I decided to trial one of those companies. You know the ones. They sell you food all individually weighed and packaged. The instructions are intense (cut the carrot in half, then half again then in 3mm strips). Covid-19 was still very much in play for our state and Husband Dear still didn’t have his body under control. Still had flying visits to Brisbane. Plus I have teenage boys who constantly need feeding. Let me just say I was not spending ages in a supermarket doing the Covid dance. The I’ll jump to the left and hopefully the other person would distance themselves from me. Frankly ma’ dear, that dance gets really tiring in small supermarket aisles!
So I got four nights of boxed dinners with all the ingredients to cook. “Ripper!” I thought. The boys could do some night time meals and I won’t have to think about what to feed the family for at least 4 nights. My first box was free…….no, had to pay because I wanted 4 nights. The free box was only for 3. That’s how they lure you in. Ah but wait……I still have to tackle the supermarkets. Why? Apparently I still have to feed everyone lunches, snacks and breakfasts. Some of the air in my ballon deflated a little. All good I thought. Dinner is the most expensive part of my grocery shop….I’ll be saving money.
Well, the first box arrived. We were all excited. Okay, I was excited. I did not have to think about what to feed and cook everyone for 4 nights. Box opened to reveal every thing was individually wrapped. Like everything! It was wrapped either in plastic or was in plastic bags then placed into a brown paper bag all with coloured dots. The recipe cards where intense. Even I who cook a lot had to read those recipes a few times before commencing. Lets just say that one night Oldest Son decided to cook a box meal. It was disaster. Too many words for basic instructions and his teenage brain melted down. Lucky Husband Dear was able to save the meal before the onion and garlic burnt and teenage son had thrown something. I believe the swearing was the tip off all was not right.
I did persist for at least a month with these dinners. They were great in a sense that I did not have to think about what to cook. I’m sure all the night time cooks out there know what I’m talking about. I’m not completely convinced that it saves money. Depending on how many nights dinners and types of dinners ordered it is well over $150 a week for just one meal a day. Then your normal grocery shop on top of that. One thing I will say is that we all got to experience some new meal flavours and combos and it helped me to have a break and get my mojo back for cooking.
I now keep getting emails to lure me back to the nightly boxed meal of convenience. At times I feel my will weakening and think hmmm maybe. The last email did have a great deal…….
Grateful Wonder 