3-Part Review of Meal Prep Services. Part 2: Marley Spoon from Martha Stewart

Like so many other families, in our home we go through phases where the “busy” factor snowballs and becomes all-encompassing. When that happens, we tend to eat out which isn’t the best. In this three-part blog series, I review meal services I’ve tried to make eating at home easier: Sakara, Marley Spoon, and Hello Fresh. In this series, I’ll share what worked for my family, what didn’t, and offer an overall score. 

Meal Delivery Service Test #2: Marley Spoon

When a coworker recommended the Marley Spoon Meal Program to me, I perked up since he said his wife is quite particular about food and loves the meals. Given that the program is affiliated with Martha Stewart, I was really curious how good it would be. So as a fellow self-proclaimed picky eater, you know I had to try it!

How it Works

Marley Spoon is very similar to Hello Fresh or Blue Apron. They provide the ingredients and cooking instructions for each meal. You simply need to do the prep work (chopping of veggies, etc.) and cook the meal.

They also provide a printout with detailed instructions and a picture of what the meal should look like when you are done making it. Not a bad idea for us novice cooks! I secretly thought this would also be a good way to get my teenager involved in learning how to make good meals for dinner.

Unlike Sakara, they let you select what meals you want to make and have a nice variety of options to choose from. They seemed to have a good mix of choices for people with food sensitivities which was an added bonus.

For our first 3 meals, we selected:

1. Seared steak and gremolata with roasted potatoes and carrots
2. Sheet pan Piri Piri chicken with sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts
3. Lemon and dill salmon with charred broccoli and quinoa

Well…the first meal we cooked – the seared steak and gremolata – was a bit chaotic. The box was supposed to arrive on Sunday but didn’t make it to our house until Monday. Long story short, we accidentally set off the smoke alarm trying to cook the steaks on the stove and one of the ingredients (fresh garlic) didn’t come in the kit. It might have been a bit ambitious to try it out on a Monday after work!

Here’s What I loved About Marley Spoon

With this service, one of the main benefits was being able to try a tasty new meal on a weeknight. The instructions are simple enough, and apart from our steak/fire alarm mishap, the remaining meals were pretty easy to assemble but they did take time.

Additionally, the flavor was excellent. At first it didn’t look like there would be enough food for the three of us, but in the end there was plenty and it was filling too. We also loved the variety of meal options they offered on their site.

What I Didn’t Love

As mentioned, they forgot to include garlic in the delivery. This normally wouldn’t have been a big deal but we didn’t have any on hand and I only discovered the omission while I was trying to make the dish, so that added to the chaos. Thankfully my amazing neighbor Courtney had some and saved us a trip to the grocery store. The meal prep sometimes took longer than expected, so that is another thing to consider when you are creating time and space in your day to put the meal together.

Final Takeaway

For less confident and prone-to-stress cooks like myself, I’d recommend looking at the recipe and ingredients earlier in the day vs. waiting until dinnertime. That will give you time to prepare in case they missed anything, and also to get your head around how long you truly need to make the meal.

Here are my key takeaways for Marley Spoon:

I ultimately decided not to continue Marley Spoon long term — I’d say if you are more comfortable in the kitchen, this would be a good option to consider.

Do you have any favorite tasty and time-saving meals to share? I’d love to hear about them and feature them on the blog! Please send your topic ideas to hello@careerinsightstudio.com.

Happy eating!