Mindful Chef family recipe box product test – Feedback thread!

[MaddyMumsnet]

This thread is ONLY for Mumsnetters who are taking part in this product test.

Hi Mindful Chef testers,

Welcome to your Mindful Chef product test, we’re so excited to have you all here! 🍽️✨

Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll be putting Mindful Chef’s family recipe boxes to the test at home, and this thread is where we’d love you to share your experience as you go along.

We’re really interested in how the meals work in real family life – from busy weeknight dinners to getting everyone around the table – so the more detail you can share, the better.

To get things started, here are a few things you might want to tell us about:
Getting started

• How did you find the ordering process?
• How was the variety of Family-friendly meals on offer?
• What made you pick the recipes you went for?
• First impressions when your box arrived – how did everything look and feel?

Cooking & eating

• How easy were the recipes to cook?
• How well did they fit into your usual family mealtime routine? Did they feel manageable on a weeknight?
• Did they take more or less time than the recipe suggested?
• Did your children get involved in the cooking at all?
• Any favourite meals so far? Or any that didn’t quite hit the mark?

Family mealtimes

• Did the whole family enjoy the meals?
• Any big wins with the kids? Did they clear their plates? 👀
• Did the portions work well for your household?
• Could you see these meals becoming part of your regular routine

Overall thoughts as you go

• How are you finding the quality of the ingredients?
• Has anything surprised you so far?
• Does a recipe box help reduce the mental load of planning and cooking?
• How does Mindful Chef compare to your usual way of planning and cooking meals?

Photos are encouraged if you’re happy to share, we love seeing the meals (and real-life kitchen moments!) 📸

Please make sure you’re updating this thread regularly across the full 2-week testing period - we’re looking to hear from you throughout, not just at the end.

Thanks again for being part of this, we can’t wait to hear how you get on, and we’ll be checking in here along the way too.

MNHQ x

Hello
I'm delighted that I've been accepted on the trial. I'm looking forward to choosing our first recipes with my family this evening.

Well, just placed my first order and it was so simple to do! Lovely to be able to click on the meals and see the recipe and method to know if its something that would suit me! Very excited to see it all when it arrived. Loved the ability to change the day to suit our family too!

Placed my first order to be delivered Friday, a weekend of easy meals what a treat! Can’t wait, super easy to browse the recipes and place my order.

Placed my order to start on Friday, very easy process and the pictures help indicate what to expect.

What I found less easy is understanding what portions I’m getting. I’ve selected two meals for a family of four, so am I getting two portions of one meal and two portions of a different meal to eat in one night? Or 4 portions of each meal selection to eat across two nights?

ETA - huge range of choice which is great. I’ve also ordered for the following week and there’s a new selection which is great, and there are clearly some staples that stick around for a bit as they’re available both weeks.

Just placed my first order - super easy! Family friendly range had lots of choice. Looking forward to arrival later this week

I've just made my first order. It was super easy. The whole family reviewed the meals and because there's so much choice, we ended up choosing 4 meals that we fancied. So that's us for the next 2 weeks.

I’ve just ordered our first two boxes for deliver next Tuesday - we are away for the bank holiday so this works best for us. We discussed which recipes to try and it was a very positive experience with the kids keen to give things a go. We decided not to try recipes that are similar to things we already eat (like chicken curry or chilli con carne) and instead trying some new things.

The website was easy to use, ordering was very easy. Let’s see what happens next…

I'm really pleased to have been chosen to take part in this trial! I've gone through the family friendly options with my children and we've ordered our first couple of meals, the ordering process was simple and the children liked looking at the pictures to help them choose.

They've even chosen something that they've never had before, gnocchi, so it'll be great to try something new together. My son is also excited to have a go at helping me cook them.

Hi all! I have just placed my order, coincidentally as there was someone knocking at the door offering a deal on Gousto! (I didn’t answer..). Great choices and I like how you can click into it for more information as to what is provided with the recipe. I am curious to see how it all arrives and I’m excited to have meals lined up for the weekend! My son helped me choose and he chose some meaty options! There’s a good selection and I found the website very easy to use. I’ve got some lined up for next week but may edit it before then.

Hi I've just placed my order. Easy enough to create an account and select a delivery day. No information about times of day of delivery so presuming its all day. The meals look yummy and the sort of flavours I like but I selected "family friendly" as requested so there were only 10 to choose from. I hope I did it right! So if I was a subscriber I'd soon get bored of these. Saying that I did look at the other meals that weren't under the "family friendly" section and I'm not sure why they didn't come up as a lot of them would be great for my family. Anyway can't wait for Tuesday to come and to try them out. So thankful for this opportunity.

