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

Getting started

Ordering was quick and easy, although it took me a while to realise family-friendly and family portions were different categories. The family-friendly meals seem fairly arbitrary. Our children don't like much spicy food but would happily eat steak, for example. We tended to pick things that were similar to, or contained ingredients, that we knew they already liked. Everything looked and felt good (once I realised the recipes were in the booklet). It would have been great to have a clear "use by" date on the outside of the bag, to work out which meal to cook first, and how long we had to do it.

Cooking & eating

The recipes were easy to cook and took about the length of time they said. I was quicker than my husband, but I'm more used to cooking and better able to e.g. do x while waiting for y. The salmon with noodles was a winner, as was the peanut pork. The hidden veg bolognese was a big miss - nobody liked the texture of the lentils in it.

Family mealtimes

Eldest was wary for the meals, as the first was the bolognese that she didn't enjoy. After that though, the were all good, and most food was eaten. Portion sizes were generous for our family (two adults, one teen, one pre-teen).

Overall thoughts as you go

The quality was excellent. For me, the biggest plus is that my husband will happily cook when all the ingredients are bought, laid out and in front of him with a clear recipe. He is less good at planning, buying, weighing, measuring etc. Whilst he's happy to cook, he generally only makes one or two meals, so this gave me a couple of days when I didn't need to cook (and it wasn't the same thing again). It also adds a few new recipes into our meal rotation, with a couple of tweaks in terms of the things our family enjoys.

Many thanks for letting me be part of the test.

We’ve now had our second box. The whole process has been smooth - compared to other meal boxes there is a noticeable difference in higher quality (esp meat), reduced packaging and love you get all the meal recipes to keep. I also love it was gluten free with no effort or separate meals which is a big plus.
The downsides was some of the portion sizes were small, but not all of them (some were really big) and maybe due to the meals we chose there was a lot of broccoli as the vegetable!
Thank you for letting us be part of this and we will order again (often do meal boxes when we return from holiday) as the quality was excellent

Was very easy to order , the meals were a bit too fancy for the kiddos with sauces and stuff but we really enjoyed them they were super tasty

I’m terribly late to managing to comment here, but life has dealt a fairly disastrous couple of weeks and just coming back to catching up on normality… so I’m sorry for not commenting earlier, but will share our feedback from the process.

Getting started
How did you find the ordering process?
ordering was fairly easy, probably not quite as user friendly as Gousto’s (I’ve previously been a subscriber so basing a lot of comparison to that experience). One thing of note was that I couldn’t find a filter for allergens; DD has a nut allergy and other than checking each option that looked good, I didn’t see how to quickly filter to only suitable options.
How was the variety of Family-friendly meals on offer?
Not bad - there were definitely options there, although it was perhaps a bit limited. My kids are fans of things they are familiar with, and I sneak in new bits on the side. It would’ve been nice to have some classics like a pasta bake or homemade burgers. The list was varied but not huge, and by the time I’d ruled out nuts and things they definitely wouldn’t eat, there wasn’t many choices that worked for us.
What made you pick the recipes you went for?
They suited our dietary needs and preferences. Time and simplicity to make something healthy are key!

First impressions when your box arrived – how did everything look and feel?
This was the great bit for me - absolute stand out that the ingredients for each meal were set out in bags just to put in the fridge. I cannot say enough how much this helped (tho would have been even better if the bags were labelled!). It was well packaged, cold and fresh. No ingredients rolling round loose and getting squashed or lost.

Cooking & eating
How easy were the recipes to cook?
I deliberately chose recipes that were ‘easy’ and DD (3) loved helping with the prep. Microwave rice wins every time over boiling… Week 1 had no recipe book included but I was emailed a link. It was easy enough to follow and pretty simple preparation which I really appreciated.

How well did they fit into your usual family mealtime routine?
Really well - I found the prep time was minimal and this meant it didn’t feel a chore.
Did they feel manageable on a weeknight?
Yes - depending on the recipe. I work full time so only tackle ‘proper’ cooking on days where I’m working from home and can prep at lunchtime. One recipe had brown rice that needed 30 minutes cooking, so for us this made it not a weeknight meal.

Did they take more or less time than the recipe suggested?
probably a little more - I always find recipes seem overly optimistic on the timings so I was expecting that. If you have a kitchen where everything is laid out and lined up then maybe you can just about do it in the time, but real life and kids around adds time.

Did your children get involved in the cooking at all?
Yes! DD has a kid-safe kitchen set of knives and peeler and she loved getting involved with preparing vegetables. It was definitely easy to find bits she could sensibly help with too.

Any favourite meals so far? Or any that didn’t quite hit the mark? The sticky beef rice was particularly good! I was really impressed with the flavour of all the meals to be honest, they delivered on what I expected and were far easier, tastier and better than my experience with Gousto

Family mealtimes
Did the whole family enjoy the meals?
On the whole, yes. I certainly did, my kids are 3 and 5 so any meal is hit or miss but they certainly had a good go at all of them, which I was impressed with as they’re not normally keen on things that look different!

Did the portions work well for your household?
Yes - 3 of the meals fed 3 adults and 2 kids, and the last one fed me and 2 kids for 2 nights using leftovers. Portions were a really good size for us!

