MEAL delivery kits are all the rage right now, with consumers looking for ways to eat nutritionally balanced, delicious meals without having to brave the dreaded Sunday night supermarket trip.
allplants is a plant-based meal delivery service that makes it easier than ever to eat healthy plant-powered meals without compromising on taste. The chef-made dishes come frozen, so all you need to do is pop them in the oven, be patient for 45 minutes to an hour and enjoy.
- allplants plant-based meal delivery service – try here
We were vegan for a couple of years about three years ago and, while we initially enjoyed being plant-based, we eventually fell back into our old ways.
We were 21 then and weren’t making an effort to eat nutritionally balanced meals and stuck to the same five or six meals. This led to us getting bored and feeling generally unhealthy, so we made the switch to pescetarianism.
Lately, though, we’ve been trying to re-incorporate more plant-based meals into our rotation, so we can increase the number of vegetables in our diet and mix things up a bit.
After we’d been thinking about this for a while, we stumbled upon allplants online and were really keen to give it a try.
Overall rating: 4/5
Pros
- Great meal variation
- Filling food quantity
- No post-cooking clean up required
- Time-saving
- Delicious
Cons
- Long cooking times
- Some meals were quite carb-heavy
- Started to miss cooking after a while
- allplants plant-based meal delivery service – try here
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allplants: first impressions
We organised for our allplants box to be delivered on a Monday so we could feel organised for the week and it arrived right on time around midday.
The contents of the box remained cold thanks to some reusable ice blocks, which was a relief as we had to leave it sitting out for an hour or so.
We ordered a wide array of options so we could get a good understanding of what allplants offers, so our meal box was made up of a few breakfast pots, some meals, a few sides, and a couple of desserts. A few days' worth of meals from breakfast to dinner took up just over one freezer compartment, which was a pleasant suprise.
- allplants plant-based meal delivery service – try here
How much does allplants cost?
The food options on allplants range from £2.50 to £9.98. This range includes £6.75 for a standard meal, £9.98 for a pie or tart, and between £2.50 and £4 for a side, breakfast pot, or dessert.
However, if you were hoping to bulk buy a few meals at once to sort out your weekly shop, there are a few bundles you can choose between that come with a variety of meals for you to enjoy while also saving you a bit of money.
These bundles include the Meat Lovers Bundle which includes meals made with meat substitutes, the Cheesetarian Bundle full of creamy and cheese-like (although of course, still plant-based) and the Plant Hero Bundle which makes vegetables the star of the show.
- allplants plant-based meal delivery service – try here
Does allplants have a discount code?
allplants has a generous array of discount codes available on their website.
These include:
- 10% off your first order
- 25% off your first three orders if you’re a student
- 20% off your first order if you’re a senior
- 20% off your first order if you’re a key worker
- 20% off your first order if you use Strava
Along with these codes, you can also earn free meals in your allplants box for you and a friend if they use your code at checkout.
You can take a look at the discount codes here.
You can also score some savings if you buy your meals in bulk rather than separately.
- allplants plant-based meal delivery service – try here
Is allplants good?
We had a great experience with allplants and would recommend it to anyone who wants to eat more plant-based meals but doesn’t have the time or energy to plan out veggie heavy meals that strike the balance between being nutrient-dense and tasty.
I enjoyed how easy it was to just get home in the evening and put your dinner in the oven, with all the cooking done for you. Not having to deal with a mountain of dishes was a bonus too.
However, we missed the sense of pride that comes with cooking a delicious meal for ourselves and did start to feel a little lazy towards the end. In the future, we’d do a mix of allplants and cooking when we’re up to it so it’s more balanced.
Is allplants healthy?
While we're more than capable of reviewing taste, we're a little less well informed when it comes to nutrition. To help us out, we asked Aly Findlay, allplants' in-house Nutritionist to answer a few questions for us.
Aly says that when developing new dishes "health (as well as flavour!) is at the forefront of our minds. All of our meals contain at least 2 of your 5-a-day, a source of protein and iron, are low in sugar and are packed with a variety of nutritious whole foods".
The first thing people get concerned about when switching to a primarily plant-based diet is where they'll get their protein.
Aly assures us that "all of allplants' meals are a source of plant-based protein. We use a wide variety of whole foods to help ensure you get all essential amino acids. We also have a range of high protein dishes, such as our Mac + Greens and Protein Power Bowl, both containing over 25g per serving".
She says that "every dish is nutritionally balanced and meets every checkpoint within our nutritional guidelines".
- allplants plant-based meal delivery service – try here
The verdict: Is allplants worth it?
One thing about eating re-heatable meals we were tentative about was how they would look when we took them out of the oven. Many of the meals are made using noodles and salad ingredients, so we weren't sure how appetising they’d look after being frozen and reheated.
We’re happy to say they came out looking just as tasty as if we’d cooked it ourselves and looked nothing like the frozen meals we’re used to. It’s abundantly obvious there’s a chef involved because the presentation was very well done.
Most of our experience with ready meals has been the microwave meals you pop into the oven for a few minutes and enjoy, so we were initially taken aback by the 45-50 minute cooking time most of the meals required.
We very quickly got used to this, though, and actually enjoyed having a bit of extra time to get a couple of chores done before sitting down to eat.
I think unless we’re having an obscenely busy week we would try and cook at least one meal a day and use allplants as our dinner or lunch option to save a little bit of time.
We enjoyed the ease of just popping something in the oven but I also enjoy the process of cooking, so a bit more balance in the future would suit us.
- Taste: 3.5/5
- Variety: 4/5
- Volume of meals: 5/5
- Value: 4/5
How does allplants compare to Hello Fresh?
Although allplants and Hello Fresh are both meal delivery services, Hello Fresh functions are more of a kit and allplants delivers you the finished product.
With Hello Fresh, you do the cooking yourself and they provide all the ingredients, but with allplants the meals come pre-prepared and all you need to do is whack them in the oven, wait a while and enjoy.
We found Hello Fresh appealed to the home chef in us, while allplants catered to the lazier side that likes things to be as convenient as possible while still eating healthily.
How does allplants compare to Gousto?
Gousto is much more similar to Hello Fresh than allplants in that it’s a meal kit, so they provide the ingredients and you do the cooking.
Gousto meals are a bit richer than allplants meals, but I didn’t try Gousto’s plant-based range so it’s not really an even playing field.
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