Just placed an order but may edit. I really like the look of the meals and I do appreciate the pricing being transparent, I’ve been annoyed with Gousto or Hello Fresh for not being totally clear about how much the meal actually is until you get through to the checkout stage. The options are tasty and what my husband and I would choose but I probably chose meals which my kids will definitely enjoy over what would be my top picks. Looking forward to trying it!

Firstly, thank you for offering the opportunity - I am quite looking forward to (hopefully) not having to think too much when it comes to cooking dinner for a couple nights in the next week!

Secondly, I would like to clarify that these meals will be feeding two mid-30s adults, a 3yo boy and a 2yo girl... just throwing it out there for context after reading previous comments about involving the kids in the meal choices when ordering, needless to say we didn't and they likely won't be helping with the cooking either.

Getting started

1. How did you find the ordering process?
2. How was the variety of Family-friendly meals on offer?
3. What made you pick the recipes you went for?
4. First impressions when your box arrived – how did everything look and feel?

1. Received the email this afternoon, sat and looked through the menu with hubby after putting the kids to bed. The ordering process itself was easy, just pick a couple of meals and input your details and hey presto, you're done.
2. Although the ordering process itself was easy and straightforward, we actually found it really hard to choose just 2 meals for our family... maybe because we have a picky son and a daughter who will eat us out of house and home one day then point blank refuse anything the next, I don't know, but we really struggled! The variety is certainly there, but in terms of 'family-friendly' not really for ours. Some of the meals we looked at didn't even appeal to us adults though, so trying the kids with them would be a bit of a risk. And to be completely honest, the pictures on some weren't appetising either; the food either looked really 'anaemic' (as we say in our house when it just doesn't look right) or it didn't look like it would fill our youngest let alone a full grown adult! I did have a quick look at the options available for the second box and the meals look a bit more appealing and appetising, although again not many choices that we would be happy trying our children with. I'm sure the menu has been crafted based on a wide range of opinions and tastebuds, but for our family it would be a lot of money to waste buying the 4 portion option and then have our 2 little people just not even try them (which they regularly do even with food they have requested just the week before!)
3. We went for the lamb tagine (something new and different from our usual menu) and the chilli (something safe to try and make sure both kids at least try it) in the end. We knew we could at least try our picky eater with them, although we are not confident at all that he will eat them. We think our daughter will give them a good go if not ask for more but again, depends on her mood! Hubby and I are looking forward to them both at least!
4. First box is ordered for 1st May so I will come back then to answer this part.

How exciting! Thank you ☺️ Here’s to stress free mealtimes! Going to have a good look at everything once the little people are in bed!

Thank you for choosing me! I hae ordered my first 2 meals to come on Saturday and as a family we are looking forward to trting them.
It was easy to go tgrough the process but just choosing out of the family friendly meals there was not a huge choice. Once filtered there were 10 meals and most of them spicy (which my youngest may try but may not like) or looked bland and unappetising so that put us off picking some of the choices, as a poster upthread said 'anaemic' is a good way to describe them. 6 of the 10 dishes were rice based and as we wanted variety we have chosen 1 rice dish (beef) and 1 with sweet potato fries and oeri peri chicken. I will update when we receive them.

So excited to have been picked what a wonderful opportunity for me and my family.
I found the ordering process simple, I was able to filter to family friendly options and select for 4 people. I liked that you could see a picture of the dish to know what to expect and also a list of ingredients.
We have picked 2 meals for this week and 2 meals for the following week.

To be honest I was expecting there to ve more family friendly meals available but maybe this is a new concept to their website and more will be added with time?

We picked meals that we know the whole family will eat and enjoy so that we know there will be clean plates all round.

Can't wait to receive the first box it arrives Friday.

Just placed the order to arrive this weekend. I’ve used Gousto and Hello Fresh for years, so interested to see how Mindful Chef compares. The prices make it more premium, so I’m hoping the quality reflects this.

How exciting!!
Just made my first two orders too. I discussed with my two kids. Bit of mixed opinion on recipies but we got there in the end and I think there was about the right amount of choice, if there was much more it would be hard to make a decision. The process for signing up and placing orders was very easy especially when I wanted to edit the order/recipes- I liked this.
my kids and I didn’t think the pictures made the most of the recipes eg my daughter said that in one of the pictures the fish is grey and not very appealing, but I appreciated that the pics were not made to look too professional but honest.

Really intrigued about these. Thanks

Just placed my order for week one. I didn't realise at first that "family friendly" was different to "family" meals (e.g. portion size), so I had to edit one of my options, as although my family would find Denver Steak very friendly, sadly it wasn't one of the options available to trial!

