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We Asked Three Of Our Editors To Try Splendid Spoon

What do a workaholic, a takeout junkie, and a vegetarian have in common? They Love Splendid Spoon

We've all been taught to get 8 hours of sleep a night and 3 meals a day plus snacks, but even with spending more time at home, it can be impossible to get into those routines.

Unless you spend time every day preparing and cooking your own meals, it's likely to stray off course from a healthy schedule. And that's okay!

Sometimes we wish we could check out and have our meals delivered….so, we actually looked into it.

For easy, healthy meals, our editors looked into a few different meal delivery subscriptions, and settled on Splendid Spoon as the ultimate one to try.

Splendid Spoon Overview

They specialize in plant-based smoothies, soups, grain bowls, noodle bowls, and even immunity shots delivered right to your door. Everything is ready-to-eat and they have really positive reviews.

Our staff is pretty diverse, so everyone found something different to enjoy.

Here's what we each liked about it and why:

The Workaholic

Eating Schedule: I like to get up early to get work in before I'm drowning in Slack messages, and I tend to eat lunch whenever I remember or have 20 minutes free between meetings.

Favorite Splendid Spoon Feature: No Prep

Experience: Should I be taking more regular breaks? My eyes say yes, but my inbox says no. I'm juggling a project at work right now that is my baby, so everything else gets reprioritized, including my lunch schedule.

Pre- Splendid Spoon, lunch was peanut butter on toast or boxed mac'n'cheese. Now? I love having access to fast, healthy options. Everything lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge or 1 month in the freezer, so I don't have to do extra planning on what to eat when. A quick defrost in the microwave is now all that stands between me and a really tasty and amazingly filling bowl of Veggie Bolognese or Cumin Sweet Potato Soap.

The Takeout Junkie

Eating Schedule: I cook maybe once a week and I'm on a first-name basis with the employees at my local deli, Chinese, sushi, pizza, and Thai spots.

Favorite Splendid Spoon Feature: Range of Foods

Experience: I grew up never eating takeout, so I'm a little rebellious and eat it constantly. It's always been so convenient and I hate eating the same thing all week.

I was convinced I wouldn't like Splendid Spoon, but they have such an incredible range of recipes and cuisines, I haven't been bored.

My favorites so far have been the Coconut Curry Rice Bowl, the Moroccan Lentil Soup, and the Mint Chip Smoothie, but they add new items all the time.

Plus, I know that their focus on superfoods and lower sugar and sodium counteracts all the sugar and salt in my diet from takeout, so I'm a big fan.

The Wannabe Vegetarian

Eating Schedule: I eat 3 meals a day and snack a bit in the afternoon, but whenever I try a new vegetarian recipe, I feel like I always need a snack later.

Favorite Splendid Spoon Feature: How Filling Everything Is

Experience: I've been trying to cut down on my meat and dairy intake, but what makes it difficult for me is getting enough protein in my diet without doing too much extra work.

With Splendid Spoon, I can get easy plant-based meals covered, that are actually filling. When I order vegan meals at restaurants, I usually need an entree and a side to leave full, but Splendid Spoon focuses on filling ingredients and delicious recipes so I'm not hungry or bored.

I don't miss meat at all with their Vegan Meatballs & Marinara Noodles or Mexican Tomato Chili. They also cover my entire day with smoothies for breakfast (the Mango Guava is incredible) or even dessert (hello, Chocolate Cherry). There are also so many superfoods like acai or quinoa for a balanced diet.

Final Thoughts

Splendid Spoon makes eating healthier so easy. Access to filling, plant-based meals can really change your day; you don't feel heavy, but you do feel energized enough to tackle those big projects.

Splendid Spoon has over 50 different recipes to choose from each week for their 4 plans. The lightest is just Lunch and the most robust provides Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner + a 1-Day Reset. It's super flexible for anyone's schedule.

If your eating routine is stressing you out? You need to try Splendid Spoon to get some of your time and energy back. With tasty and filling meals delivered right to your door, you can stay focused on every other part of your day.

UPDATE: The folks at Splendid Spoon are extending an exclusive offer to our readers! Follow this link and get $15 Off Most Popular Plans!

splendid spoon
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Blue Apron Vs. Green Chef: The Ultimate Showdown

If you're like us, you've tried a few meal kits over the last year.

