You may have noticed a growing trend in meal prep services offered in your area.  These businesses provide fresh healthy home style cooked meals that are ready to heat and eat.  Typically, they’re available for pick up or delivery.

Meal prep services have been sprouting around the country to fill a void in the food services industry.  In many households, both spouses work and don’t have the time or desire to cook every day.  Their free time is better spent doing other things.  Restaurant take out is too expensive and inconvenient to use on a daily basis.  Fast food is convenient and cheap, but it’s not a healthy option.  This is where meal prep services fit in by providing convenient and affordable meals that meat your nutritional needs.

How do meal prep services work?

If you do a Facebook or Google search, you’ll likely find several meal prep businesses in your area.  Most of them allow you to order online and choose from a variety of options including basic meat-carb-veggie plates, low carb, paleo, vegetarian, etc.  Prices typically start under $10 per meal, making them comparable in cost to a fast food combo but without all of the highly processed foods loaded down with enough fat and salt to keep your heart surgeon in business.  Usually there are pick up locations for the meals, or you can have them delivered straight to your door for a small fee.  Keep the meals in your fridge for up to a week, pop them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes when you’re ready to eat, and presto, a home style healthy meal that suits your nutritional needs!

Where is the value?

Ready meals are less expensive than most restaurants, but If you do the math, you’ll find that it’s still cheaper to prepare a home cooked meal yourself versus ordering from a meal prep service.  However, the service provides a lot of additional value besides the food itself, including:

Convenience – this is the big one!  You save the time and energy of cooking your own food, finding recipes, and driving to the grocery store to buy the ingredients.

No dishes to do! – Prepped meals come in disposable or recyclable containers.

Variety – Choose a different dish for each meal of the week if you’d like.  Prepping 21 different dishes yourself each week would be a real headache!

Portion size – individual meals come in a healthy pre-measured size to prevent over eating.

Macro content – Typically the macro nutrients for the meal are displayed on the label, making it easy to track your totals for the day.

Taste – sadly not all of us are great cooks 🙁  Most meal prep services use a trained chef or at least someone known for cooking great food.

Advice and Recommendations…

Start by doing a Facebook or Google search for meal prep services in your area.  Check with your local gym to see who they recommend.  Also try asking friends and coworkers or post on your community Facebook page to see what’s available.  Once you know what’s out there, compare pick up locations, menus, and prices to determine which one looks like the best fit for you.  Most importantly, order some meals and see how you like them.

For those living or working in Spring Hill, TN, or surrounding areas, we recommend ordering from fatfightingmom.com.  Prices and quality are excellent.