I'm unsure of the criteria for family friendly as there were plenty of things in the wider selection that my children would happily eat - and not that many in the "family friendly" section that they would. Could the criteria be made clearer? Are family friendly dishes meeting certain nutritional goals, or are they more finger-in-the-air "we reckon kids will like this" - which is a bit more subjective?

When I first logged in, no prices displayed until I checked out. However, when I went back in to edit and make changes, prices were more clearly displayed.

As a mum of two strapping teeanagers age 15 and 16 - one who is really health conscious and the other - the fussiest child on the planet - meals times can be a minefield. We tend to have the same meals over and over again and if I'm honest, cooking after a full day of teaching small humans is the last thing I want to do! I was over the moon to be chosen for Mindful Chef - it was easy to sign up and like others I didn't want to chose meals that we eat anyway - I think everyone eats chilli - but I end up cooking one with beans though and one without! So I've chosen the pork patties and the five spice beef. I hope the portions are big enough for the boys :)

How exciting to have been picked for this one. Thanks Mumsnet HQ!

Really easy to order and nice visuals as well as descriptions so I can see what's going into the meals. With a 3yo and 6yo and varying degrees of fussiness, this was important. For week 1 I chose chili and the risotto. Having the meal boxes means we'll eat together more often, as usually Mon - Thurs we give the boys dinner at 530 and we cook something else and eat at 830 once they're asleep. Looking forward to getting my box on Tuesday.

Whoops - like @Secretsquirrelshh I didn’t realise “family friendly” was an additional filter to the “How many people are you cooking for?” filter. I’ve therefore ordered from the non family friendly menu and cannot change this week’s order.

This impacts my thoughts considerably - the selection is very small with the family friendly filter, and like Squirrel my kids would eat off the wider menu with some potential adaptations (e.g. leaving the chilli out of their portions).

ETA - the “non family friendly” options I accidentally ordered are the salmon teriyaki rice bowl and the sea trout and pasta - not sure why these are deemed not family friendly!

I've just placed my first order, my children are 5 and 2 so I had to think more of what they'd like than what I'd have liked! But I really liked that you can select your recipes for the next weeks, it takes a bit of admin off of having to remember to order every week.

Delighted to be picked to sample Mindful Chef. Our 'children' are 14 and 18 and the eldest is starting her A levels tomorrow so stress is high and appetites are low with her, so im keen to see how she reacts to this. The youngest is mad into her sport and were really busy in the week so usually meals are planned on a sunday for the week stuck on the notice board and everyone pitchs in to make depending who is around. Accompanied by moaning at my planned vegetarian meals obvs.
Im looking forward to seeing how much easier this makes evenings, how much it can tempt my frazzled 18 year old to eat well and whether the whole thing is enjoyable.

Even though I work in IT I struggled with ordering, I think my phone is thst locked down it wouldn't let me pay so taking advice from the FAQ I ordered via the laptop. Found it odd that as you typed your password you did not see what letters you were typing so quite unhelpful if you type in error.
A bit disappointed by the variety on offer, but maybe that's more a reflection on my consumer expectations. I did find several dishes that were exciting and that we would all eat ... some if the veggie offerings looked lovely but would have been rejected. Palates appear to shrink as kids get older!
I chose dishes we would all eat and that looked a little varied, I've picked a tofu recipe for example. My husband more focused on the meat!
Looking forward to it arriving, very interested in the packaging. Other boxes I've tried have made heavy use of single use plastics which I avoid. I obvs only wear hemp dungarees whilst cooling tea.

What did you all choose? We went for the risotto and the gnocchi. I would have liked to have had more than ten to choose from in the family friendly category. There were lots of recipes that we fancied, but they weren't in this section.

I have placed our first order, being delivered on Friday.

Getting started
How did you find the ordering process?
I ordered on my phone and it was a bit of a faff to login at first, but once it finally decided to accept my password, it was simple to order.

How was the variety of Family-friendly meals on offer?
I don’t really understand how they have distinguished between ‘Family-Friendly’ and not. Our girls (9 & 10) would more likely eat the main choices than those in the extra filter (which I hadn’t realised was there on the first order). The choice was a standard couple of meals that seem to be on to choose every week then several other options, with a choice of fish and meat substitute, which then limited the number of options if you don’t eat those meals. The choice was ok but as I said, our girls would eat more of the other options. I did find myself having to think what they would eat though, rather than what I wanted to eat!

What made you pick the recipes you went for?
I chose meals that were simple to meals we have had before with meat that I know they will eat, but are still adaptable if they don’t want certain elements, e.g. not adding extra chilli or having chips instead of baked potatoes. It still removes the element of me having to think about what to make, I can just tweak them easily to suit the sudden fussy eaters they have become!

I will answer some of the other questions once the box has arrived. Looking forward to a weekend where we don’t have to have a debate about food!