I asked this question a few years ago and didn’t get many answers, so I’m trying again. Mods, feel free to move this elsewhere if appropriate.
I’ve focused on eating healthier over the past few years, and I prepare my own meals, eating out only on rare occasions. Sometimes I’m in a time crunch, can’t follow my plan, and don’t have leftovers. I’m wondering if there is a company that sells and delivers frozen meals considered healthy? Most of the meals I’ve seen are loaded with carbs and aren’t all that healthy.
I’m looking for a plant-forward, protein-adequate, and low-to-moderate-carb meal service. Although I like Mediterranean food, it doesn’t have to be that. I like seafood, so that would be a plus. I don’t want to sign up for a weekly subscription service. I want to be able to buy a few meals now and then and stock them in my freezer until I need them.
Has anyone encountered a service that meets these requirements and is cost-effective? I’m living on social security at the moment.
There are bound to be a few plant forward protein based meals from your local grocers freezer.
Amy’s
Saffron Road
Gardein’s
Are a few that I’m familiar with and tasty enough.
It’s “healthy” enough for some definition of healthy, and it’s FSA/HSA eligible. It’s protein-rich and quite satiating (actually, probably the most satiating food we eat) but it also has a bunch of carbs and salt. In theory each meal (whether it’s a ready-to-eat cup or the shakes) is 20% of all the macro and micronutrients you’d need in a 2000-calorie diet. They don’t taste half-bad either.
Example nutrition for our favorite flavor:
But it’s not the same as “real” food, obviously, and it’s ultra-processed.
I’ve seen Amy’s meals at my local store, but they look carb-heavy to me. I’ve seen Saffron Road meals in a few stores, but they have rice, which raises their carb count, and Gardein’s is also heavy on carbs. I’m looking for more veggie and protein, and less carbs than those. They may not exist.
Are you trying to avoid carbs altogether, or just reach a sufficient protein to carb ratio?
For example, an Amy’s meal might have 11g protein to 69g of carbs (24g of which is sugar), while Huel has 22g protein to 64g of carbs (5g sugar), so twice as protein-dense per calorie (oops, per serving).
Thanks for the recommendation, but I see lots of calories, lots of carbs, and not much real food. I don’t think what I want exists. Plant-forward, low-to-moderate carb (less than 30g), whole-food with adequate protein ( at least 30g). Something I could make at home if I had the time and the ingredients handy.
Well, you have a few (seemingly) opposing or at least divergent goals here: plant-forward, low-carb, high-protein, low-calorie, whole-food. You’re basically left with plain legumes (or seafood)… can you cook a big batch of beans or fish and freeze them for later microwaving?
Most commercial frozen meals are made for convenience and taste, and I haven’t found any mass-market ones that fit your criteria specifically. People usually want carbs with their meals. Plenty of shakes could fall into that category, but you probably wouldn’t consider them whole foods.
@dolphinboy Where are you located - are you spending the winter in Tulsa again? (hopefully I’m remembering the right poster) If so, you might want to check out Prep’d. I haven’t been to their Tulsa location, but they have a pretty wide variety of meals available and at their OKC locations they have pre-made meals you can walk in and buy. Or you can order meals for pickup or delivery, and you can change the sides of some meals and they have the option to custom build your own.
They aren’t the cheapest but just about everything I’ve had from there was pretty tasty and good quality.
The vegan burrito looks delicious, but it has way too many carbs. The Daring chicken looks interesting, but the package says it’s 8 oz and contains 3 servings. How can a serving of anything be only 2.6 ounces? I must be missing something.
You remembered correctly, I am currently in Tulsa. I just checked, and unfortunately, Prep’d is permanently closed in Tulsa, and driving to OKC doesn’t make sense for me.
But 8oz (the whole packet) is quite a lot of a meat-like substance, like this steak:
I normally eat about half a packet (1.5 servings) per meal. My girlfriend eats about a quarter-packet (0.75 servings).
But if you’re looking for whole foods, Daring ain’t it either… it’s another hyperprocessed food-like substance.
Again, sorry, those recommendations were from before you clarified what you wanted. I think it’s generally difficult to get plant-forward protein sources and especially plant-forward meals that are low-carb. Plants are generally not rich in protein to begin with, so you have to process them down or eat their seeds (pulses). Edamame is minimally processed soybeans that has more protein than carbs, for example, and tofu is a slightly more processed version of that. You can often find ready-to-eat flavored and baked tofu thingies at any grocery store, and especially Asian ones. (But under the NOVA classification system, tofu may be considered processed or ultraprocessed depending on the additives).
If you want protein-rich and natural, well, that’s why traditionally we’ve eaten animals. They eat plant carbs and turn them into protein for you to eat.
It might be worth calling a large Cross Fit gym in your area and ask if there are any local meal companies they would recommend. That’s how Prepp’d got started - they began delivering meals to local gyms for members to buy and then started taking custom orders, etc.
I guess what I’m looking for doesn’t exist. I was thinking of a casserole with lean meat, poultry, or fish for protein, and lots of healthy veggies and legumes, with little or no rice, pasta, or potatoes, but with cheese. That sounds almost Keto to me. I need to look closely at what is out there for Keto meals, as was suggested up thread.
Here’s something exactly what I was looking for, and it’s available at Walmart for $5.87. It has 270 calories, 34g of protein, 10g of fat, 10g of carbohydrate, including 2g of fiber, and 0g of added sugar. Most importantly, the ingredient list doesn’t contain anything I don’t have in my kitchen.
Instead of looking for a food delivery service, I can review the other Keto meals Kevin’s Natural Foods offers and identify similar products in stores. I just checked, and Costco doesn’t carry Keto meals according to their website, which surprises me.
Yes, it should be easy to find keto meals, just not keto, plant-forward (or especially plant-based) meals. Keto is typically meat-forward, with plants used more or less “decoratively” (they don’t add a lot of macronutrients to the meal, but contribute fiber and vitamins essentially).
Costco may or may not have keto frozen foods, but if they did, it probably wouldn’t be on their website… their website only shows a tiny portion of what they have in the store, usually whatever is shippable and stable. Frozen foods at the store vary between stores and aren’t shipped, so you’d have to go in person to look.
I don’t think you should assume manufacturers are creating resistant starch. I was under the impression that you have to refrigerate immediately and then overnight after cooking for the starch to become retrograde. We have no idea how long the cooked food is kept at room temperature before it is flash-frozen and packaged. If I’ve got that wrong, someone please straighten me out. At best, it would only make ~30% of the carbs resistant.
I have no idea how I never heard of this, AND it’s all vegan! This is exactly what I was hoping to find in a thread like this. Sign me up, is there a lower cost option to try their products?
