and i actually made 2 recipes together for dinner, turning it into surf and turf. Doing that involved extra dishes, but it was all delicious.

Price: This normally runs $9.95/serving (so ~$60/week). The trial was $29.70

Variety: There were 10+ recipes to choose from, as well as the option to do add-on premium meals (premium meals cost more per serving. This weeks option was lamb chops), smoothies, breakfast, or fruit baskets. All of the choices felt a little upscale which was nice. It did ask for some taste preferences (meat, seafood, vegetables) and foods we choose not eat (like soy).

Portion: These portions were good, but not huge or anything.

Flavor: Everything was super delicious, we would make it again, and the recipes are relatively easy to repeat.

Cancelling: There's a "Pause your account" button on account settings. I did have to consult their FAQ for skipping a week, but the option is there.

Overall: We enjoyed this one. They were a reasonable price, bag and a protein, sent a binder, tasted great.

Next Week, we'll be trying out Chef'd!

Soy-free soy sauce

I've mentioned that i have a food allergy, and until last week it was largely an annoyance- i shouldn't eat it and avoided it, but it wasn't life threatening, and little things here and there (like bread) we didn't worry about. My epipen expired 6 months ago, so naturally NOW i would start having anaphylactic reactions. One of the foods i didn't used to worry about was soy-sauce (because soy-sauce is heavily fermented, fermentation breaks apart protein bonds, the proteins are what your body attacks, yada yada), but i had an anaphylactic reaction to something containing "soy sauce" (wasabi almonds. it's possible they used a powdered substitute that is not quite the same thing as soysauce, but either way- they tried to kill me).

I've eaten completely soy-free (i've eaten completely allergen free and unprocessed. lot of work let me tell you) in the past, and since I LOVE asian food, i'd thought i'd share a couple of my "soy-free" tricks for cooking. There are lots of soy-free products you can buy, but i'm talking strictly in the kitchen here. Anything you make by hand, especially without preservatives, is not going to have a super long shelf life, so when you need 2 TBS of something for a recipe, you shouldn't have to spend 20 minutes boiling crap to get a reasonable substitution.

soy-sauce: soy sauce is basically just salty, so i substitute it with salt water. i like to use black truffle salt, i just feel like it gives it that something extra that closes the gap in flavor, and my husband agrees, it comes out pretty darn close. I do roughly a 1:4 salt to water ratio (1t salt to 2T water). It isn't the right color (obviously), but it's a great substitute on flavor. There are recipes out there with vinegar and molasses; personally, i think they're just trying too hard.

hoisin sauce: hoisin is a sweet asian sauce filled with spices and soy sauce. there are lots of recipes on the internet, but a quick substitute is buckwheat honey (or manuka, or another dark pungent honey) and peanut butter. Those dark honeys just have a completely different flavor profile than the traditional golden honeys most of us are accustomed to. I actually don't like the dark honeys for eating, but as a substiture for hoisin, dark honey and peanutbutter is right on. You can use garlic and cayenne powders to round out the flavor, but buckwheat honey alone gets really close and adding the peanut butter is almost indecipherable. (if you have a peanut allergy, i still totally recommend the dark honey and garlic).

mayonnaise: There are soy-free mayo's out there, they cost a lot, and if you really love mayo, you can splurge. I actually never liked mayo (certainly not enough to make it myself) even before i couldn't eat it, but i like some things that are made WITH mayo-like deviled eggs and pasta salad. Most of the time, i substitute greek yogurt or sour cream. avocado or just plain olive oil are also good substitutes depending on the dish. For coleslaw, i make an asian slaw with sesame oil, but there are lots of vinegar based slaw recipes out there that are super delicious.

Meal Service Review- Plated

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun.

Week 7: Plated

Biggest Perk: Great portions, simplified packing

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$$
Portion:****
Variety: ****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): *****
Website: ***
Sustainability? Pretty much all of their packaging is recyclable and they use green bags that absorb the ethylene gas from produce. They use 100% sustainable seafood, 100% antibiotic free meat. They don't always source organically or locally, but they do make an effort to source from responsible farming practices.

Promo used: They have a running promo on their website that makes trials $12/plate
Other Codes?

Shipping: This wasn't quite a bag and a protein, but it was basically 3 pieces per recipe (a bag, a protein, and 1 something else- The something else was always something easily damageable, like lettuce or buns) Like everyone else, it's eco packaging and cooler packs.

