The main problem with these meal delivery services, for me, is all the plastic, which I try to avoid. Being mostly vegan, I didn't find the cost to be that big of a factor. Also, I was able to get some items that are not sold locally in the groceries in my small town. So if you want to try some new brands, that's another thing in the plus category for this service. I used "Dinnerly" which I recommend, very good quality, instructions, packaging, choices, cost per serving, etc. I can only speak to their vegetarian options. The rest looked good though. They offer variations on some of their meals which could be vegan or with animal products depending on what you choose. I thought the fact that tofu was way more expensive than meat to be sad, but the same is reflected in store prices. For a product made out of dead cheap soybeans, it sure is expensive. Same with the fake meats, not a cost effective grocery item usually. I eat them, but not every day. Portions were ample, no complaints in that department.

Meal one: Bok choy lo mein

This was good, although lo mein isn't a favorite dish of mine. I love bok choy, and having this meal encouraged me to buy it more often. It's pricey but you don't use that much. I didn't cook the lo mein noodles separately as instructed. Instead, I stir fried the bok choy and scallions and then added chicken broth to the wok and cooked the noodles in the broth. They thickened it as they cooked. The recipe called for a poached egg in the dish but I used diced teriyaki marinated tofu. It seemed skimpy on the vegetables so I added a package of frozen stir fry vegetables. The plus for me on this meal was to encourage me to buy bok choy more often and use those precut and frozen stir fry mixes for the ease. I prefer buckwheat noodles also.

Meal two: Roasted brussel sprouts and mushrooms in barbecue sauce served over scallion and garlic grits

Again, a plus for me was the brussel sprouts, I don't make them often enough since they are expensive. I had never made grits with garlic before, very good. I usually just make plain polenta and serve a sauce over it, but I think adding scallions and garlic was great, along with cheese and butter at the end. I added carrots to the roasted veggie mix. An easy dish for me to repeat. Also encouraged me to get back into roasting veggies, really warms up the kitchen!

Meal three: Gluten free cheese ravioli with spinach

Two items I don't often buy due to the large amount of plastic they come in, fresh pasta and baby spinach. They don't sell gluten free fresh pastas at my local grocery, just dried ones, so this was a treat. I learned an easy way of steaming spinach to add to the dish, just put it in the colander and drain the pasta over it, that wilts it enough to go into the dish, but still keeps a fresh taste. Plus you can wash it ahead of time and drain in the same colander, so this meal didn't create a lot of dishes to wash.

Meal four: Cuban picadillo with Impossible burger and jasmine rice.

This is one of my favorite dishes, I usually use Morningstar farms fake meat crumbles, so this was one of my first tastes of the Impossible burger. It was good, but the burgers came preformed and sealed separately in a large amount of plastic, so I would not have bought this on my own. It also came with Cento tomato sauce, a brand I don't usually buy. I buy the cheaper store brand. I found the Cento to be of better taste/higher quality. Not sure it made a huge difference, but some. I loved not having to measure anything for this dish. If I made it again on my own I'd make up a big batch of the stew and freeze it. Good quality olives too, something I don't usually get. I only buy kalamata. I had some left over corn and some sauteed sweet red pepper, which I added, those were good additions. Delish. Even hubs said he liked it and he usually doesn't like anything with a sweet and sour vibe.

Meal five: Roasted garbanzo beans in a Mediterranean themed chef salad

Good but a little tart. The dressing called for fresh squeezed lemon juice, which I almost never fuss with. It was good but aggravated my GERD. I had never roasted garbanzo beans before, what a revelation! They were delish, even more nutty tasting than fresh cooked. They kind of got lost in the salad though, which was heavy on the humus based dressing. I had never used hummus to make dressing before, that was good. I added a little goat cheese and green pepper. The salad had fresh made croutons which you toasted in the oven along with the garbanzo beans. Those were great! Worth the extra trouble. The salad featured a heart of romaine, one of my favorite salad greens. I can get these in the store, but again, I never buy because they come pre-packaged in plastic. Loved the dish but if I ever use romaine in a salad I buy the whole head and wash myself, not the pre packaged, pre-washed stuff.

So overall, it was wasteful with all the packaging, but fun for me because it took a lot of the thinking out of the process and featured fancy foods I don't normally splurge on. I also think given enough time I might be able to put together some of my own kits for some of these options, so it's a good way to collect a set of recipe ideas to tweak on your own later.