Could you see these meals becoming part of your regular routine
I definitely think I will order again - the price is higher but reflected in the quality of ingredients and touches like the meal-ready bags. Probably not an every week option because of the cost, but especially when we have visitors this made life a lot easier.

Overall thoughts as you go
How are you finding the quality of the ingredients?
Excellent. The meat was clearly better than the usual supermarket packs and I really appreciated this. Vegetables were fresh and carefully packed - it felt genuinely carefully put together compared to other similar products and really stood out for me.

Has anything surprised you so far?
It has to be the quality of the ingredients really. I was really impressed unpacking the first box and this made me more keen to cook and enjoy the recipes too.

Does a recipe box help reduce the mental load of planning and cooking?
Absolutely! Life is chaotic at the best of times, and removing the need to check recipes, ingredients and what’s in the cupboard, not buying whole jars of stuff that sits and goes to waste is a fantastic thing to offload.

How does Mindful Chef compare to your usual way of planning and cooking meals?
It’s very different in that what we normally have is less of a recipe, more a collection of foods that the kids like (vegetables, meat and pasta). I really enjoyed making ‘proper’ meals which I rarely have the time to organise in a way that will make meals the kids will enjoy. So this really helped with giving us a new lease of cooking and preparing together, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

We cooked our final meal last night so I'll complete my review a little later today. We finished on my favourite - the Chicken Parm.

Our week 2 box arrived this afternoon (we paid a bit extra to make it three meals rather than two). Same impressions on packaging: arrived cool, like the fact the meat and tofu were kept separate, but one of the brown bags was a bit squashed and split (no damage to the contents luckily).
Tonight we made the creamy peanut chicken curry. Super easy to follow the instructions, and the timing was spot on. Appreciated having chicken chunks, which cut down on prep time. The veg looked fresh and the chicken was good quality and plentiful. Taste-wise very mild, which was a hit with our youngest. Overall I’d give the recipe 7/10: quick, tasty but didn’t knock our socks off. Looking forward to trying the final two recipes this week!

We’ve had both boxes now and whist the meals were nice, they weren’t amazing. And for the price of them, I’d expect amazing. The food was all fresh and good quality but we had a couple of ingredients missing (nothing major, just a garlic clove or two) but again, when you’re paying £60+ you don’t expect to have ingredients missing. I feel that there was too much single-use plastic in the meals - all of the meat and sauces were in plastic, which although convenient is not good for the environment. I also feel that the boxes that the food is delivered in are far too big. I understand the need to protect the contents, but they could be half the size and everything would still be protected. I really loved the fact that the ingredients were portioned out, so no measuring, and it takes away from having to plan a meal. I did find the recipes hard to follow in the booklet. I prefer a single recipe card, the instructions seem to jump about. I do like that you get all of the recipes, but it seemed wasteful sending out a recipe booklet with each box. I found the choices on the ‘Family Friendly’ menu very limited and not meals that our girls would eat. They are 10 & 9. So we picked the second box from the main menu. The cooking times were longer than the recipes stated, for example, I cooked the steak for longer than the recipes stated, but it was still not cooked enough. I think I had expected to be ‘wowed’ by these meals, but having tried other recipe boxes, I can’t say that this one is much different, other than the price. I feel it is very expensive - we could get a weeks shopping for the cost of 2 meals. I feel that the cost far outweighs the benefits, sadly.

Pizza-style risotto. This was a huge hit with my husband and I but not so much with the kids. It’s the kind of meal I’d definitely order just for the two of us - although when I looked at prices for some meals for 2 it was more expensive than I’d anticipated. We’ve been so impressed with the quality of the ingredients, particularly the meat. It’s also been good that the ingredients come with a good shelf life so that we didn’t need to cook the meal immediately if that didn’t fit with our schedule. When I subsequently put a future delivery on pause I realised you can change your delivery day which is handy- as well as being able to order a one-off box. I’ve been so impressed with it all and perhaps that justifies the cost difference between Mindful Chef and other comparable offerings which do appear to be a bit cheaper. I like the way it’s set up and the text if you let the subscription roll they will pick a meal for you - a good way to try something different and ensure you don’t miss a delivery deadline. I’ve really really enjoyed this and will happily recommend it to others. I’m not sure that I’d keep a subscription of 2 family meals a week but never say never! Thank you Mumsnet and Mindful Chef, this gave us a great opportunity to experience the brand and gave us something new to talk about over dinner.

Posting for our second box! The gnocchi with pork meatballs was a huge hit with our gnocchi loving, but sometimes meatball fussy, children. My husband cooked this one, and spotted an error in the booklet around when to add the sauce, but apart from that it was pretty straightforward. Portion sizes were also good! I appreciated the excellent quality chopped tomatoes, which definitely helped the flavour of the sauce.

Pizza style risotto was regarded with suspicion by the children - the adults enjoyed it, and I liked using brown rice for its health benefits, but the sauce ended up a bit thin. Nevertheless, I would try this one again, slightly adjusting ingredient quantities. Again, the quality of ingredients were excellent, but overall the box wouldn't fit in our budget. Even if we bought everything from Waitrose to make the meal I think it'd be significantly cheaper. I would be tempted if we were self catering on holiday though, purely for ease!