The Recipes: We chose Beef Bolognese Sliders, Shitake Bimbimbop, and Thai Lettuce Wraps.

Prep/Time: The first i prepared by myself in 25 minutes. The second (50 minutes) i chose to prep the night before and finish the following day, and the third DH made in about 20 minutes. The instructions were easy to follow, and explained in the "tips" section why they had you do something if it seemed weird (like drying off your ground beef or using a slotted spoon to pull it from the pan). While they recommend reading through the whole recipe first (because it's a common good practice), I like that the vast majority of these boxes are so blatantly step by step that it doesn't matter if you read through it first or not. They were on point with that. Most of the ingredients were pre-washed and instructed you to just give it a rinse.

Price: This is mid-range at $72/week shipped. The trial was $48.

Portion: These were good portions. I've come to think of it as "the taco test". Some boxes give you 2 tacos (or sliders in this case) and some give you 3. 3 is always better. In the sliders recipe, it made 3 sliders per person with meat leftover and a good sized salad. Not all of the boxes have side dishes, so i appreciate when they do.

Variety: We could choose from ~12 recipes, 6 that change weekly and 6 that change monthly, as well as 2 dessert options.

Cancelling: This has a button on their website. easy peasy.

Overall: I enjoyed this box, though i did have to use their FAQ section to find some things. The portions are great and the bag/protein approach is one i'm coming to expect. This one didn't really have an allergen flag, and as someone with a food allergy, i appreciate my allergen flags, so that was a bummer.

Extras? When we signed up, it took me through a little questionnaire of proteins (if there's a protein you don't care for, they won't recommend it), and a thumbs up thumbs down survey of meals to get an idea of your preferences.

Next Week, we'll be trying out HomeChef!

Lemon Mug Cake

I'm usually super underwhelmed by mug cakes- they just fall short 90% of the time. They end up dry or eggy or super dense and they just don't end up worth the expectation. I use my microwave so seldom that we keep it in the basement. BUT...tonight i wanted something sweet and there was just 1 egg in the fridge, so i decided to give mug cakes another shot. This Lemon Mug Cake from Life Liz Love came out spongey and delicious, and was exactly what I wanted.

Lemon Mug Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs Flour
• 3 Tbs Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbs Vegetable Oil (we use peanut oil in our house)

Instructions:

• Grease a 16oz mug (my cake DID rise all the way to the top of the cup during baking, and settled out maybe an inch below the rim)
• In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients
• Add in wet ingredients
• Blend it really well, pour it into the mug, and microwave it on high for 90 seconds

Glaze:

The original recipe didn't call for glaze, but i like glaze with my lemon cakes, so i pulled up this nearly identical recipe for Lemon Mug Cake w/ Glaze from The Hungry Hedgehog (They add 2 Tbs of milk to their cake instead of an egg)

• 3 Tbs Powdered Sugar
• 2 tsp Lemon Juice

Meal Service Review- Marley Spoon

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun.

Week 6: Marley Spoon

Biggest Perk: Again, this is a bag and a protein

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$
Portion:****
Variety: ****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): **
Website: ***
Sustainability? Your box comes with a guide to where they source ingredients and how each packaging component can be recycled.

Promo used: "RUYVM6" $30 off
Other Codes?

Shipping: This shipped in a somewhat smaller box with the same recyclable batting insulation as sunbasket and the standard cooler packs in the bottom.

The Recipes: Standard full page cardstock. We did a Keema Curry, Fish Tacos, and Vietnamese Noodle Salad. The recipes were a little disjointed, and i really feel like you needed to read them over twice before beginning just to figure out your steps. As this was our 6th box, I think i have a pretty good grasp on the step-by-step directions process, and most boxes really do just walk you through it.

Prep/Time: There were numbers on the bags but nothing mentioned about the numbers. i made the one with a number 1 on it first, just in case. The first recipe was fish tacos with jicama slaw. It was supposed to take 30 minutes, i'd wager it took me closer to 45 minutes. That jicama slaw had me zesting, juicing, and slicing 3 pieces of fruit, peeling and grating jicama, separating leaves and stems on cilantro (i really should have just cut the whole bundle with kitchen shears, it would have been so much easier), and slicing scallions- all in different steps for one slaw.

