We live in a world of innovation. As a society, we are constantly looking for ways to simplify tasks and save time. This holds true to food preparation and has become apparent with the rise of meal prep delivery options.
About a decade ago, a phenomenon started occurring in American grocery stores. Someone had the genius idea of selling meal kits that contained all of the ingredients you would need to feed a family of 2 or 4 instead of needing to purchase and measure all of the ingredients separately. Additionally, some retailers had the idea of pre-slicing or cooking the ingredients to help save preparation time along with including recipe cards of instructions. This meal option was met with overwhelming success, and it was only a matter of time before someone turned this small, grocery shopping idea into its own business.
If by chance, the majority of the components are included and pre-measured, what else could these retailers do to make the meal prep process easier? Get the meals sent to your home.
Meal Kit Delivery: A New Culinary Industry
From New York City to the deep Southern states, many meal kit companies have emerged that all claim they’re the best. Whether it’s Martha Stewart or Amazon Fresh, they all can’t be the best. An industry has been created, threatening grocery stores and the traditional way of preparing dinner as we know it. There are now more than 100 meal delivery plans available in some form or another, from those who specialize in microwavable meals and juice cleanses to those who sell healthy crockpot meals.
A meal kit delivery subscription is a complicated purchase. The traditional services mail you three nights’ worth of portioned, fresh ingredients and the corresponding recipes to prepare them. Is there a perfect meal kit delivery service?
According to experts, the industry is predicted of being a multi-billion-dollar market by 2022, and about 19% of adults claim that they have tried a meal kit service at least once. Which is the best? There are many factors that go into determining that.
How What a Crock Compares
When trying to decide which meal kit delivery service option is best, there are a few factors to weigh. What are the cheapest options? Which choices will provide you with the best home-cooked meals? We’ve highlighted five of the most popular meal kit delivery services in the country to see how What a Crock compares:
1. Plated
According to Money, Plated is the “best meal kit service on the market.” Plated offers creative recipes that you probably wouldn’t usually prepare on your own. These recipe options require a bit of skill in the kitchen and don’t always come with all of the ingredients you need to make the dish, such as oil or eggs.
How What a Crock Compares:
What a Crock has less prep time but doesn’t necessarily have dishes that are as “creative” or “adventurous” as the ones through Plated. The aspects that What a Crock does have instead is a larger variety of meals, a lower minimum order requirement, and the option to ship to the entire country.
2. Blue Apron
When it comes to meal kits that are prepared with recipes, Blue Apron is one of the best. It is not necessary of being a culinary whiz to take on a seared steak or saffron pasta dish. However, Blue Apron’s recipe database is quite limited. Each week you are only given about 8-12 options to choose from and the prep/cooking time tends to be longer than other services; about 40-70 minutes on average. Blue Apron sets themselves apart from the rest with a wine delivery program which finds the best wines to pair with your meal plans, delivered right with your food.
How What a Crock Compares: What a Crock’s menu is much more in-depth. Meal prep time virtually disappears. What a Crock’s $40 minimum order requirement is also much lower than Blue Apron’s $60 requirement.
3. HelloFresh
HelloFresh has a similar model to Blue Apron but with quicker prep times; usually 20-30 minutes. HelloFresh breaks down their categories into “fit” meals, “quick” meals, and “variety.” The meals are also a bit simpler and less adventurous than the others we’ve highlighted. Depending on the culinary journey, it could either be good or bad based on what the consumer wants to experience.
How What a Crock Compares: HelloFresh was the most comparable to What a Crock in terms of variety, healthy options, low prep time, and low price.
4. Sun Basket
Sun Basket prides itself on offering health-conscious recipes that can accommodate almost any diet. Sun Basket’s main talking points are about its use of organic produce to have a fully organic meal with clean ingredients. You are also able to swap out ingredients for premium ones. For example, you can swap out a recipe that uses salmon with a better ingredient like halibut.
How What a Crock Compares: Sun Basket is incredibly environmentally conscious which makes it tough to beat in terms of sustainability. However, Sun Basket fails where their ingredients are usually pre-cut and pre-chopped, making it so the consumer has to use the ingredients very quickly before they go bad. With, What a Crock, your crock pot creations are saved in the freezer until you use them. What a Crock has a more expansive product offering, and the portions are cheaper.
5. Home Chef
Home Chef is similar to Blue Apron in the way that they offer a different set of available options each week. However, due to that, the offerings are limited (8-12 options). All options include easy-to-follow recipes. You can also choose a family plan based on how many servings you’ll require.
