Make Dinner Less Stressful: A Working Mama Resolution | Meal Delivery Service with Gobble
First, this is an abnormal post. I am soooo not a food Blogger BUT I am all about learning new tips and tricks to simplify my life and make it less stressful. This month marks one year since I went back to work after being a SAHM for a year and a half after Gentry was born. Since going back to work, I have had the hardest time getting a good rhythm going regarding my schedule and meals.
My Monday – Friday schedule:
5:00a-5:45a: Wake up
5:45a-6:30a: Dress, fix Gentry’s lunch, wake Gentry up if he isn’t already and get him ready for the day
6:30a-6:45a: Load up the car and get going out of the house… This is of course if my toddler cooperates. 🙂
7:00a-7:15a: Drop Gentry off at his school
8:00a-8:30a: Arrive at work all dependent on how bad the traffic is and how my toddler cooperated at drop off
4:30p-5:00p: Leave work and head to pick up Gentry
5:15-5:30p: Arrive at Gentry’s school – all dependent on how bad traffic is (see a common thread?)
6:00p-6:30p Arrive home, fix Gentry dinner, eat if I can round something up fast enough
7:00p: Bathtime
8:00p: Bedtime
8:30p-10:00p: Clean/Blog/Laundry/Get ready for the next day – this is of course if I didn’t pass out next to Gentry
Sleep…. And wake up to do it all over again.
My commute time per day is around 2-4 hours depending on traffic + my normal 8 hour work day + pick up and drop off at Gentry’s school. All of this to tell you I HAVE NO TIME for anythinggggg! I have squeezed in a work out during my lunch break daily which has been helping my energy levels but man, I gotta tell you… The traffic wears on you.
If you noticed in my lovely schedule… I have no time for making lunch or dinner. I have tried prepping during the weekend but I am not the greatest with reheating left overs, especially chicken, in the microwave at work for lunch. PLUS, me and recipes don’t get along very well. I am pinner. I love new recipes and I go into them with good intentions only to leave unfulfilled and….hangary. And dinner? Psssh. Sometimes I have to wait until I put Gentry down just to make myself something to eat – which is not so healthy…
I can’t remember who told me initially about having a Meal Delivery Service but I do remember asking a few Facebook groups about them during my research of them. Surprisingly I felt I was the last person on the planet to find out about this – soooo many Mamas were doing this but I didn’t have a clue. Which leads me to wanting to write this post – if this can help one other Mama then it was worth it.
What is a Meal Delivery Service? An online food ordering service that brings quality food to your home at your doorstep quickly and easily. There are a few meal delivery services:
Also not listed here are some others like:
One Potato (geared toward families with kids)
And last but not least… Gobble.
We have been ordering meals this way since mid May 2016. We first started with Gobble. Threw in Hello Fresh and Freshly to test some of them out. After a week of Hello Fresh and Freshly, I canceled those subscriptions and stuck with Gobble. I haven’t looked back.
The reason I didn’t like Hello Fresh was the length of time and the “difficulty” of the meals. They weren’t hard but they were definitely more difficult to accomplish verses Gobble. Also, I wasn’t fond of the food itself.
Freshly is different in the fact that it comes 100% prepared already. You just have to heat it up in the microwave. The things I didn’t like about this was that I was heating up all of my meals in plastic. The food wasn’t flavorful at all. And it was pretty price for what I was receiving. Additionally, the menu was short and lacked a new and exciting menu each week like Gobble had. Now, the convenience was GREAT because there was no cooking or clean up but that’s about all.
Pro’s of utilizing a meal delivery service with Gobble:
- As the box states above, one pan + 10 minutes. Gobble surpassed my expectations of how easy it is to throw their meals together.
- Less clean up. Everything is pre-packaged and the instructions are clear and precise. You know exactly what you’re getting into before you start. I can’t tell you how many Pinterest recipes I have tried in which the ENTIRE kitchen was demolished. #MessyCook
- DELICIOUS. Okay, so when I thought I would be poppin’ online and ordering some meals that I would have to sacrifice the taste in order to get the convenience. Boy, I was WRONG. I haven’t tried one meal yet that I haven’t liked and I am a picky eater!
- I have learned more about new foods I wouldn’t have normally purchased or eaten.
- Less waste. I stated this earlier in the post… I am not a fan of reheated food. These meals are perfectly proportioned so you know exactly how much you are ordering and how much you will have left over. Some meals (like pasta dishes) do actually taste okay reheated in my eyes so for instance, this week I ordered 4 pasta meals so that we can make all 4 at once and have two meals for lunch the next day.