Price: This is in the low range. It normally runs ~$61

Variety: We could choose from ~6 recipes, and they offer a vegetarian option. One thing i didn't like was that allergens weren't really marked, and one of the ingredients we got was edamame (soybeans. i have a soy allergy) for the Vietnamese Noodle dish. We adapt pretty easy (and just left them out), but a flag would have been nice.

Portion: These were decent portions and easy to share with a toddler. The tacos were 3 tacos per person rather than the 2 you often see.

Flavor: This was great flavor, and despite the pain in the ass nature of the jicama slaw, my husband and i both agreed we would probably make it again. 

Cancelling: This has a button on their website. easy peasy.

Overall: This was great flavor with good portions. Another "bag and protein" box which i prefer. The directions were a little disjointed and the prep was a little more intense than i think most people really want in a meal service kit. Though the flavor to value ratio is great, I probably wouldn't choose this box again.

Next Week, we'll be trying out Plated!

Meal Service Review- Sun Basket

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun.

Week 5: Sun Basket

A promotional photo of their box from Dribble

Biggest Perk: A bag and a protein. Big flavor.

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor:*****
Price: $$$
Portion:****
Variety: ****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): *****
Website: ****
Sustainability? SB is a farm-to-table seasonal sustainable box.

Promo used: "HNYE173FREE" was they're promotional "3 meals free" from their website.
Other Codes? SEARCH3 (50% off)

Shipping: They do charge $5.99 shipping on your regular orders. This arrived in a slightly non-traditional box in that the lid was a tuck in lid (like a toy box). Each recipe had a medium grocery bag (labeled) and a protein. There were 2 items not in the bags (a bag of salad mix, and the large flatbread), but in general this company is a bag and a protein. The packaging came with stickers to roll up the insulation for the recycle bin.

This is what i grabbed from the refrigerator to prep Dish 1

The Recipes: This one FELT fancy. We chose a thai curry dish, a Turnip soup dish with preserved lemon and parmesan flatbread, and a seared tuna steaks dish, ALL soy free. These recipe cards were about half the size of most meal services.

This is the "grocery bag" unpacked

Prep/Time: Our set of recipes ranged from 20-40 minutes. There was some pre-prep (our steak was already sliced, our cashews toasted). This did re-use the cooking pan

This was our first dish:Thai Steak Panang Curry served with Jasmine Rice. It took 20 minutes to make and was super delicious.

Price: This is in the mid-range. It normally runs ~$75/box shipped.

Variety: Recipes change weekly, and we could choose 3 from 10 entrees and 1 breakfast dish. They offer specific menus (vegetarian, gluten free, paleo, etc). We chose the standard "chef's choice". Every recipe was labeled for special restrictions (like my own "soy-free" concern) which was nice.

Cancelling: You have to call a phone number(1-855-204-7597), which is not my favorite. All other changes to your account can be done online. 

Overall: I really liked this box, and flavor scored high with the whole family. It was just the right amount of pre-prep and organization.

Extras? One of the interesting things i noticed was in the standard function of "skipping meals", they give you the option to donate your box which i thought was a cool idea. Their website also includes lifestyle tips for fitness, health, and cleaning. They also have options for text alerts to tell you when the last day to customize your menu is each week. We also received a guide for choosing your cooking oils.

Next Week, we'll be trying out Marley Spoon!

My Copper Kitchen

I named this blog "The Copper Kitchen", because it quite literally is the theme for my kitchen- I have a copper kitchen.

My kitchen is basically the enclosed back porch of an old house. It is roughly 6' x 26' and while that isn't actually smaller than the average kitchen, the shape is pretty unusual to work with. Add to that the fact that it came with ugly drop ceiling, crappy cream countertops, and linoleum, and it was a space that needed a lot of work for me to love..With a degree in metalsmithing, copper was the first metal i worked with, and it holds a very special place in my tastes and heart. I used that love to transform a less-than-ideal space into a kitchen that I love.

*The walls were ragged with brown and ochre paints mixed with gold glaze

 In today's post, I'm going to share some of my favorite copper kitchen purchases with you!

Hammered Copper Canister Set- $47 (i actually picked up mine at HomeGoods)
The pewter measuring cups and spoons set isn't copper, and it isn't cheap, but in case you were interested, it's a
Crosby & Taylor Pewter Combination Set- $189
It was a gift from my husband and i love it.

