Healthy Habits Kitchen, based in Wellesley, MA, contacted me about trying their meal kits. As much as I love traditional from-scratch cooking, I’m always open to trying a quick (while still healthy) alternative for weeknight dinners. Healthy Habits Kitchen’s ready-to-make meals are portioned out so the serving size is under 400 calories, with less than 30% fat and no more than 800mg of sodium. Plus, the meals take less than 30 minutes to prepare. I tried out three meals. Please note: while Healthy Habits Kitchen offered to send over these complimentary meal kits, all opinions are my own.
How the shrimp with tomato and feta ingredients arrived (each meal is packed inside a mini box)
The meal kits arrived by mail in a small insulated box and were portioned out into the three meals. When they arrived the ingredients were slightly frozen: each box has a ‘prepared on’ and ‘best by’ date. I put one box in the fridge and the other two in the freezer. I chose three seafood meals because I don’t cook fish and seafood as often as I’d like to, and I was hopeful this might provide some inspiration. On the Healthy Habits Kitchen website, you can find all of their current meals: there are vegetarian, red meat, chicken, and pork meals as well.
Here’s what I made:
The first meal I tried was the Shrimp with Tomatoes & Feta: sauce (diced tomatoes and onion), shrimp, orzo pasta, seasoning (lots of dill), and feta. This was delicious and the flavors were different from what I usually put together, which was exactly what I had hoped for.
For the second meal I made Asian BBQ Salmon with Rice. This meal fell flat – the salmon wasn’t high-quality and the sauce was too thick, so the rice and salmon were very plain and dry. I was also craving vegetables in this meal, which is odd because you’d think for the company to be called ‘Healthy Habits’ that they’d have more vegetables incorporated into the meals. I ended up eating the salmon over a spinach salad with oil and vinegar dressing.
The last meal was Broiled Tilapia Thai Coconut Curry with Rice. This meal was slightly better than the salmon, because the sauce was more substantial, but again the quality of the fish wasn’t great. I expected to make a yellow coconut curry (see image below), but this ended up being more of red peppers and shallots in a sweet garam masala sauce. I make quick curries often, so this wasn’t something I’d make again.
The verdict: Very easy-to-make meals, slightly expensive for my budget, recipes were hit or miss, lots of packaging
It’s easy: It felt odd to make a meal without prepping anything, but that’s just because I love the process – start to end – of cooking. For someone who doesn’t want to spend time cooking, or doesn’t feel at home in the kitchen, this would be a great option. Clean-up was limited to the two or three (for the curry) pans I used; I didn’t need a knife, cutting board, or any bowls for ingredients, which made clean-up easy. For all three dishes, the recipes were simple and straightforward. The meals took between 20-30 minutes to make.
Cost per meal: I’m cost-conscious while buying groceries and find that cooking a big meal at home saves so much money compared to going out. Portioned out, each serving from Health Habits Kitchen ends up being about $7, so if you typically go out to eat and want to transition to cooking at home, this would be a great option. Or, if you want to cook a healthy meal, and $22 for three servings outweighs the difficulty of planning a meal, going shopping for the ingredients, prepping, and then cooking, this could also be a good choice!
Tilapia Coconut Curry (left) & BBQ Salmon (right) images from the Healthy Habits Kitchen site
The recipes: I enjoyed the shrimp dish, but the other two fish recipes could have been better developed. I would liked to have seen more accurate pictures of the recipes on the Healthy Habits Kitchen website (see above – these are very different recipes, and it looks like there’s chicken instead of fish in the curry).
Something that was a very positive experience for me was learning about portion size. When I looked at the ingredients in the box and saw that they added up to three “healthy portions’ or two ‘hearty portions’, I was skeptical whether this would be enough food for me. I was surprised, though: when it all came together, I portioned out 1/3 of the total amount for a meal, and it was fine.
Packaging: The convenience factor is obviously there with these meal kits, but as I worked through each of the recipes, I realized just how much plastic packaging I was throwing in the garbage. All of the fish was vacuum-sealed in its own bag, each additional ingredient came in a bag or a plastic container. I understand the necessity to have each ingredient in a separate container, but I am careful to limit packaging when possible and recycle everything, so it was hard for me to generate so much waste simply out of convenience.
Live in the Greater Boston Area and want to try out Healthy Habits Kitchen? You can order Healthy Habits Kitchen online, and then pick up your meals at their facility, a farmers market, or have them shipped to your home. Healthy Habits Kitchen has offered 15% off your first order. Just use the discount code “EATINGPLACES” through July 31 for 15%off.
Thank you to Healthy Habits Kitchen for three complimentary meal kits. As with all EatingPlaces posts, opinions are my own.
Tags: delivered to your door, Healthy Habits Kitchen
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