Here’s my secret: I hate cooking and everything that goes along with it. I hate planning meals and nothing gives me more anxiety then grocery shopping. I feel like a child who has lost their mother every time I walk into a grocery store and I can never seem to get out of there fast enough. I literally look like the Tasmanian devil hustling through the isles grabbing the same things I do every trip. Yoghurt, berries, salad mix, eggs, cans of soup, some apples and bananas. Then when I stand in line to pay I stare into other people’s carts and baskets, look at their food and wonder what exactly they plan on cooking with all that stuff they are buying, which usually ends in me hanging my head in embarrassment at my sad collection of food. I can’t be the only one whose friends come over and wonder how I survive with a fridge full of, well nothing. At least I have the exercising part down, right?
Cooking for one is hard, but so is cooking for two or an entire family. Meals need to be planned, they need to be prepped before they’re cooked. With everything else that needs to be completed in a day, sometimes cooking gets pushed to the end of the to-do list and once again you are sitting with a bowl of cereal and a glass of red wine at the end of your day, that is if you are lucky enough to only have to take care of yours truly.
I was intrigued by one of my coworkers who is a kick-ass trainer who works twice as much as me AND has two very active kids. Last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer and after a double mastectomy she had 12 weeks of chemo so one of her clients treated her to a meal service to help her get by and take some of the stress off of her when she wasn’t feeling well. Each week an insulated box of food would arrive at the studio and inside was everything she needed to cook 3 meals for her entire family. So I decided to give it a try.
I have always been turned off by those food delivery companies that send you already prepared food because as healthy as it is I still felt like I was eating a TV dinner or airplane food. I have also kept my distance from grocery delivery services because I still needed to plan and prep my meals. For one person. Which is hard. If I want to cook one meal, I really have no option but to buy for four and then I am eating that one meal for an entire week and there are only so many days in a row that you can eat a stir-fry.
However, these new meal prep companies that are popping up in most big cities are genius. They send you exactly what you need to prepare an incredible meal, and most of the food is chopped and ready to go with no food waste. It is kind of like you are on a cooking show and everything is chopped and placed into cute little glass bowls. I have been doing it for three weeks now and it has changed my life. I am cooking things I never imagined – and it tastes amazing!
I envy people who can whip up delicious meals from whatever they happen to have in their fridge. But now that I use this service I am starting to feel like that, except the “whatever I have in my fridge” is a cute small box with exactly what I need to cook a meal along with the most basic, and easy to follow instructions.
These companies usually have different options for delivery. You can choose gourmet meals, vegetarian meals or quick meals, which is what I do. The minimum number of servings you can choose is 2, which means if you are single you will have leftovers for a small lunch the next day and a meal to freeze for later. You can have 1 meal delivered a week and up to 7 and you can choose weekly delivery, bi-weekly delivery or monthly. I wouldn’t suggest this for a family of 4 or more because at $13 a meal it can get expensive but it is always good to have as a backup. If you are single, I recommend 2 or 3 meals a week, delivered every other week and on the off weeks, try and prep one of the meals you cooked the week before. I am using a company out of Toronto (email me at [email protected] if you’d like to know which one) but companies like this are popping up in most large cities.
This isn’t something I want to use forever, but it is teaching me how to cook for just myself and I am learning how to be a bit more creative in the kitchen. So, if I you are like me in the fact that you would rather go to the dentist than to a grocery store, then maybe give something like this a try.
Here is Diane Kruger heading to the gym the other day in New York.