Large copper mixing bowl- $32
Copper Hanging Colander- $20
Hammered Copper Moscow Mule Mugs- 4 for $44

Old Thompson Salt and Pepper Mills Set- $40 with coupon
Insulated Copper French Press- $50
Hammered Copper Mixing Bowls Set- $25

Even our barware echoes the copper!
Fitz & Floyd Decanter Set $66 (can be found on ebay for less)
Twine Hammered Copper Cocktail Shaker $20
Barconic Bottle Opener- Copper $5

Food Network Copper Plated Whisk- $15
(i also have the pie server)
Copper Measuring Cups- $35 This set of Cups and Spoons is also great
Copper Utensils- $60
*I picked up the iron-look handled utensils at HomeGoods for ~$3 each. IIRC, they are Baumalu Copper

The large tray is "decorative" but i use it for things like cookies. I found it at HomeGoods ~$12. It's copper colored aluminum. They carry matching pieces in other shapes and sizes. I am pretty sure this $30 tray on amazon is the same or very very similar product.
The Small Copper Pitcher in the blog header photo is also from Amazon ($25)

I have an assortment of copper pots and pans, some from Williams Sonoma (i bought a large copper skillet for $80), some from HomeGoods (a Baumalu saucepan, they had an assortment from $30-$50- see ebay), and even one coveted Ruffoni (these run $200+ per item)

Wilsonart Oxide Laminate Countertops with Ogee Edge ~$800 installed
Hammered Copper Sink $750
Oil-rubbed bronze faucet

Our drop ceiling was one of the things i hated the most about our kitchen. The most affordable solution, was to keep the drop ceiling, but replace the tiles. i chose a faux-tin PVC drop in tile from Decorative Ceiling Tiles and was really happy with the solution.

When replacing our countertops, i ultimately decided that i liked the durability and low maintenance of laminate, as well as the affordability, but i chose a stone-look finish and a decorative ogee edge (the edge of our countertops has formed a waterfall wave, rather than the straight glued on strip most cheap laminate countertops have) to make them feel more expensive. Ours are Wilsonart Oxide with an Ogee edge. We had them custom cut and installed for ~$800.

Our hammered copper sink is one of my favorite things

If you were wondering, we did replace the linoleum with wood laminate flooring. Laminate flooring isn't ideal for kitchens because it isn't supposed to get wet, but we're very conscious about not letting water sit on the floor because of that. 

Alice in Wonderland Baby Shower

*This is a crosspost from the blog i kept during pregnancy. I loved the baby shower my mom and sister threw for us. I chose the theme, but they took care of ALL the details! While it was a baby shower for me, all the decorations were repurposed later in the year for my niece's birthday!

Down the Rabbit Hole

An Alice-in-Wonderland theme party

My mom and sister threw us a beautiful theme shower and everything was spectacular.

I (of course) was Alice for the day. My hair was fabulously curly, but the humidity got to me about halfway through. I still had a fabulously curly ponytail ;)

Follow the signs!

We're going to Wonderland!

Down the rabbit hole (on an adventure into parenthood!)

It's a teaparty!!!

Flowers with faces as the center pieces. See the queen of hearts tarts?
You could take your cup of tea in the assortment of mismatched and unique vintage teacups or drink "Lemonade that makes you smaller" or "Lemonade that makes you taller"

Lots of yummy desserts, almost all homemade by my sister but complemented by boxed goodies too (my mom found the cutest chocolate mushrooms!)
In addition to the array of teacakes and desserts, there was a buffet line of finger sandwiches, crudite, curried carrot soup, and mini quiche

Party favors! I had a beautiful keepsake teacup (the peacock!), a there were blue sixlets with "Take Me" messages and keys.
Activities included making mad hatter hats, "white rabbit" boo boo bunnies, and flamingo croquet!

Invitations said "It's a boy! And we're entirely bonkers about him! (All the best people are) Join Samantha & Robert on their first trip down the rabbit hole-into parenthood!" and thank you cards were gifted along with the list keeping track of gifts :)

Games were played- baby shopping list, how big is belly (39"), etc. These cute pocket watch necklace with rabbit and drink me charms were a prize, but as Alice, i got one to keep either way :)