With the current economic uncertainty, there is the talk about cooking at home to save $$$. How much this is true depends a lot on what you buy, what you like to eat, where you buy, etc. While I try to do it myself, it has its own problems. For me, the main problem is time. Although my work schedule usually allows me to come back early enough and prepare dinner, it does not, however, give me enough time to hit the gym or similar after work activities, come back and then prepare dinner. Of course, some might argue I should cook several servings and freeze them. Actually, that is what I do. The problem is eating the same for 4 straight meals…

I am sure a lot of people have problems similar to the ones described and, among several solutions offered by the market, there is the one delivering prepared ingredients (i.e., cleaned, chop, cut, portioned, etc.) to your home, where the only thing you have to do is finish “cooking”/re-heating it. To anybody who has cooked previously, he/she knows the most time consuming part of cooking is prep work… Sliced Tomatoes, a local company does exactly that. More information on how it works, please, visit their website.

The picture above is from their pick-up office. Based on the description above, one should ask: why I choose to go there if they deliver? Well, I am outside of their delivery area, plus it was easier for me to pick it up. But, having been there, if you choose their service, my suggestion would be to have it delivered: their pickup location is almost in the middle of nowhere! Again, more details, please check their website. It has far more details that what I can mention based on my one purchase experience… Also, this post is not about their delivery service; instead is about the food. That is, if you choose to go with their service, how good it is and is it worth it?

I ordered the following items: Irish Guinness Stew with AAA beef ($18, two servings), Lamb Moussaka (with brown rice – $18, two servings) and garden salad ($5.50, two servings). There is a reason why I ordered these: time required to finish them. In the case of the stew, it falls in the easy/fast (just re-heat), while the moussaka, falls in the time consuming category (bake for almost an hour). There are other dishes were you actually have to cook but I decided not to test those as there are too many variables (though in hindsight, I think I should have done so).

Irish Guinness Stew – two servings.

Lamb Moussaka in its original container – two servings.

Green Field Salad – two servings.

Brown rice. Originally it was part of the moussaka order.

First, the salad, this time prepared.

All the components were separated inside the bag it came on. In addition to the greens, it had pieces of apple, a creamy dressing and some cranberries. I will have to say it is your “average” garden, nothing extraordinary. In fact, I think I can prepare this myself by buying some field greens in a supermarket, a bottle of salad dressing, some cranberries, an apple or two, etc.

The Lamb Moussaka prepared and served. I will openly admit this was darn good. While not too creamy, it was balanced in the creaminess and gaminess (from the lamb). Not sure if it is really noticeable in the picture above, but the eggplants, instead of big slices, they were cut into pieces instead.

The Irish Stew served with the brown rice. This was not as good, though. I felt it was more on the lines of soup than stew; in my opinion, stew sauce’s consistency ought to be between gravy and soup. While adding the brown rice helped, it was still a bit bland. Finally, the root vegetables were a bit undercooked, as it has some crunchiness in it. I prefer it borderline mushy.

Overall, while the moussaka was quite good, the rest was sub-par. Probably because I ordered the wrong dishes? But, regardless of their taste, I don’t feel it is worth it. Going back to the initial premise, that one of saving $$$ by cooking at home, if you consider the amount of food provided, I think you can easily go to a restaurant (just don’t go to a high end one). If the point is to just “finish” at home, I think I could do better for the same $$$, like buying in a supermarket a roasted chicken ($7 or $8), green field salad ($6), some dried cranberries ($3), two or so apples ($1), a salad dressing ($3) and a loaf of bread ($2).

Now, I must make emphasis on this point: this service is not for me, probably because I am not their target public. However, to others, this might be worthwhile. For example, those who need help in portion control, this might be really helpful as the food is already partitioned in servings. Likewise, those who need a breakdown of the nutrition, they have all these details in their site. But, then again, it is not for me.