I recently noticed an interesting article by researchers at Sydney University looking at how healthy meal kit services were.  The researchers analysed and compared five popular commercial meal kit subscription services available in Australia.

Overall, the review found that the meal kits to be a good substitute for takeaway and convenience foods, and even some home-cooked meals – but they could be improved.  

From time to time when life gets busy I like to use a meal kit service.  I’ve tried Hello Fresh, the Cook’s Grocer, Marley Spoon and Food Bag (now just in New Zealand).  I like the convenience of having the ingredients ready and someone else to do the “thinking” for me.  I think they are great if you’re not a confident cook or if you’re trying to nudge some of the other members of the household to do some cooking.  One friend orders a vegetarian box to increase the number of meat free meals she cooks in a week.  Interestingly most of the nutritionists and dietitians I know use meal kit services – we get sick of thinking about food too!   I know some people object to the food packaging used by such services but I think they companies have done a good job of reducing packaging and you could argue that the extra packaging is offset by reduced food waste.  

Today I thought I’d talk you through how I modify the meal kits to work in our family with a recent Marley Spoon meal that I cooked - Chargrilled Beef Steak with Parsley and Olive Tapenade.  Marley Spoon have this labelled as “healthy” and I’d more or less agree. 

I like how Marley Spoon provide a nutrition breakdown with their meals:

NUTRITION PER SERVING

Calories 550kcal, Fat 29.8g, Proteins 37.4g,Carbs 29.5g

I’m nearly 50, below average height and quite active.  I know that from a weight management point of view this meal has more calories than I need and in particular, the fat content is too high for me.  So the changes I make are:

• Veggies: the veggies provided are spinach and sweet potato.  Veggies are filling and full of fibre, nutrients and phytochemicals.  Ideally we should aim to fill half of our  plate with non-starchy veggies like green beans, broccoli, capsicum, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, asparagus, cabbage and other leafy greens.  So, I need more than the spinach provided. Seeing as though I’ve got the oven on to cook the sweet potato I add in red capsicum, zucchini, eggplant and some asparagus. These bulk up the veggie side of my plate, and also increase the number of plant foods that I eat across the week.  Whenever you are cooking sweet potato or potato it’s a good habit to add in other veggies lurking in the fridge.  Just add a spray of olive oil.  Any left overs are great for lunch the next day.

• High Quality Carbs: The sweet potato provides my starchy carbs but I only need a handful for my energy needs, a lot less than provided.  Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred and most easily used energy source. High quality carbohydrates include wholegrains, legumes or starchy vegetables. These keep you fuller for longer, fuel your brain, give you energy to exercise and are fibre-rich for good gut health. I put aside the left-over sweet potato for my lunch the next day. 

• Lean Protein: I like the meat portions in the meal kit, they are around 600g for a family of four.  I serve myself a palm size piece and save a bit for my lunch the next day  

• Good Fats: Fat is an essential nutrient to make hormones and help absorb some vitamins. Good fats are found in fish, nuts, seeds, avocado and extra virgin olive oil.  This is I think where the calories on this meal come unstuck as although the ingredients contributing the fat are “good” fats – nuts and olives, it is a very calorie dense sauce.  So I just serve a thumb size portion of the sauce and keep the extras for dressing salads during the week.   

• Seasoning:  the instructions suggest adding salt and pepper at 3 stages of the meal prep.  The analysis by Sydney Uni found all the meal kits they analysed had around 30 percent of the daily target of sodium and that would be the case in this recipe.  I would add a little salt to the sweet potatoes but not to the steak or salad as the tapenade dressing is already salty from the olives.

  
  
  

In my family there’s a range of people and we shouldn’t all eat the same amount of food. The ideal amount of food for you will depend on your age, sex, height and how active you are - in your workouts and during the course of your day.  For example my son is 16, tall and extremely active so he needs MORE veggies, MORE high quality carbs and a little MORE protein than me.

I think Meal Kit services are convenient and much better than ordering out and can help out if you’re busy.  If you’d like to improve their healthiness consider:

• Adding more veggies

• Watching the added salt

• Watching the fat content, especially saturated fat

• Modifying the carbohydrate size and quality depending on your energy needs (steer away from the white bread, pasta and rice)

  Consider lowering the protein portion and keeping some for the next day 

Have you tried a meal kit service?  Do you think they help you eat healthier during the week?

Need some quick simple meal ideas? Go here.

Do you need help getting your healthy eating back on track?  My 6 week customised nutrition program is specially designed to help you establish healthy eating habits, gain or lose weight,  or recover from the diet cycle.  Find out more here.

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Rachel is a university qualified Clinical Nutritionist based in Balmain.  She is also the busy working mum of two teenagers, so is practical and realistic with her advice . Rachel offers private consultations to improve your family's health and well-being. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram for more healthy tips and tricks.