After a long and tiring day of work; heading straight towards the kitchen to prepare dinner is indeed a hectic task. There is definitely the option of eating out at a restaurant or ordering some food at home, but doing it every day is neither economical nor is good for one’s health.
This is where ready to cook kits come into the picture! They promise a new type of experience for people: home-cooked meals without the hassle.
You might have heard of them by different names: microwave meals, frozen meals, convenience meals, meal kits, or TV dinners. There are a lot of reasons why you might opt for a ready meal over a home-cooked one… Perhaps you don’t have the time to cook from scratch, or you don’t feel motivated to cook every day, or you don’t know how to cook, or you don’t enjoy it. And let’s admit it, after a long day, popping a ready meal kit into the oven or microwave while you change into your PJs might just be much more appealing than spending time cooking.
“In the UK, it’s estimated that 79 million ready meals are eaten by adults every week.”
“The global meal kit delivery services market size was valued at USD 7.60 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8% from 2020 to 2027. Increasing preference for homemade meals among millennials is expected to be a major factor contributing to the growth of the market.”
There’s no denying that ready to cook kits are quick, easy, and often pretty cheap. But although they might be convenient, do they also provide the nutrients your body needs to live and function well?
The good stuff about ready to cook meal kits
Saves time: Now that most of us are working from home, there seems no end to the household chores. It becomes very hard to find time for family, friends, hobbies, and sports, as we have to go through a list of chores. For women, especially, the demands can be enormous. A study from the U.K. found that women spend five hours a week more than men on unpaid labor including housework, cooking, and childcare.
These kits come ready to cook, saving you the time of recipe-planning, going grocery shopping, chopping, and preparing the ingredients. Because they provide all the ingredients according to the dish’s need and the veggies are already chopped. Most of these ready to cook meal kits are ready in 30 minutes or less, giving you hours back during the week to spend on more enjoyable tasks.
Try your hands on new and unique dishes: You can prepare new and unique dishes for your family every day with the range of ready to cook meal kits available online.
Are hygienic: Hygiene has become quite an important concern these days. The good thing about these ready-to-cook kits is that the ingredients are packed in zip pouches, good quality plastic boxes, and containers to maintain them fresh.
Supports less experienced cooks or growing home chefs: Cooking is a skill and like any other skill, it requires patience and practice to master. These ready-to-cook meal kits come with recipe cards that guide novice cooks and growing home chefs through the cooking process from start to finish. They often have photos showing exactly how the food should look like and step-by-step instructions to help novice chefs develop their kitchen skills.
Are more nutritious than takeout: Kristin Koskinen, a registered dietitian and nutritionist with a private practice in Washington state, says that meal kits can be a bridge to a better diet. “They can help transition people from eating most meals out to eating more meals at home by taking the decision making out of what’s for dinner and eliminating grocery shopping. Eating at home typically translates to better diets, higher nutrient intake, and weight loss for those looking to shed a few pounds,” she told HuffPost.
The bad stuff about ready to cook meal kits
Excess packaging: To keep food fresh and appealing, each ingredient is vacuum-sealed. They are secured in plastic and cardboard before being placed inside more packaging. So, there is an excess of plastics, paper bags, etc.
Summing up
So after a long tiring day, you can easily enjoy home cooked meals, without spending much time in the kitchen. There is a lot more scope to this already growing sector. Meal kit delivery services are one of those apps that help aspiring home chefs to grow.