- The presentation is impressive. It’s a pretty awesome feeling when you throw down 10 minutes in the kitchen and you pop your plate on the dining room table and it looks like you’re at a fancy restaurant. Seriously. Major points like you slaved in the kitchen for hours. Especially if you are having guests come over! After the pro’s and con’s below, I will share the picture of the meal from the Gobble website vs. how my dish really turned out.
- The menu always has new an exciting meals with variety. Since May I have only seen a repeat meal one time – but I believe for good reason. It (I think) was one of their best sellers because we LOVED it. Once I saw the ribs were back on the menu we bought an extra 2 meals that week.
- Less clutter. My fridge has never looked more beautiful. I don’t have piles of left over food just begging to be eaten. I open the fridge and I can see exactly what is for lunch/dinner. It is a refreshing feeling.
- Ordering is simple and easy. You can also skip a week if you plan on being out-of-town or decide you don’t need meals that week.
- The directions are easy to understand with no surprises.
- Every meal is designed to fit within 500-700 calories. They are healthy and they use the highest quality of ingredients that are found fancy smancy restaurants.
- They have a variety of food from fancy to simple. For instance, this week we will be having Grass-Fed Filet Mignon with Asparagus & Blue Cheese Butter one night and the next night (and lunch the next day) will be Chicken Carbonara with Gemelli Pasta. Additionally, there is always a vegetarian and seafood option.
- Makes a great baby shower gift… Or even a gift to someone recovering from an illness or death in their lives. It’s quick easy and wholesome.
Now the con’s to this:
- Gobble meal delivery service only delivers to the west coast areas currently. So if you live in California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah then you are able to order. They stated that they will be expanding eventually on their website so check back often. If you don’t live in one of these states, I would check out the other service links above.
- The are a newer company. They are still working out their kinks when it comes to customer service so make sure you are patient with them if there is any issues. They are all about the customer and will make any issue right. I have had a couple of delivery issues and they were very quick to fix them.
- If you live in 500 degree weather like I do here in Arizona, I recommend you reach out to Gobble after your initial meal delivery service order to make sure that they use the foil with your delivery box (as shown above). At the beginning this wasn’t happening which made me sweat bullets to get home on delivery days. We did end up loosing a whole box of meals because of this (which they were quick to fix the issue) so be forewarned.
- Sometimes the meals for the week just don’t tickle your fancy! This has happened to me once. I still ordered. And they turned out amazing, however you are more than welcome to skip weeks if you’re not diggin’ it.
- Price point. Each meal is $11.95 if you order 6 meals or more per week (we usually order 6-8 meals per week) which if you are on a limited budget, that might not be feasible for you to do. But if you are on the fence and its the price that is keeping you teetering, this is how I justified the cost:
- Less food I throw away and don’t get around to eating
- Less time at the grocery store – some how I always end up spending $100-$200 every time I go… hmmmm. And you don’t even WANT to know what my receipt looks like if I grocery shop at TARGET. lol…
- I’m eating healthier
- The convenience of not having to shop that often and more time doing things around the house and spending quality time with family (invaluable)
Presentation:
If you are curious as to what it looks like from the Gobble menu that I ordered from, to what the dish REALLY look like in real life, here you go! (and remember I’m NOT a cook!)
From the Gobble website created by fancy smancy chefs:
To what it REALLY looks like in real life:
Not too bad right?
Now, because this is NOT a sponsored post, I don’t have an amazing giveaway BUT I do have good news… Gobble is having their 2nd birthday and wants to share the love with some new people. So if you go to:
www.gobble.com/2nd-birthday
and sign up, you will receive 3 dinner kits which equals 6 meals for FREE! Here is the fine print from the flyer I received:
This offer applies for a free Gobble box of 3 dinner kits (6 meals total). Offer is only valid for the first 6 meals. Additional meals are billed at full price. Each meal is regularly $11.95 (for orders of 6 meals or more) Cannot be applied to an already scheduled delivery. Cannot be combined with any other promotion. New members only. One Gobble account per household. Offer expires August 15th, at 11:59pm. (This is of course if you live within their delivery map)
Now, if you test it out with Gobble, make sure that you are aware that it is a subscription service. However, it is okay to cancel and easy to do so but if you forget, the meals will come to you automatically. They set a default meal subscription that you have to change weekly to what your preferences are.
If you want to see what the next week menu looks like here you go:
https://www.gobble.com/menu
Another tip is to check out Groupon. There is usually always a meal delivery service on there for you to try out with a decent chunk off the price. It’s also a great way to try out multiple services until you find the one that works best for you and your lifestyle.
So there ya have it! I hope I have answered every question you ever had with a meal delivery service. As for me, I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon! Have you had a meal delivery service before? Did you just sign up recently? Let me know below what your favorite service is!
