Turkey enchilada bake. Photo by Maria Helena Carey
I could definitely get used to this: Having freshly-made home-delivered meals that are not only tasty and healthy but easy to reheat in the microwave. That is the promise of Strong Fit Meals, a new DC venture offering meal-delivery service with your health in mind. A couple of weeks ago, they reached out to us here at The Hill is Home, offering a sample of their week’s selection. You can check out their weekly selection by clicking this link: http://www.strongfitmeals.com/clean-menu/
We received our Strong Fit Meal delivery (thank you, Shana!!) on a Tuesday afternoon, right at the beginning of the scheduled window. Right away, I noted the food had a good-by date that gave me a four-day window. The meals have excellent labeling that also highlights the fact that your food is made with no additives, just like you’d cook at home. Planning menus around after-school activities can be tricky even for the most unscheduled of kids and my family is no exception; saving my delivery for later in the week turned out to be a life- and sanity-saver.
We ate our food that Thursday after the older kid’s practice and it worked out well. The food was fresh because I’d gone ahead and refrigerated it upon delivery. All meals come with heating instructions that may make many a busy parent tear up: pull back film, remove sauce, let the microwave do the work. SCIENCE!
Our sampler featured three pre-packaged meals which were enough to feed two adults and two children appropriately. This means that we were sated, but chose to augment with on-hand food at home because growing boys’ appetites are no joke. If you will be serving hungry people at your home, I would recommend ordering at least one meal per person. The portions are well-measured and come with a calorie count, but when you’re feeding starving athletes, overestimate. You’ll be glad you did.
The few times we have tried out a meal delivery service, there are always a couple of things that are deemed “ok” by the kids; most fall in the range of “tasty,” and then there is a runaway winner, which is consumed so quickly it brings to mind Schrödinger’s cat. In the case of this meal delivery, we simply could not get enough of their chicken, regardless of preparation. Lucky for us, chicken was featured two ways. There was the blackened chicken with pineapple salsa (MORE SALSA NEXT TIME PLS) and baked chicken with plum sauce. In both preparations, the chicken was well cooked and moist even after spending time being reheated in the microwave–not an easy feat. The blackening was a little on the spicy side for the younger child, who opted to eat, complain, drink milk, and keep on eating. It would have been helpful to know just how hot the blackening spices were, which would be a natural addition to the labeling for future meals.
My personal favorite was the turkey enchilada bake, which had a lot of color from the peppers and the corn as well as a really good blend of spices. The older child boldly tried the plum sauce without prompting–despite the sauce’s definitely-not-ketchup color–and he really liked it. The rice and beans side that came with the blackened chicken was also a win and we wish the portion had been larger.
For the weight watcher types, Strong Fit Meals has this information prominently displayed, as well as the carbs, protein and fat per serving. This is useful information if you are following a diet plan for fitness or health, and is much appreciated. There are different types options to suit your lifestyle: you can do the weekly menus or build your own meals– a great option for people who follow fitness plans that require a lot of lean protein intake. Strong Fit Meals also offers catering.
Thank you, Strong Fit Meals, for a great dinner experience! If you would like to give them a try, use our 10% discount code Save10.
WHAT: Strong Fit Meals, a meal delivery business serving Capitol Hill and the rest of the city.
WHERE: On your computer, over at http://www.strongfitmeals.com/ Use our 10% off code, Save10!
WHEN: Anytime! Be warned, menus change weekly
WHY: Because we all need a helping hand when it comes to dinner sometimes, and if you’re watching your weight, you’d better put down the wings. Here, I’ll take them.