Meal Service Review- Terra's Kitchen

We've decided to work our way through the meal subscription services. Trials are steeply discounted, and we figured it could be fun. Our toddler is almost one and a half, and since he was born, coffee has been consumed, sleep has been lost, and we usually work opposite shifts. No one has time (or desire) to plan out meals and shop for them, and we hate throwing away a fridge full of produce, so we figured- why not give the meal services a shot? I don't know that i really feel like taking photos, so no promises there, but i'll give you the run down on each one as we go.

So far, i'm subscribing, scheduling to skip the following week from the get go, and cancelling the day we receive our box, then scheduling the next service for the following week. We opted to have ours delivered on Tuesdays, because DH always has tuesdays and wednesdays off.

First up is Terra's Kitchen.

Biggest Perk: Pre-prep- everything is washed and most things are prepped for you. This is the "date night box" with conversation topics and beer and wine pairings.

On a 5 star rating (low to high):
Flavor: ****
Portions: ***
Price: $$$$
Variety: *****
Prep (Difficult to Easy): *****
Website: *****
Sustainability? Proteins are non-gmo, antibiotic and hormone free. Seafood is sustainably sourced, and ingredients are organic when possible.

Promo used: TKOFF50    (50% off code found on facebook)
Other codes available? There are codes available online for ~$30 off (TK919). Check their facebook for the most recent available

Shipping: It shipped to our door in a sort of mini fridge/cooler with drawers. The box has easy carry handles and a label you just peel off to have them pick up the fridge. Everything is packed in a plastic box to standardize the packing of the larger box. While the items are all labeled and the recipe cards tell you what to pull, we did have about 2 dozen boxes stacked in our fridge that i had to sort through to find what i needed at the beginning. You could probably sort them when you put them in the fridge to save time though.

*This photo is from their facebook page, and is a great image of how their box ships. That cube with drawers is a kind of cooler/minifridge with easy carry handles on the outside. It's incased in cardboard with a label you can peel off to reveal the return label. The pullout drawers are packed tight.

The recipes come on card stocks pages, pre-punched for addition to a binder. They're clearly labeled and easy to follow, with great pictures

The Recipes: All of the recipes come on card stock with hole punches so you can keep them in a binder and make them whenever you want. You can choose a custom menu of up to 5 meals (priced according to protein) from a selection of about 30 options. We chose: Chicken Tacos with Avocado Goat Cheese spread, Dijon Shallot Smeared Sirloin with Asparagus Salad, Turkey Sliders, and Green Chicken Chili. So far we've made two and really enjoyed the flavor profiles, portion size, and ease of preparation. There are a few slow cooker meals available in their options as well. They have some side and smoothie options, but most of the recipes were standalone entrees. They offer the option to just add extra protein or pasta. They also include beer and wine pairing recommendations.

This is the setup for a single meal before i made it. This was the most complicated recipe i did, partially because i prepped it by myself, but 30 minutes included waiting for water to boil, so not bad at all.

Prep/Time: Everything that can come already prepped is already prepped (diced, etc) and there's very little that isn't in there (salt, pepper, cooking oil). Some of the packaging seems a little wasteful (each lemon, lime, and avocado shipped in its own plastic container), Everything looks fresh and great. We've prepped 2 meals, with DH cooking the protein and me prepping the sides/sauces. Each took 15-20 minutes start to finish and used 1 pan, 1 bowl with spoon, and a cutting board with knife (which is not something they tote, but i thought worth noting). We prepped these as a couple, and it really felt like a date night/cooking class atmosphere.

Portions: These are mostly standalone entrees without side dishes. We reserved about 2-3 tablespoons of every dish for our 18mo toddler. I served our soup entree as a side dish with another dinner. They're sufficient portions, but you could still be hungry.

Price: This is one of the priciest boxes out there, but obviously we're working our way through trial subscriptions which are steeply discounted. I chose to add a 4th meal into our box and paid $57.96 for our trial (so ~$7.50 per portion, shipped, on half off trial pricing). Each meal is priced differently according to protein, and you can customize what's in your box really easily.

Variety: I had several dozen recipe options to choose from and could pick whatever i wanted, up to 5 meals or snacks per box. Flavor profiles ranged from really basic to asian to latin to simply gourmet, but there really was something for every taste. 

Cancelling: This was easy to cancel online, no calling needed. There's a reactivation button if we want to use it again, and it's super easy to skip however many weeks you want from your computer.

Extras: Extras aren't super important, but i wanted to note that TK has "pro tips" on their recipe cards (like the lactic acid in goat cheese kept our goat cheese avocado spread from browning) and "Table Talk" conversation starters ("Would you rather live in a castle, on a ship, or on a cloud?"). Recipe cards are hole-punched for a binder and beer and wine pairing suggestions are indicated.

Overall: We liked it right away, it was fast and easy with very little prep needed, and of course- also yummy. The price isn't something we would do every week though, and the lack of included side dishes was noticeable. I did add a 4th meal to this box, and given our opposite schedules, we didn't cook that 4th meal for a full week, so i probably wouldn't add a 4th again. This really felt like a cooking class date night- most nights i prepped the sides while DH cooked the protein and we chatted.
Cons: Lack of side dishes.

We're going to work our way through however many subscriptions til we feel like not. lol: Terra's Kitchen, Blue Apron, Sun Basket, Hello Fresh, Marley Spoon, Green Chef, Peach Dish, Plated, Gobble, Din, Handpicked, etc. I thought it would be fun and convenient. We work opposite shifts and throw away a lot of produce, so coming up with meals and buying everything is just more effort than we usually feel like putting forth.

Next Week, we'll be trying out Blue Apron!