I'm on a mission (sometimes): to eat healthy with less effort
I lieu of actually having to grocery shop, prep, and cook, I occasionally like to have a plan b. This is when convenient, fast, fresh, non-processed, healthy food comes into play.
I got a Groupon for Diet Gourmet. I figured, why not get some healthy meals for cheap right?
The Low Down:
Each week they have a set menu of options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the whole week. You can choose to order the whole menu and have everything readily available for a full week OR you can pick and choose different items from the weekly menu in an a la carte sort of fashion.
There are 2 options, an 1100 calorie daily intake option and a 1700 calorie daily intake option. I'm guessing if you needed more calories you could add more snacks or meals on the side.
The daily average cost for a full day of breakfast, lunch, and dinner is around $20-$22 depending on which calorie option you choose.
You can have your meals delivered to your door or you can pick them up.
The Good:
Overall taste was good, not stellar, but good. I liked the lunches better than the dinners. Had some good white chicken chili, a tasty green chile chicken burrito, and some dinners including pork tenderloin and turkey cutlets. The dinner sides were inventive like purple cabbage slaw and a tasty potato white cheddar au gratin. Everything tasted fresh and needed just a quick pop in the microwave. I didn't get any breakfasts so I can't comment on those. There was however a seemingly wide variety of options for the full week.
The Questionable:
If you look at the price of actual delivery to your door it's like $35 - $85 depending on where you live. I find that a little pricey. Then there is added costs for a cooler ($18) to which your food comes in. It makes sense though..if you keep the cooler, they will bill you $18.
If you pick up from a location, it still costs you $$ to pick up. Luckily, the Groupon stated that the "pick-up" fee would be waived, so this was a bonus for me.
Navigating through the website took a bit of digging around. You have to actually create an account and put in credit card information to actually see what is on the menu for the week. Not all items had nutritional information displayed with it.
I went with the 1100 calorie meal options. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten the 1700 calorie meals. I was still hungry after some meals. Hey, I've got a pretty good appetite!
The Verdict:
I can see how this would be great for someone that really has no time at all to cook and needs a diet plan with fresh, convenient food. I would go back and order more if there wasn't any additional pick up or delivery fees. I also didn't like the fact that there was no physical location you could visit to see some already prepared meals. I prefer the concept where you can choose and purchase on a whim. Everything is pre-order and selected off a menu with no pictures.
So I give this place an A-OK.
This is all based on the fact that I "sometimes" like to eat healthy and that I wasn't necessarily looking for a planned out, convenient diet plan. I just wanted an excuse not to have to cook a few nights of the week. What may not have worked perfectly for me, may work very well for others! read more