Your Guide to Meal Kits
Cooking in college is hard. Grocery shopping, finding recipes, buying the right portions… especially if you’re cooking for one? Sometimes we just don’t have the time, energy, or money. Meal kits like HelloFresh and Green Chef have been all the rage lately, and our team has been loving them.
Subscribing to a meal service can solve a lot of problems for the typical college student. If you’re a picky eater looking to branch out, there’s a huge variety of recipes to choose from that range in comfort levels. If you’re trying to eat healthy but aren’t quite sure how to start or how to budget groceries, this is a great way to learn and put good food in your body. If you’re just wanting to learn to cook but don’t want to put in all of the effort, this is the ideal setup for you. There’s really nothing not to love with these services.
Typically you’ll pick three or more recipes, depending on your plan, at the start of each week that are two servings each. Many companies offer diverse meal plans that cover vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, etc. eating styles.
If you aren’t already sold, we’ll give you some more reasons to sign-up. Recipes tell you the time commitment upfront, so you know what you’re getting into before you’re in too deep. Our favorite trick for finding the time to cook is breaking up studying with meal prep. It’s the perfect mental break because it doesn’t pull your thinking too far from your work. Way better than getting sucked into TikTok or your current Netflix binge-watch. Also, most vegetables and seasonings come pre-chopped and pre-portioned so cleanup is light and easy! Our favorite part? The fact that each meal comes with at least two servings, so you can keep the leftovers or split the cost and cooking with a friend or roommate.
We’re gonna give you a rundown of four of our favorite programs to get you started:
Green Chef
Green Chef is super eco-friendly and guarantees that at least 90% of its ingredients are organic, so you know you’re getting good stuff. The recipes come color-coded based on the meal plan and promise to take roughly 30 minutes to cook - so easy to fit into your evening! Green Chef costs $79 a week for three meals for two people.
Daily Harvest
If you’re really trying to eat clean and healthy but have no time, Daily Harvest is perfect for you! Each recipe comes ready to eat, down to the pre-packaged bowls, so there is literally no cleanup. Meal options include flatbreads, breakfast bowls, harvest bowls, ice cream, and more. Daily Harvest prices range from $6 to $8 a cup or meal, which is a great deal considering how pricey smoothies are if you eat out.
HelloFresh
Hello Fresh is arguably one of the most popular options among college students. The recipe choices are amazing and range in difficulty for our budding chefs. Hello Fresh also has a variety of meal plans depending on dietary preference, and even offers Fit meals, which are super nutrition-packed. All meals can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Hello Fresh costs $60 a week for three meals for two people. We love a good bargain.
SunBasket
SunBasket is notorious for its fresh ingredients. All produce is organic and all meat is antibiotic-free. We love SunBasket because you don’t have to commit to one meal plan. Weekly recipe choices include paleo, vegan, vegetarian, etc. options so it’s easy to cater to your exact preferences. Weekly recipe options always include pre-prepped and pre-cooked recipe choices, so if you know you have a busy week coming up you can choose recipes that require minimal effort. Also, the packaging is completely recyclable or compostable. SunBasket costs $72 a week for three meals for two people.
We want to note that the price of these services can be a little daunting, but if you break it down for what it is it’s a little easier to process. The weekly cost includes six meals with excellent ingredients, so it evens out if you consider what you’d spend on groceries or going out to eat to get the same quality of food. You can also always split the cost with a friend, so you’d get three amazing meals for the price of an appetizer, entree, and drink on one night out. This would also be a great birthday or holiday gift to ask from family.
We love these services and think every college student should try them. Our staff members who have used meal subscription services say they feel more energized, more confident in their cooking skills, and have learned how to grocery shop and meal-prep outside of the services. Go get cooking!