Healthy ready meal plans

[NorthenAdventure]

I'm a mum of 2 young boys and my husband and I both work long hours in demanding jobs. We aren't good cooks and we have little time anyway.i trued batch cooking already. I want my kids (amd us!) to eat delicious, healthy meals each night but it's sporadic at the mo. I'm tempted to throw money at the issue. I've heard of meal plan websites like gousto, stockd, simmer, planthood etc, that deliver healthy ready meals (or at least easy to make ingredients to your door. What's the best one that would suit me? Something easy, quick, hassle-free but reasonably healthy is what I'm after... trying to ease the parent-guilt! Thank you!

Have you tried Cook? I like their ready meals and they’re pretty healthy.

hello fresh etc are quite good but you still have to do the cooking obvs so I depends which part you’re trying to avoid!

Gousto does offer some ready meals, but they are at an additional cost to your weekly subscription.

I recently ordered Prep Kitchen. They are edible, but not so nice that I’d order them again. I will try another company though, there are lots out there. Mine are for work meals only, I use Gousto for dinners (which we cook from scratch) and I make my breakfast myself.

Honestly, if you aren’t a natural cook and don’t have time, you don’t need a meal kit. You still have to know how to cook it and you still have to spend 45 minutes doing it. I’ve done Mindful Chef and Hello Fresh and wasn’t wowed by either. It was a lot of burgers, stir fry, spicy chicken, rinse and repeat.

I would go with a mix of quality ready meals (Charles Bingham, Cook, etc) with fresh veg and salad, and simple meals you cook yourself (jackets with easy toppings, fried eggs on toast with fruit salad, simple pasta dishes). Salad is easy to prep. Broccoli, kale, whatever needs a quick steam or sautée.

Cook meals are good as are M&S. Also Waitrose tuna pasta is lovely! Have you thought about finding someone who might batch cook meals for you? I’m sure there are people who would do that for you? Obviously you would have to pay them but might work out cheaper than ready meals.

Stocked is the closest thing to home made batch cooking I think. They are just the “saucy bit” of a meal, like a curry or casserole or pasta sauce, frozen (so no need for preservatives etc). You do have to cook the rice or pasta or potatoes to go with the curry/casserole, and some fresh veg on the side would be a good idea. But that’s pretty simple.

Cook is posh ready meals. IMO they are not that great, for the price. (With the odd exception, and the puddings are pretty good). Not sure they are especially healthy either.

If you want healthy ish ready meals I would buy things like soups, stuffed pasta, quiches and maybe Spice Tailor kits for a quick curry.

Gousto and Hello Fresh are meal kits so still a fair bit of cooking involved. Good as a way to get out of a rut and try new recipes, not so much as a way to avoid cooking.

Basically I think Stocked could work for you.

Thank you. I might give Stockd a try. I have tried Cook and I do like their meals - I'll try more of those.

Has anyone tried Frive or Simmer or Planthood? I like the idea of doing a combination of Stockd, and also a healthy ready meal provider, so I can mix it up a bit!

I currently use Planthood and really do like the convenience and flavours. However, for what it essentially is - a tin of beans, block of tofu or a few lentils with a portion of veg, carb and a sauce, it is expensive. Without (their very rare discounts) it is £75 per week for 5 meals for 2 people. If you wanted to do as many days and include the kids, you'd have to buy the kits for 4 people which may be too much food overall. You can of course do fewer days.

The food is healthy, not particularly low calorie and the portion sizes are good. I like trying new things and will continue a bit longer while I'm busy and don't want to shop and think about what is for dinner. There is some minimal prep involved and does take a little longer than it says on the instructions. It is nothing like cooking a full meal though and you'd get savvy about what you order to avoid faffing.

For me, it is worth the cost overall at the moment. The end product is good and our favourite so far is their tofu tikka curry which was delicious and spicy. Fab quality.

I’ve always found M&S and Waitrose to be very tasty.

Yeah if you want ready meals Charlie Bigham ones are nice. Most of them anyway. Waitrose do a really good beef bourgignon which is nicer than the Bigham one. They are expensive though. But at least you can add your own veg and potatoes.