So, let me begin by praising meal kits in general! The ingredients in a meal kit are measured to exact needs (typically serving 2 adults), pre-chopped, and pre-cooked! This means you can whip up a full meal in around 20 minutes. These meal kits provide fast, easy, convenient meal options for people who might not have the time to stand at the stove for an hour, or the physical ability to chop and measure ingredients. These meal kits provide a bit of independence for those who lack the physical ability to stand at a counter and prep their ingredients, then stand at a stove and cook for 45 minutes.
Meal kits can also offer an opportunity to try new and diverse recipes! You can utilize ingredients you may have never heard of!
So, I love meals kits and would highly recommend that you try them out for yourself!
I had been wanting to try Kroger's new "Prep + Pared Meal Kits" ever since they came out earlier this year. I have tried Meal Kit Services in the past, and really enjoyed my experience, but they are not particularly budget friendly. My local Kroger sells their meal kits for $18 a kit, and I had a coupon for $5 off! So I decided it would be the perfect time to try it!
I went to Kroger.com and looked through their offerings, including:
- BBQ chicken & tangy slaw with flatbreads
- Jerk chicken & mango salsa with spicy greens
- Shrimp Creole with New Orleans style brown rice
- Corn & black bean chilaqulies with roasted salsa
- Cilantro Ginger Salmon with steamed vegetables
- Grilled pesto chicken with tomato, orzo, & arugula
- Citrus garlic chicken saute with fettuccine and Parmesan crumbles
- Latin-inspired pork tacos & avocado radish salad
- Lemon glazed flat iron steak with roasted vegetables
- Mini meatloaves, homemade tomato glaze with garlic smashed potatoes
- Vietnamese-inspired lemon grass pork with coconut rice & cabbage salad
But I finally settled on Vietnamese-Inspired Spicy Lemongrass Pork with Coconut Rice & Cabbage Salad. Sounds tasty!
All the ingredients come in little plastic bags and the meat is in its own leak-proof container.
Right away I noticed inconsistencies and flaws with my ingredients. The pork advertised in the pictures and the pork I received are very different. Instead of big, beautiful cubes of pork, I had minced pork (which made me uneasy, because mince can be from any cut). I also noticed that the salad mix was far from fresh, and instead of being crispy, clean cabbage was instead limp and beginning to brown. I tried to remedy this a bit by soaking it in ice-cold water, but that only helped marginally.
Like mentioned above, everything has already been chopped, sliced, measured out, packaged, and cooked (except for the pork). All that was left for me to do was cook my pork, mix up the vinaigrette for my salad and the sauce for the pork, and reheat the rice side. It took about 20 minutes to complete.
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| My final product. Not as pretty as the pictures on the packages or from the website, but pretty good lookin! |
Now let's talk taste. I'm not gonna sugar-coat it: this meal was unbalanced, and tasted like what I imagine marinating meat in Lemon pledge might taste like. This recipe utilized pureed lemon grass for the sauce the pork was cooked in. Lemon grass, if used too liberally can easily overpower a dish. Instead of delightful, subtle hints of lemon, I got a big mouthful of gritty, sour LEMON! This flavor completely overwhelmed and made it impossible to continue eating the pork. I tried the salad and the rice on their own and they weren't much better. Granted, I am not a fan of vinegar-based slaws or vinegar heavy vinaigrette, but it too was unbalanced and hard to eat. The rice was rice. Plain old rice with a little bit of coconut milk mixed in. So, overall this meal was "meh" at best.
Finally, let's address cost. These usually sell for $18 per kit, that's $9 a serving. I calculated, based on my local Kroger's prices, that this same meal could be made for $7.24 total. Of course, you can't buy just 3 tablespoons of honey, and 1/4 of a bag of slaw mix, but when you cut it all down to precise measurement, this meal costs a little under half of what the entire meal kit costs. So, is this an affordable way to supplement your meals? Not for me. Maybe it is affordable for you, in which case, go for it! But this simply isn't affordable for me.
So, overall, I was not impressed with this Kroger meal kit. I would give it a 2.5/5 stars simply for being a quick, easy, convenient meal to throw together. Maybe other meals are tastier, but this recipe was not for me. Poor recipe execution, plus the unaffordable cost, leaves me unimpressed with this Kroger meal kit.
But before I go, let me reiterate that Meal Kits are amazing! They offer independence for those with physical limitations, and a quick and easy meal for those who don't have a lot of time! Meals kits are great, but when it isn't tasty or affordable, what's the point? I would encourage you to try these meal kits out for yourself, and maybe you will find one that tastes good to you! You can search available kits at on Kroger's website.
*All pictures are straight from the Kroger website, unless indicated differently.
I bought the "Jerk Chicken" kit tonight with the mango salsa. I made the recipe as directed. The portions were skimpy and not nearly the size stated on each packet in the kit. One small chicken breast half cut in two pieces it states 12 ounces, my scale says it weighed 8 ounces for both pieces before I opened it and drained the liquid. After draining the pieces they came in 6.2 ounces (come on Kroger) the so called 4 cups of Kale weighed 2 ounces and measured in a little less than 2 cups before cooking. The mangoes were spoiling and brown and the onions were strong and not fresh. Once cooked up I called my husband to dinner and I got called away to the phone and he started eating without me. He thought the serving plate I had put both small pieces of chicken on with the greens was his plate. He ate both pieces and asked me where the rest of the meal was? So I didn't get anything for supper I had to make myself a salad and he ordered a pizza. He was angry and wanted to go to Kroger for a a refund as he said I paid $18.00 for a meal kit that had $2.00 dollars worth of food. I won't buy any of the kits ever again and would advise others not to waste their money.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame 😔 I have heard similar complaints that portion sizes are just too small. And not small because we are 🇺🇸American and eat too much, but like "3oz of chicken breast per adult person" too small. And what is the point on selling meal kits if all the ingredients are sub-par and old?
DeleteI will definitely stay away from these meal kits.