I present to you my Very Serious Research Findings on The Best Dinner Options for Sad Singletons. Photo / 123RF
COMMENT:
Hey, remember when I wrote that whingey column about how My Food Bag doesn't give a sh*t about single people?
If you missed it (rude) don't worry, I'll do a quick rehash.
Basically, I really want to live an easy breezy, ingredients-turn-up-at-at-the-door lifestyle – but all of the food bag delivery options are an absolute rip off unless you've got a cute family-of-four setup or you're half of a couple.
Here's a helpful graphic to illustrate my very valid point:
Anyway - to get me to shut my whingey gob, My Food Bag sent me a million microwave meals to review from their new "Made" range.
Seeing as I'm not a paid influencer (she writes bitterly) but instead an impartial Very Serious Journalist – I decided to put the Made meals to the test, alongside their competitors (appointed by me):
• Plate Up - Art & Matootles' fitspo paleo dins
• Jess' Underground Kitchen
In the name of Very Serious Research, I compared taste, price, eco-friendliness (because the planet is cooked and we need to care about that sort of thing properly now) and of course, healthiness.
Without further ado I present to you my Very Serious Research Findings on The Best Dinner Options for Sad Singletons.
Sorry, who? Former Dancing With The Stars contestant Nadia Lim is back with another foodie venture, but this time it seems to be for frazzled, lazy slobs.
Sales spiel: "MADE by My Food Bag is a range of single serve ready-made meals. Good food, made super convenient and delicious. Because sometimes, life's too busy to cook."
Meal options:
Beef & mozzarella pie
Beef stroganoff on kumara mash
Lamb rogan josh
Cheesy lamb & aubergine moussaka
Mexican chipotle chicken - to name a few.
Taste: The beef stroganoff is very delicious – the rest were so-so, I'm sorry, with not a huge amount of flavour, they were very stodgy.
If you're someone who can eat pasta and potato every day and maintain a Nadia Lim physique – good for you.
If, like me however, you only eat carbs on special occasions and still get rips in every pair of jeans from your thighs rubbing together, Made is probably not for you.
Also, I'm not sure if it's because they don't freeze very well or what, but the meals had barely any vegetables in them, aside from the odd twig of brocolli here and there.
I ate them for a week and had to make extra side salads because I was genuinely concerned I was at risk of developing scurvy.
Price: $16.50 per meal if you buy four a week.
Eco-friendliness:The box your meals come in and the meal trays can go in your kerbside recycling. Plus, you can leave your Woolcool insulation and ice packs out for their drivers to collect with your next delivery.
Healthiness: At around 800 calories a meal (beef & mozarella pie) I'm sorry but I just don't reckon Nadia is eating her own product.
Obviously in an ideal world I'd be potato top pie-ing my brains out for every meal, but I personally couldn't eat like this every night without having to resort to wearing elasticated waistband pants full time (a dream).
Sorry, who? Everyone's favourite paleo power couple is understandably trading on their Bachelor fame to hawk reinvented Lean Cuisines.
Sales spiel: "Delivered to your door, Plate Up offers generous servings of delicious, fresh and healthy pre-made meals that are perfect for lunch or dinner."
Meal options:
Shepherd's pie
Slow cooked lamb shoulder
Italian meatballs
Slow cooked beef cheek
Jamaican jerk chicken - to name a few.
Taste: Absolutely delicious. And you don't feel like a bloated sicko afterwards. My personal favourite is the slow cooked beef cheek - it's so fancy that you can hardly believe you just fanged it in the microwave 90 seconds ago.
Price: $15.99 per meal If you buy five a week.
Eco-friendliness: Your individual meal trays can go in your weekly plastic recycling collection. Meals are delivered to you in Plate Up cardboard boxes, also with Woolcool insulation packs. However, you'll have to recycle these yourself.
Healthiness: Meals vary from 270ish (zoodle bolognaise) to 560ish calories (creamy Tuscan chicken). So they're not just tastier but a way healthier option than Made – you'll be a Jockey undies ambassador in no time, babes.
Sorry, who? Jess Daniell is the foodie entrepreneur behind what started as the secret Harry-Potter-cupboard-under-the stairs-esque cookery, Jess' Underground Kitchen.
Sales spiel: "Our frozen favourites are handmade in small batches with real ingredients, just like you would make at home. They're perfect for having on hand to pop in the oven, when you need something more nutritious and delicious than takeaways. Stock up and you'll never go hungry again!"
Taste: Equally (if not more) delicious than Art & Matootle's meals, they're jam-packed with flavours and actually taste like a real home cooked dinner, not just a sad, microwavie number.
Price: $18 each.
Eco-friendliness: All Jess' packaging is 100 per cent biodegradable, compostable and organic. If you don't have a compost bin at home or work, you can leave the packaging out on your next delivery and they'll compost it for you. Or if you're popping into one of the Jess' Underground Kitchen delis for coffee, you can take in your packaging in and dispose of it in-store.
Healthiness: Meals range from 327 calories (green goddess soup) to 512 (beef & mozzarella lasagne) and up to 630 calories (paleo shepherd's pie).
If you can afford it and you're not too fussed on becoming an undies model, I'd go for Jess' meals everytime - they are the bomb.com.
If however. like me, you're broke as a joke but equally want to be a slim jim - Art & Matootle's Plate Up dins are an absolute go-er.
If you have a firecracker metabolism and can eat whatever you want and you're not too fussed about going blind from scurvy, knock your socks off with Nadia.
Numerous studies have shown that a cup of joe is good for the gut.