Meal Prep VS Meal Kits
By A. M. Abrams March 13, 2019
Today’s world keeps us crazy busy. Your life can get totally complicated when you try to balance your work life, social life, and personal life. Now you need to think about eating right and staying fit? Forget about it. Consequently, many of today’s busy families and business professionals opt for meal kit or meal prep delivery services to enjoy healthy, wholesome meals.
If you haven’t heard of these trendy services that are steadily growing in popularity, meal kits are packaged sets of ingredients and instructions for you to cook your own meals. These services are made to keep things interesting in the kitchen. They can also save you time on shopping for ingredients and preparing recipes.
Meal kits can make cooking your own wholesome, homemade from scratch meals easier and more enjoyable. However, meal kits aren’t for everyone.
Benefits of Meal Kits
Ingredient and recipe meal kits can be an excellent choice for someone looking to learn basic cooking skills. These subscriptions can save you the time of choosing a recipe and going to the grocery store.
With kits, you get the exact amount of ingredients for your recipe and don’t have to worry about portioning out your ingredients – this means less food waste.
Meal kit services are also likely to present recipes you wouldn’t have cooked on your own. They can provide a learning experience on how to prepare ingredients you may not have experience in using.
Meal kits are usually delivered to your home for a fee.
Drawbacks of Meal Kits
Ordering a subscription from a meal kit company is going to cost you. Most meal kit companies charge at least $9 per meal, and not every company provides shipping without an additional charge. Further, not every meal kit service offers much variation in their available recipes for the week.
If you are busy and don’t have time to cook, meal kits are not for you. You might save time on planning and shipping, but you’ll still be spending time in the kitchen on cooking and cleaning.
Meanwhile, if you aren’t a good chef, you also might want to avoid meal kits since you might not be happy with your cooking skills.
Most meal kits are not macro-nutrient focused, but they are still considered healthy. These meals are balanced and wholesome but they lack the controlled amounts of fat and carbohydrates. This can be confusing for people trying to lose weight.
Meal Prep
Meal prep involves eating meals prepared all at once and planned ahead of time in pre-packaged containers. This makes it easier to eat healthy and save time on cooking throughout the week.
The problem with this method is that it takes an inordinate amount of time to cook the week’s meals all at once and on one day. This is all after shopping for ingredients and planning a menu for yourself.
That’s where meal prep companies can help: those lacking time and looking to save money and energy, all while eating a healthier diet, can benefit you enormously.
Meal Prep Services
Companies like FitEx Meals prepare meals for you so that upon pickup – or delivery – your meal is already prepared, plated, and ready to heat and eat.
Most meal prep companies offer pickup or even offer “Grab and Go” meals, meaning there’s usually a brick-and-mortar store with a cooler full of ready-to-go options for takeout. FitEx Meals’ store offers a Grab and Go cooler full of tasty meals from the weekly menu, which changes 3 times each week and offers over 30 options each week! This company also offers meal plan subscriptions that can be picked up or delivered straight to you on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Benefits of Meal Prep
Meal prep will save you time and money, and give you a variety of foods you may not have tried before. It will save you shopping time like meal kits, and will also save you the cooking and cleaning time.
Meal prep companies also offer even more variety than meal kits. For example, FitEx Meals has over 300 rotating options and features 30+ different meals each week.
If macronutrient-oriented meals are what you’re looking for, meal prep is a better choice for you. Meal kits might be “healthy” but are not usually oriented for meal prep. In Table A, you can see the macronutrient breakdowns of FitEx Meals.
Table A:
Who are meal kits for?
Meal kits are for anyone who enjoys cooking but wants to cut out the shopping and planning process.
Who is meal prep for?
Meal prep is for anyone looking for the convenience of having ready-to-eat meals delivered. Meal prep is also for anyone who wants to cut down the cost per meal and save the stress of finding meal ideas that are healthy and actually taste good.
The Bottom Line
Meal kit companies vs meal prep services: it depends on your personal goals and needs. If you’re looking to get back in the kitchen and provide your family with a home-cooked meal but want to save time on grocery shopping and recipe planning, try out a meal kit service.
If you’re wanting to be a healthier you, to save time on grocery shopping and cooking and prepping, and to eat tasty food that is delivered straight to you, try out a meal prep service like FitEx Meals.
Check out our menu for this week and find out about putting together a meal prep plan that works for you. Our customization process is quick and easy.
If you are looking for consultation on a meal plan to fit your needs, visit us today or give us a call and we’ll set up a meal plan that will help you reach your goals.