How What a Crock Compares: Home Chef offers fruit and smoothie options where What a Crock only has options that can be prepared in a crock pot. Home Chef also beats What a Crock’s shipping charges by a slim margin. However, What a Crock’s menu is more robust with lower prices per serving, on average.
Why What a Crock Meals are the best options
We believe that there are quite a few reasons why What a Crock meals are the best meal kit delivery service:
Healthier
Everyone loves processed foods. A lot of us were raised on processed foods due to how cheap they are, how long their shelf life is, and how easy they are to keep around when you live a busy life and need a quick bite. One of the downsides to processed foods, though, is that they tend to be much less healthy than meals equipped with fresh ingredients. These processed foods are usually found with harmful ingredients such as preservatives, other artificial ingredients, high-fructose corn syrup, and sugar. These ingredients are one of the main causes of obesity in the United States and also contribute to other health-related issues. Our crockpot creations are all healthy meals. It’s also important to note that slow cookers use water and time to cook food, as opposed to added oils and fats found in other traditional, ready-made meals. What a Crock’s healthy crock pot meals cater to dietary restrictions such as vegetarian options and gluten-free ones as well.
More variety and creativity
The best meal kits seem to offer many options but not a lot of variety. With What a Crock Meals To Go, you have the option to choose from more than just dinner options. On top of dinners, we offer dips, soups, sides, and multiple dessert options to always have something new for your weekly recipes. We also offer bundles where we select a group of items that pair well together. For example, our Trip to Italy bundle features some Italian favorites such as Grandma’s Homemade Meatballs, Sausage Scallopini, Chicken Marsala, Tomato Basil Bisque, and more. We also have a No Gluten for Me bundle which brings some of our favorite, gluten-free crock pot meals together.
When you’re busy or crunched for time
Goodbye, unhealthy fast food and takeout. Hello, healthy crock pot meals delivered. No matter how busy your schedule may possibly be, prepared crock pot meals are the best solution for saving you time and money while also giving you optimal convenience when meal prepping. Your slow cooker is best for healthy, simple, and wholesome prepared meals that you and your family can enjoy at the end of any long day. Slow cooked crock pot creations are perfect for days that you’d rather spend by the pool or relaxing on a hammock instead of running around the kitchen. There are tons of summer-ready crockpot options available that would make any outdoor dinner or barbeques complete such as philly cheesesteak dip, old bay crab chowder, slow cooker steak sandwiches, and more.
Freezable
Unlike the meals found in other dinner delivery services, What a Crock’s meals can all be frozen after they are prepared. This means that you can make a meal and freeze whatever you don’t use for a later time! This not only reduces food waste but also saves your budget. And what better way to save cooking time than by saving it twice?
Easy to make
What if we told you that it is possible to make an entire meal for your family in one single step without doing any prep work? It’s true! Most competitors require about 40-70 minutes of prep time. Cooking is so easy with a crock pot. Open up one of your What a Crock meals, pour it into the crock pot, cook, and serve. That’s it. You are able to set up your slow cooker in the morning before heading out and when you come home dinner is done and ready to serve. Also, most slow cooker recipes are so simple and require no culinary skills.
Clean up is a breeze
With other meal kit delivery services such as HelloFresh and Blue Apron, you’re given the task of preparing the meal yourself. This means cutting up all of the veggies, using multiple pots and pans to cook the dishes, and making a mess of your kitchen. With our prepared crock pot meals, there is no prep work associated with the meal that will make a mess of your kitchen. The only aspect that is in need of cleaning is your crock pot. You’re able to spend that time you would have wasted by preparing the meal on other parts of life such as hanging out with friends and family.
Food tastes better
Slowly cooking meat in a crockpot can effectively soften even the toughest of meats. In addition, you are able to purchase cuts of meat that are less expensive and would be tougher to chew if they were prepared on the stove or in the oven. There is a lower chance of your food being scorched or burnt due to the low temperatures that a crockpot uses to cook.
What a Crock: The Meal Delivery Service You Need
What a Crock began with a simple idea: produce healthy crockpot meals that help families save time and money. We have retail locations in Brookhaven, Garnet Valley, Ridley, Chestnut Hill and Quakertown. Make planning dinner easy without bundles. Choose from seafood, pork, chicken, sandwiches, soups, vegetables and more! Call us today at (484) 474-0451 or visit our website to place an order. Don’t forget we have gift cards!