You would think that working from home would translate into my eating more healthy lunches. There is a pantry and fridge full of fresh ingredients mere steps away from my home office. Despite all these options, I wind up making the same thing almost every day: avocado and scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla.
Healthy? Mostly. Monotonous? Definitely.
This same ‘ole, same ‘ole was one of the reasons I got excited when Kettlebell Kitchen offered to let me try out their meal delivery service. Kettlebell specializes in healthy meal plans that help you achieve your fitness or lifestyle goals such as burning fat, building muscle, going keto and more. Meals are fully prepared and delivered to your home, office or even your gym. All you have to do is re-heat them.
When you sign up for Kettlebell Kitchen, the first thing you do is provide some personal information like height, weight, whether you are counting calories and what your goal weight is. Next, you pick your menu plan from options like Perform, Slim, Vegetarian, and Keto. As I’m trying to lose some weight, I picked the Burn plan.
All of Kettlebell’s meals are soy and dairy-free, and according to the FAQ are also naturally gluten-free, though they aren’t certified as such. You can choose the number of meals per week you want, 6 (lunches), 12 (lunches and dinner), or 18 (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Based on all the criteria you’ve set, Kettlebell then shows you the meals you’ll receive, which you can then further customize by swapping out different dishes.
OK, this is great and all, but a meal delivery service is only as good as the meals it delivers. So how was it? In a word, delicious.
Three meals arrived earlier this week: Apple-braised pork loin with sweet potatoes, Chicken Milanese with paleo focaccia, and BBQ chicken with roasted zucchini. They all arrived in an ice-packed box and came in compostable containers and even included a plastic set of portable utensils (and inexplicably, Kettlebell branded sunglasses). The compostable containers were both great and not-so great. Great in that the packaging will turn into soil in 90 days yet is still microwaveable and oven-safe. Not so great in that there isn’t a tight seal around the lid, so the red sauce in the BBQ chicken kind of leaked out of its container in transit.
I tried the Chicken Milanese first, reheating in the microwave. And while the focaccia was a little gummy (from the microwave, I’m guessing), the meal was excellent. The chicken was tender and flavorful, and the fennel and other greens packed in there were still crisp.
I liked it so much that I started looking forward to my next Kettlebell meal the next morning. I was excited to try meals I wouldn’t otherwise make for myself, and reheating was super convenient. Every meal I had felt different from the other and was a delight to eat. Though I was essentially re-heating leftovers, it didn’t taste like it at all, and I didn’t feel bloated or gross after gobbling one down.
All this convenience and delight doesn’t come cheap, however. The lunch-only six meal per week plan costs $71 dollars or almost $12 per meal, and the 12 meal plan will set you back $136 per week (there is no long term commitment). While they aren’t as fancy, you can get Icon Meals for less than $10 a pop.
Beyond the cost, however, there is a certain amount of guilt with all that packaging and transit to basically deliver me three lunches, something I could make on my own with a little more forethought and planning. Having said that, I’m seriously considering keeping at least the lunch plan for a little while longer. The variety is really appealing and the food was consistently delicious. And it’s a consistency, thankfully without monotony.
Leave a Reply