I have absolutely loved using the Mindful chef subscription service, I loved the ease of ordering and the variety of meals available each week.

We chose:

Week 1: Pork and Apple patties and Five bean beef
Week 2: Denver steaks and Dan Dan chicken

The ingredients came well boxed and separated into bags for each meal making it super easy to put them in the fridge ready to cook rather than having to gather up all the items.

The meals were easy to cook, with top quality fresh ingredients.The online recipes were easy to follow with clear details instructions.

The meals were all so tasty but I think but favourite had to be the Denver steak salad, the steak was so tender paired with the potatoes and salad was just perfect!

The pricing however is rather high for my family budget, I would definitely use Mindchef again but as a treat.

Just realised that I haven't kept up with this. Box 2 arrived with veg slightly older - yellow broccoli and soft peppers but otherwise all good. I was pleased this week that we got a recipe booklet as it made cooking (whilst wrangling small children in the after school chaos) easier.

We did get a massive handful of loose garlic cloves, much like my thought from week 1 about the eggs, isn't there a point when it's easier to just add a bulb of garlic?

The meatballs and gnocchi was lovely - a good portion that we added garlic bread and veg to do it did two nights. Everyone ate some of it - even my little one managed a meatball.

The sticky Korean beef was also delicious but a bit faffy to make. DH and DS1 we're very happy with it DS2 declared it "too mixed up."

Korean-style Sticky Beef with Speedy Brown Rice & Rainbow Veg was our final meal but our youngest refused to even try it. The meal was nice BUT I elt the beef was lacking in quality as I had a large chunk of gristle ansld it had a slight smell/taste that was strong and reminded me of liver (which I hate). We won't be continuing with Mindful Chef which is a shame as I had hogh hopes but the quality/variety/value for money just wasn't up the the standards we have become used to from Gousto.

Pics of Korean-style Sticky Beef with Speedy Brown Rice & Rainbow Veg

We have now completed our second box. This time we chose the Sichuan style beef stir fry and the Chicken Parm.
I wrote a detailed review earlier in this thread about our first box (Pizza style Risotto and Pork meatballs with Gnocchi).
Again I was very pleased with the presentation of the ingredients. It still felt exciting when DPD delivered the box and to have all the ingredients in a labelled bag for each meal. All the food looked very fresh.
I like to put the labelled bags directly into the fridge after checking them, which does take a lot of space; I have to take a shelf out! Of course, this is personal preference as I could store them without the bag.
I still feel that it would be useful to have a contents/index of the recipes in the booklet. With 28 recipes, after flicking through to find that evening's recipes, I ended up opening the fridge to find the recipe number.
We liked the Sichuan beef, but I didn't love it and wouldn't choose it again. It was a little milder than we would prefer, but I assumed that that was so it was suitable for younger families. The portion size was ideal for the four of us - two adults and two older teenagers (one a sporty boy)- all with healthy appetites.
I cooked both meals in the first box. My husband, who is an excellent cook, made this meal. It took him the suggested time to make.
This is the second meal from Mindful Chef which has included pre-cooked brown rice. My husband and I liked it and are thinking of buying it due to its health benefits and quickness to cook. Our son wasn't overly keen on the brown rice.
I like the way that Mindful Chef ensures that we eat more vegetables and eat in a healthier way than we often do (when I cook!).
When I have cooked the recipes, it has taken me longer than the expected time, but I am not the most confident or adventurous cook, so I can see myself becoming quicker in time. I tend to stick to the same recipes when it is my turn to cook, so I really like that Mindful Chef has added some new recipes and ideas to my repertoire.
Our final recipe was my favourite so far - Chicken Parm. I challenged our teenagers to cook this for us and the meal was very nice. The instructions were clear enough for them to follow and we were very happy with the quality of the chicken and the other ingredients
We now ordered a box to be delivered in a couple of weeks. Due to the cost, we will not be ordering weekly. We priced the Chicken Parm recipe against the M&S prices in Ocado and it did seem expensive. However, we are going to start getting a box monthly as a treat.
I really like that Mindful Chef includes the booklet of 28 recipes in the box, so that we can make these dishes and all the other ones with our own ingredients.
On the one occasion when I had to contact Mindful Chef (when DPD delayed our box by a day), I found Polly at Customer Services to be very helpful. This is in sharp contrast to my previous experience with Hello Fresh when I needed to contact them about an issue.
I also ordered a box of the Mindful Chef own brand Bircher Muesli which was delicious.
We have really enjoyed being part of this trial. Thank you very much to Mumsnet and Mindful Chef for allowing us this opportunity.

Cooked our final Mindful Chef meal tonight Korean bibimbap with tofu. Easy to prepare what felt like a mountain of veg, and the tofu was a bit hit with my youngest which was a pleasant surprise. The bag had split during delivery and we were missing a sachet of sesame seeds, annoying but nothing major. Overall a pretty tasty, visually appealling meal which felt much more virtuous than pasta or a takeaway. 8/10