And, like us, you also may have been disappointed by some of them: repetitive dishes, missing ingredients each week, or recipes that took 4 hours from prep to plate. We are not exaggerating.

However, we know too many people who absolutely love the convenience and ease of home cooking that meal kits provide, so we wanted to cut through the trial and error process for our readers and test out these kits one-by-one ourselves.

Over the testing period, we found that there's a meal kit out there for every type of household and price point. But understanding that a lot of people are getting ready for summer and revamping their eating habits after a long, difficult COVID winter, we wanted to focus on two specific kits that regularly hype up their wholesome recipes and high-quality ingredients: Green Chef and Blue Apron.

The pressure's on - and so's the oven! Let's get after it and see which plan comes out on top.

Key Similarities

  • Both deliver pre-portioned fresh ingredients, colorful recipe cards with step-by-step instructions
  • Both are subscription-based meal kits delivery services: pause, adjust, or opt-out at any time
  • Both conveniently deliver right to your doorstep

Key Differences

  • Blue Apron's locally sourced ingredients are non-GMO but not exclusively organic | Green Chef's products are USDA Organic Certified
  • Blue Apron has 2 meal plans: Vegetarian and Signature | Green Chef has 4: Balanced Living, Keto & Paleo, Plant-Powered, and Gluten-Free
  • Blue Apron has 7 recipes a week to choose from | Green Chef has 9
  • Blue Apron's recipes take 30 - 50 minutes to cook | Green Chef's minimal prep takes 30 minutes or less
  • Blue Apron's packaging is plastic-heavy | Green Chef offsets 100% of carbon emissions and plastic packaging from every box!
  • Blue Apron starts at $9.99 a serving | Green Chef's meals start at $11.99

Green Chef Overview

We appreciate their chef-curated, international cuisine choices like Steak & Cheddar Melts with kale salad and carrots, dried figs, & white-wine vinaigrette and Japanese Vegetable Fritters with ginger-sriracha aïoli, broccoli & cashews, and rice with edamame. Variety isn't only the spice of life . . . it teases the palate and keeps the menu interesting.

Green Chef provides a really affordable way to consume more local, sustainably sourced produce, and we've all come to realize the importance of that. The cost per serving - especially with a new customer discount - is far less than organic markets, and with their pre-portioned ingredients, there's far less food waste.

Customers love the culinary choices and high-quality produce Green Chef delivers. On a Keto, Paleo, or plant-powered diet? Green Chef's there for you, offering 9 different meals for each plan. Say bye-bye to boredom!

Blue Apron Overview

Blue Apron's boxes arrive and they are simply lovely. All ingredients are laid out practically, but cooking time can take up to twice as long to plate because the recipes are often complex, including two or three separate sauces or dressings. All these extra steps lead to more dishes and pans, which can lead to a messy sink at the end of the night.

In other words, this isn't ideal for novices and busy moms, though it's perfect for someone who has time on their hands and wants to polish their cooking skills.

Despite tasty meals like Garlic-Caper Chicken with Fettuccine and Zucchini and Miso-Butter Steaks and Rice with Carrots and Bok Choy, we burnt out on Blue Apron rather quickly. With only 7 dishes a week to choose from, we found ourselves gravitating to the same types of dishes (pasta) instead of trying new things that we were excited about.

Plus, all too often a bag of limp yellowing kale would arrive. One week, 2 out of 3 meals featured kale. Enough said.

Final Notes

Green Chef's superior organic food and minimal prep put them way ahead of Blue Apron in our books. Add in the pre-measured portions which help you stick to your diet, and the choice is clear.

Green Chef is the clear crowd favorite for convenience, easy instructions, and overall presentation. We appreciated Green Chef's fresh ingredients, amazing customer service, and the variety of their gourmet meals. Plus, there are more plans available tailored to specific diets, which makes Green Chef more inclusive than Blue Apron.

While Blue Apron is definitely a contender in the war of meal kits, Green Chef's got it beat.

So there you are. Get Green Chef and get cooking! Remember, the oven's on.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY SPECIAL: Our friends at Green Chef are extending a limited-time offer to our readers! Follow this link to get $100 off across four boxes, including FREE shipping on the first box!

green chef vs blue apron
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Everything You Need To Know About HelloFresh

My kids have a countdown to winter break, when they can run around the house all day building pillow forts, playing video games, and get fresh mac'n'cheese for lunch. Me? I always feel like it comes out of nowhere.

