Before we get into this, let's make one thing clear: I hate to cook... and it's not an offhanded, vague hate like: I hate the word "moist". No no... I passionately hate to cook and have been actively breeding that hatred for the past 30 years. The fact that Gousto has had me cooking dinner for myself the last three days is worth the five stars alone.
To truly understand this five star, you need to know WHY I hate to cook:
1. I live alone and find cooking to be a waste of time when it's only for little ol' me.
2. I hate the willy nilly aspect of cooking - all that "add to taste" business confuses me.
Alternatively, I LOVE to bake because it's precise: do exactly as it says, with the exact same measurements and it will work. Pure logic. Cooking? Not so much. Don't even get me started on substitutions...
3. On that same thread: I never have the right things in my house. Again, baking wins as it's usually a combination of the same 10 or so ingredients, give or take some special items that I might have to run to the store for. Cooking? Go buy a bottle of weird oil and a giant pack of spices, that you will use ONCE for a recipe you will ultimately f**k up and never try again, thus leaving you with a collection of used spices that have been gathering dust for an embarrassingly long amount of time...
I REALLY hate cooking.
But every so often, I convince myself that as an adult, I should know how to cook SOMETHING that requires more steps than "heat" and so last week, I rustled around the house, pulled out a voucher for Gousto and ordered my first box. There's a newbie discount, so three meals (or six for this solo gal), worked out to be £14... which seemed like a decent amount to waste on a gamble for my adulthood.
The box arrived on Monday with everything packaged and labelled. I nod to them for their use of environmentally friendly wool packaging. Over the years, I've tried many different food delivery services because of my busy schedule and it's an often overlooked detail. On Monday night, I braved myself for the worst and took out the first recipe...
And i'm hooked.
It was probably a good thing I started with a no brainer Thanksgiving burger recipe, because the curry I made tonight wasn't QUITE as good, but either way, i'm a fan. Gousto successfully broke down my three big reasons not to cook at home:
1. It takes about 30 minutes to make a meal... which isn't a big time commitment, even for Little Miss Chaos here. However, because the meals are for two people, when living solo, that 30 minutes covers two days - day two is a quick reheat of left overs.
2. They send all the ingredients, INCLUDING the weird spices, pre measured! *JAZZ HANDS* It takes away that key reason I hate cooking and likens it to baking. The only thing I needed on hand was oil, salt and pepper - even I have that in the house.
3. Unlike a few other services i've tried, you can pick your recipes beforehand - so if you're watching calories/etc, you know exactly what you're putting in your system every night. This would be helpful for a picky eater too. I eat everything, so i've used it as a chance to get more veggies in my system/try the most unusual sounding options.
I thought i'd be doing that first box and then kicking them to the curb, but i've already ordered box two. The second box came out in the £34 range which is a little pricey, but again: that's six meals and no processed crap. Plus, it's getting me into the kitchen and i'm actually learning things without wanting to throw utensils.
It's worth a try. If you know someone who is using it already you can snag a hefty £25 off the first box(hint hint Yelp friends!) but even if you don't have a friend that is using the service, the introductory offers are pretty good bang for the buck.
A heads up that they do set you up with an automatic subscription when you order your first box, so make sure you adjust that right away or else you may get a surprise second box you might not want...
Lookit me adulting! I need to go tell my mom... read more