A ready-to-eat prep meal kit subscription service is not some kind of fancy luxury but an actual necessity for a busy mummy. This type of service has been around for a while, but it really took off only during the pandemic. But as the awareness of meal kit subscription boxes has grown, it’s sure they will retain their popularity. Every busy parent out there definitely can appreciate the value of a healthy ready-to-eat meal delivered to their home. For a single mom, who faces dozens of challenges every day, this kind of kit might be the only thing that gives her a few precious minutes for self-care.
Ready-to-Eat Prep Meal Kit: What is It and Who Offers It?
Meal kits subscription services are rather straightforward. This is a type of service that delivers a meal kit to your door several times a week. The frequency of deliveries depends on the plan you choose. The kit contains a number of ingredients as well as cooking instructions and tips. The point is to use the box to make a healthy balanced meal within about 30 minutes. However, ready-to-eat prep meal services are a bit different. This type of service delivers not a bunch of ingredients but a fully-cooked meal. Therefore, the preparation process takes 5-10 minutes instead of half an hour.
Please note that companies, which offer regular meal kits (uncooked) usually don’t offer prep meal kit services. For example, leading meal kit (ready-to-cook) companies are HelloFresh, Blue Apron, and GoodFood. But for an affordable ready-to-eat kit you should look up Mealpro, Fit Menu, or Power Kitchen. The majority of these companies are local. Therefore, you should search for an affordable prep meal kit delivery in your area.
The meal can be freshly-cooked and ready to eat right from the box or frozen. In either case, you’ll need but a moment to serve a healthy lunch or dinner for yourself and your baby. Considering that the average parent of a child under 18 has about 20-40 minutes of free time a day, cutting down on cooking time definitely makes the service worth it, right?
To answer this question, you’ll need to take a close look at the benefits the kits offer. You’ll also need to consider the limitations and disadvantages of using this service.
Benefits of Using a Prep Meal Kit Delivery Service for a Busy Mummy
You get to save time
Without a doubt, the most important benefit of ordering meal kits is the time you save on cooking. Every mother out there knows that sometimes making that dinner after a crazy day is just too much. With a meal kit, you won’t have to worry about this at all.
The time you save can be used for self-care or just spending time with your kid. This alone is worth its weight in gold for a single overworked parent.
Note that by subscribing to a prep meal kit delivery service you won’t have to waste time at all. You’ll be confident that the food is always at your door at the exact time you need it. This means that you won’t have to wait for that takeout or pizza delivery and have your kid go hungry until it arrives.
Also, you don’t have to set up a million reminders for buying groceries or ordering the aforementioned takeout. You only need to sing up for a meal kit box once and those meals will be coming regularly until you cancel the subscription.
You can enjoy a healthy balanced meal
Everyone should understand the importance of a healthy and balanced diet for health. However, being a crazy-busy single parent, you definitely know how hard it is to stick to that diet. Moreover, can you honestly say that you ensure your children eat healthy all the time too?
UNICEF’s latest report shows that one in every three children on the planet has some issues with nutrition. They are either malnourished or overweight. Overall, they clearly show that they aren’t receiving the healthy and balanced nutrition they require to grow up healthy.
And it’s not only a problem for developing countries where hunger is an everyday reality. No, this is the state of health report for children of the world. Adults aren’t faring much better there either.
It’s true that cooking balanced and healthy meals three times a day is impossible for the majority of us. This is why prep meal kit services are so useful. They take off a part of this burden by making sure that you regularly get healthy meals delivered to your door. This means the next time you consider eating greasy fastfood for dinner, there will be a healthy alternative to that.
Kits might make it easier to comply with dietary restrictions
If you or your children have dietary restrictions, a prep meal kit can be a great help. Note that only a few companies offer kits for specialized diets, like keto or vegan. However, they do exist, so if you need one, you’ll be able to use a delivery service to help you avoid breaking the diet.
You are saving some money too
The average price per serving for a ready-to-eat prep meal kit is $15. This is more expensive than buying groceries and cooking from scratch. But it’s cheaper than the average restaurant takeout.
However, did you consider the cost of the time you spend both on cooking and grocery shopping? Did you account for the cost of gas to do that shopping? Did you consider the energy costs of cooking a meal?
If you take all these numbers into account, you might see that you may be saving money by ordering a prep meal kit delivery. This is especially true for those who live in remote areas and need to spend a while to get to the better shops.
And you need to consider the better shops because ready-to-eat kits contain top-quality fresh ingredients. In fact, those ingredients might be too expensive to buy on your own. For example, if you live in a rural area, there might be none available in your local shops. Therefore, you’ll have to order overpriced delivery from food stores.
But with a prep meal kit, the delicacies become affordable and accessible for everyone.
Bottom Line: Are Ready-to-Eat Prep Meal Kits Worth It?
Being a single parent is expensive, there is no arguing that. Therefore, it’s only natural that the cost of signing up for a prep meal kit delivery will require a lot of consideration. It’s a fact that these things aren’t as cheap as making the meal yourself. However, they aren’t overly expensive either.
In the end, the answer to whether meal kits of any kind are worth it can be decided only by you. What is your personal situation like? Can you fit this service into your budget? Is the time saved worth the average $15 per serving that goes into a meal kit?
There is no denying the convenience of these kits, especially now during the pandemic. Therefore, signing up for this service can be very helpful for a single parent.
The only question is whether this value is sufficient for you personally?
It’s okay if you can’t answer right away. The majority of prep meal kit services offer great discounts or even free first packages. Therefore, you can have a test run for cheap to see how useful this service will be for your family.