All of a sudden, they have no structured time, and routine goes out the window. We're eating pizza for breakfast, popcorn at the movies for lunch, and ice cream for dinner .

To avoid that from happening and straying too far from their routines (especially their sleep schedule), I wanted to do something to implement a healthy meal structure.

I'd tried a meal kit delivery service once before, but it was during a really hectic time, and I ended up letting food go to waste! Their process for pausing or changing the plan was so confusing.

I did really like easy, nutritious, and delicious meals in about half an hour of cooking, so I thought maybe I'd try a new company this time. I have one friend who talks about HelloFresh all the time on social media, and it seemed to be the most family-friendly.

I took the plunge and I ended up loving it. Seriously, I was so surprised, but it was exactly what I needed. If I'd seen a FAQ before I signed up, I would've done it earlier, so I decided to make my own FAQ!

Here are Frequently Asked Questions about HelloFresh (or at least, the ones I had).

How does a meal kit delivery service work?

HelloFreshsends you a weekly box with pre-portioned ingredients and recipe sheets for 2-4 recipes per week. You pick the recipes, the delivery day, the number of people eating, and the number of recipes per week.

They also just started letting you add extra helpings of protein (bacon, anyone?) to your meal as well as desserts like brownies or cookie dough. I'm personally happy with the portion sizes, but if you think you need more, or have a sweet tooth, it's a great option.


3 Hellofresh bags with ingredients out in front

How frequently do you get meals?

You choose 2-4 meals per week, and can now adjust your meals, day by day! If you're dining solo on Monday and treating the whole fam on Wednesday, HelloFresh can be there for you.

You can also pause or cancel at any time. It's super easy to pause, which I'll do for the last week of the year - we'll be stuffed with leftovers from my parents' house.

How long do meals take to cook?

This was the biggest shock for me; the recipe times are scary-accurate. If it says 30 minutes, it's really about 30 minutes. There are some super fast recipes, as quick as 15 minutes, and some more gourmet recipes that take 45. You can see the times when you pick your meals, so it's never a surprise.

Is it healthy?

Every meal has vegetables, and honestly that's good enough for me.

One of my sons is in an "I hate vegetables" phase, and HF makes them exciting: I've been roasting green beans instead of boiling them, pickling cucumbers (it's way easier than I thought!), and stuffing peppers with meats and spices.

He also thinks roasted sweet potatoes are a dessert! (No one tell him.)

Genuinely, there are heart-healthy options, low-calorie options, and always fresh produce, so it's really nutritious.

man chopping cucumber on a chopping board

Does it taste good?

Yes! It's kid-approved, too! The sauces are always just right, and it's a home-cooked meal.

They integrate seasonal recipes into the menu, so in the winter, there are options like Crispy Gnocchi with bacon and mushrooms and Oven-baked Pumpkin Risotto. You get to choose between a record 21+ meals every week (!!), but if you're overwhelmed, there's always an option for a Chef's Choice, which is one of the HelloFresh's chef's all-time favorite recipes and a surefire crowd- pleaser.

What does it cost?

HelloFreshcosts less than $10 per meal, and prices can go as low as $7.49 for the family plan (there's a vegetarian plan, too). It's sooo much cheaper than buying takeout for a family of 4.

I plan to use HelloFresh exclusively the week leading up to the holidays - take-out restaurants in our area always have long waits during the busiest times of year, and I am not doing any regular cooking when I've got a 20 lb. ham to make in a few days.

Anything else?

Yes: I never would've attempted risotto or some of the trickier sounding recipes from HelloFresh on my own. With instructions and pre-measured portions, there are no leftover ingredients taking up prime shelf space in the fridge, and I'm assured the meal will be super tasty.

When the kids are home on break, HelloFreshfills in all the gaps that open up, but it's really great for any kind of week. This mom's a fan for life!

Update: CYBER MONDAY SALE EXTENDED! The folks at HelloFresh are extending a special offer to our readers. Follow this link to get $30 off including FREE shipping on the first box!

Hellofresh meal with chicken and vegtables

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