What do you do when time is short, but you still want to eat well? It can be tempting to reach for the take away menu when in a rush, but you soon start to feel quite unhealthy, as well as racking up a large bill!
With a new baby in the house, I’ve been looking for a solution to this and over the past couple of weeks we’ve been trying out some meals from Everdine. Everdine are a clean eating delivery service, which you can subscribe to online, and they’ll bring a selection of frozen healthy meals which you just warm up at home.
First, you pick the specific meals that you want from their selection – including a good choice of vegetarian and meat based meals – and choose when you want your delivery, and how frequently you would like food to be delivered, and then just wait for the meals to arrive.
The meals arrive via courier service (ours was DPD) in an ice packed box so they’re ready to be transferred straight to your freezer, and can be cooked from Frozen. Each one has the instructions clearly on the front, along with the time it will take to cook.
Some of the meals are microwave and some are to be cooked in the oven, so you can check that when ordering if you have a preference for one type only. We got a mix of both types.
Each meal is one portion, and comes in the boxes shown above. We have used these for mine and my husband’s meals in the evening once the kids are in bed, if we’ve cooked something else for them and then by the time the bigger kids are sleeping and we’ve bathed the baby and are getting her settled I don’t always fancy cooking again, especially as it can get late by that time and to be honest I would rather settle down in front of the TV by then while feeding the baby – so being able to eat these meals on nights like that is really convenient.
The Everdine site has plenty of appealing options which suit my tastes and my husband’s. I tend to go more for the vegetarian dishes while he would prefer meat or spicier options, so it’s nice to have the single portion meals when we feel like having different things.
The meals we went for included:
- Coconut Katsu Chicken
- Pulled Beef Ragu Spaghetti
- Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
- Lentil & Quinoa Moussaka
- Rainbow Vegetable Pad Thai
and more! Have a look at the full range on their site to see what you fancy.
As the tagline suggests, Everdine’s focus is on clean eating so the meal boxes include plenty of vegetables and don’t feel too heavy. The meals are frozen straight after cooking, and have been freshly cooked by Michelin trained chefs.
The portion size felt right for us, and we were happy with the taste. I wasn’t sure how fresh it would taste being a frozen microwavable meal, but the flavours and quality of the meals were pretty good and we enjoyed all of the meals that we had selected. I really like that they do feel more healthy and nourishing than eating the usual quick convenience foods, especially as I’m breastfeeding my newborn I don’t want to have to rely on junkish options and I need to keep up my energy.
You can choose between either 8 or 12 meal plans, and go for classic or vegetarian. The delivery is free, and the plans start at 64.00 for 8 veggie meals going up to 96.00 or 12 classic meals. Each meal works out at between 7.50-8.50 per meal, depending on the plan that you have.
This is more expensive than ready meals from the supermarket, but cheaper than take aways and you get the convenience of having it delivered at regular intervals, and being able to cook quickly from frozen so you always have something to turn to if you find yourself in a rush.
I would recommend it for people with busy lifestyles, or for particular times when you need extra convenience but don’t want to sacrifice having good quality food – like when you have a new baby. You can pause the subscription and reactivate it easily on the website, so you don’t need to tie yourself in and can just arrange deliveries as and when needed which is pretty handy.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.