*(I went back and forth about whether to post here or in In My Humble Opinion, because I’m asking for opinions but about a meal delivery service [i.e., food]. If a mod decides that I chose poorly, no worries!)
*
Has anyone tried Freshly, the food service that provides everything pre-cooked (in a refrigerated box) and all you have to do is microwave each meal? I’ve seen threads about Blue Apron and the like, but a search turned up nothing about Freshly yet.
I live alone, have zero interest in cooking, and eat pretty poorly: lots of frozen food, and way too much fast food and (lately) restaurant delivery. I’m not interested in going full Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem, but I’ve been thinking that some kind of meal service would probably be good/healthier. None of the other services appeals to me, though, because they all involve some degree of cooking (many also require you to provide your own fresh “household” ingredients, which are never in my house). Freshly seems to be the only one where all you do is pop a tray in the microwave.
The smallest plan is 4 meals/wk for $50, which feels a little high but not crazy. I’m mostly interested in trying them for dinner, but if I like the food I could see expanding it to lunch, too. At 6 meals/wk the cost per meal goes down, and the weekly cost goes to $60 – $10 is less than my average delivery order, so that seems more reasonable.
Anyway, before I pull the trigger I thought I’d check here and see if anyone has tried this particular service.
Yes, have tried Freshly. My spouse has moved through a number of different services, both pre-cooked and cook-at-home, and is currently on Bistro MD, which is very similar to Freshly but marketed as healthier low-calorie.
From my perspective, Freshly is tastier than Bistro MD, both of them are lower in calories than what you might be used to getting restaurant delivery food. It’s more similar to standard frozen meals portions, just not frozen, so keep that in mind.
I like that they offer a plan with 4 meals a week. That way you can try it out, and more gradually integrate it into your lifestyle. With the Bistro MD plan, sorta like Weight Watchers, it tries to cover 3 meals a day all week, which is frankly a slog. Personally, I need more variety in my life.
My biggest complaint about these delivery services is the packaging that gets thrown away (box, dry ice/freezer packs, whatever insulation they use). And, with any kind of delivery, worries about porch pirates stealing the boxes!
I’ve been tossing around the idea of a meal delivery service. I’m single, overweight, work, and while I like to cook, I don’t get home during the week til 6:30-7pm. By that time I’m famished and would eat my arm. Fifteen minutes ago I signed up for Bistromd’s lunch and dinner plan. Lower cal, plus I just shove it in the microwave. I did the 5 day plan so I can cook my own meals on the weekend.
Exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for, Icarus! And thanks for letting me know about BistroMD; I hadn’t heard of that. I’m 95% sure I’m going to take the plunge with Freshly. “Better tasting” is more important to me than “healthier,” plus just about anything will be healthier than what I’m doing now. Heh. Thanks also for the heads up on the portion sizes…we’ll see about that.
I’ll be curious about your BistroMD experience, peedin!
Have you heard of Tovala? It’s a meal delivery service that also has a fancy countertop steam oven. The oven scans the code on the meal and then automatically runs a program to cook it perfectly. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. You can use the oven standalone as a normal counter oven as well.
Thanks for the info! I’d never heard of Tovala. Having to buy an expensive countertop appliance — that I’ll never use for anything else, since I don’t cook — when I have a perfectly good microwave isn’t for me, though.
Thanks, but I’m looking for firsthand experience with this service.
Interesting! The menus seem a bit too healthy for my taste — I’m a “meat and potatoes” type — but if I wind up not liking Freshly, I may just give Fresh n’ Lean a try. Thanks!
Take a look at your local grocery store too - lots of them now have fresh meals they prepare on site that you can take home and pop in the oven or microwave. I believe you have Wegman’s (aka the Disneyland of grocery stores) in your area. If there’s one nearby take a look there. You could buy enough for several days and just nuke one when you get home. It’d be a lot cheaper than delivery and less packaging/waste too.
My wife and I have used Freshly. Initially it was great but after a few months we got tired of it. There wasn’t enough variety. We also had issues with deliveries being late, which meant we had to throw them out when it finally arrived. Freshly was good with giving us credits for those weeks but as the issues became more common the whole point of the service was lost. There was a 6 week period where 3 deliveries were late.
Thanks, Cell Guy! I’m mildly concerned about the variety thing, but if I find something I like I can eat the same thing for a while so I’m hoping that won’t be a big issue. Late deliveries, though, would be a bigger concern. What did you think of the food itself, and the portion sizes?
The portion sizes were decent. My problem is that I tend to eat quickly (thanks for that life lesson, Drill Sergeant!) so if I didn’t give my stomach a chance to tell my brain it’s full I would end up looking for something else to eat. As long as I ate like a civilized person the meals would fill me up.
My only complaint about the food was the chicken. Sometimes it would be rubbery after heating, other times it was fine. I was never able to figure out if it was that particular meal or if it was a bad week in their kitchen. I never got any fish dishes but based on my wife’s reaction I would stay away from it.
The absolute best thing about Freshly was the ice gel packs that they use in their packaging. We camp a lot and they work great in a cooler. The ice packs take forever to thaw and we never had to worry about them if we were out for a weekend.
I poked around the Freshly website but didn’t want to register. What I could not find out is what sort of commitment must you make when joining? What is the minimum number of weeks you must sign up for? Is there a short trial option?
Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread: I’ve worked every day for the past week, including many late nights. Not unusual in my line of work (proposal management), but when I’m on a deadline it leaves little time for anything else.
Thanks for all of the feedback, Cell Guy! Due to the aforementioned busy-ness I haven’t actually signed up yet, but I still intend to. Good note about the chicken, as I’ll likely order chicken dishes often. I’m not a seafood person, so no worries about avoiding the fish!
I didn’t see a trial option, or wording about any kind of commitment. My understanding is that you sign up, then cancel when you want to.
I wanted to do *one *more round of internet research before pulling the trigger on Freshly, and haven’t had the time to do so until this morning. Now I have a question for Icarus and Cell Guy, if they’re still following this thread:
One of the negative reviews I saw stated that the meals are only good for 2-3 days after delivery. This seems…ridiculous. If I get 4 meals a week that I intend to use for dinner, I only really get 2-3 dinners and must use 1-2 of the meals for lunch before they go bad? And then I have 4-5 days with no meals before the next delivery? :dubious: Freshly’s response was simply “sorry, our stuff is fresh so it doesn’t last long, but you can always freeze it and just add some time to the microwaving.”
What were your experiences with how soon you had to use the meals?
We were on the 6 meal plan-3 for my wife and 3 for me. Ours were delivered on Saturday and often times we wouldn’t eat the last one until Thursday. If we thought we wouldn’t be able to eat them within 4-5 days we would freeze it. When it’s frozen you only need one additional minute in the microwave.
We have a newer refrigerator that is magic, fresh stuff seems to keep forever so it was never a worry with us (Gauc staying green after 2 days??? MAGIC!). But generally, we would eat it all within less than a week.
And thanks for letting me know about BistroMD; I hadn’t heard of that. I’m 95% sure I’m going to take the plunge with Freshly. “Better tasting” is more important to me than “healthier,” plus just about anything will be healthier than what I’m doing now. Heh. Thanks also for the heads up on the portion sizes…we’ll see about that.