Since I’ve been using the Terra’s Kitchen meal kit delivery service for a couple of months, it seems like time to review them. I’m not an affiliate; I don’t work with this company in any way, but I do like writing reviews for services that I appreciate and think others may as well.
Why I started ordering meal kits
Several years ago I reviewed Hello Fresh, another well-known meal kit delivery service, and I actually really liked it but decided the expense didn’t make sense for our family at the time.
Then a year or two ago (I don’t remember exactly when), my job was getting really, really busy, and I decided to try meal kit delivery again. I was willing to pay the money if it meant more time with my family and better food. We were eating a lot of pizza at that point.
I’d already used my free box from Hello Fresh, so I decided to try Marley Spoon, Martha Stewart’s company. I used that service for at least a year, and the food was really, really good. When I had issues with the way the meat was arriving, customer service actually listened to me. They ended up changing the way they delivered meats in their kits. But eventually, it was taking too much time. I was still spending an hour in the kitchen not including the multiple pots and pans that needed washing. I’m slow at chopping things.
I was exhausted. I stopped that service for a few months, and instead I tried making more slower cooker meals and easy things like pasta. But I still found that we were turning to delivery and takeout more than was good for us. All that sodium! And the cost. Yes, a meal kit service (especially Terra’s Kitchen) is pricey, but around the DC-Baltimore area, take out and delivery restaurants are expensive too. It’s normal for us to spend $10-15 a serving on food around here, not counting taxes, tips and/or delivery fees.
Why I chose Terra’s Kitchen meal kit delivery service
A local friend of mine was using Terra’s Kitchen before she moved to her new duty station on the other coast. She had a newborn, an elementary age child, and she was active duty military with her husband overseas. Terra’s Kitchen was letting her get home cooked meals on the table for herself and her kids, so I knew it might work for us too.
For me, the selling point of Terra’s Kitchen is that the veggies already come washed, peeled and chopped, and the meals themselves are simple and can be prepared in 15 or 20 minutes. I realize I may sound lazy to some of you all (she cant even chop her own vegetables- what!?), but until you walk in my shoes, you shouldn’t judge.
How it works
Terra’s Kitchen delivers the food in a reusable insulated box (super fancy!) the company calls a vessel. Ice packs are inside. Even during the heat wave this summer, I never had any issues with the food staying cold. The vessel gets left on my steps, and then as soon as I get home, I take the vessel inside, unpack it, and put the food in my fridge.
After the vessel has been unpacked, I pull my shipping label off the top and the return label is already underneath. Then I put the vessel back on the curb the next business day, and the shipping company comes back and picks it up.
I use either the website or the phone app to select my meals. You can select dinner, lunch, breakfast, dessert and beverages. A little tracker on the site tells you how much room is in your vessel, so you can keep adding more food if you want. The price changes depending on what you select. Some meals are as cheap as $9.99 a serving; some are as much as $16.99 a serving. Some meals are for 2 people; some are for 4. You can search by the number of servings, or by an allergen (corn-free, dairy-free, etc.) or by eating style (paleo, gluten-free, weight loss, etc.). So there are really a lot of options for people.
If you’re in a hurry, they also have bundles that you can select. One bundle I saw recently includes salads, entrees, cold brew coffee, juice and fruit. I also noticed a keto bundle and a cleanse bundle. Both were around $100.
Orders $100 or more qualify for free delivery. If you order less than that, you will have to pay $6.99 for shipping.
It’s a subscription service, but it’s really easy to use the website or the app to skip a delivery.
I had one meal from Terra’s Kitchen that I didn’t think tasted very good, but every other meal has been delicious and easy to make. Every meal comes with a recipe card with a number on it. The food has been separated into little containers that have the corresponding number on top, so it’s easy to figure out which ingredient goes with which meal.
One of my favorite things about Terra’s Kitchen (or really any meal kit delivery service) is that you can adjust how much sodium or spices you want to add to the meal. That’s another thing that I like about meal kits more so than delivery or takeout from restaurants.
That one thing…
The only thing I don’t like about Terra’s Kitchen is the number of plastic containers they send. According to their website, the FDA requires cut ingredients to be sealed in individually packaged containers. The company is actively trying to reduce the number of containers. Again, according to their site, they’ve recently started shipping lemons and limes without containers. We try to up-cycle and reuse the containers, but if we don’t, then we recycle them.
Other than that, I love Terra’s Kitchen and don’t plan to stop using the service any time soon! If you visit their website, new customers currently get $35 off their first delivery if they sign up for the Terra’s Kitchen email list.
