Recently, my daughter chose to sample the vegetarian lifestyle by subscribing to a meal service. Vegetarian meal boxes were delivered right to her doorstep. I don’t know if she took time to research these plans but lucky for me, she wound up with three meals that were expiring before she could cook them. So, she gave them to me.
I am a foodie, so I gratefully accepted.
In regard to going vegetarian, I do honor those who eschew meat for ethical or health reasons. My husband and I have significantly decreased our red meat intake, but the transition away from meat is not for the faint of heart.
If cooking ain’t your bag, takeout or delivered pizzas is so much easier – although veggie takeout maybe not.
Anyway, I am sticking to old school cooking.
Cooking a Vegetarian Meal Box
This new method of food preparation from a box is like putting together a piece of furniture — only edible. In the box, you find every ingredient (except the tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil) is present in its own little plastic baggie.
The quantity of actual food per meal is dwarfed by the packaging.
You would think there would be little or no food prep., Bo searching for that 10 year old jar of garam masala. But you would be wrong.
Like putting together that piece of furniture, you lay out the ingredients then read the recipe carefully.
The recipe calls for a tablespoon of fresh ginger. You might assume that the unpeeled chunk is what you would need for the recipe but no (as I learned when I peeled and grated the whole chunk), you still have to measure it out.
The noodles still must be cooked, too.
You still have to COOK but you don’t need to shop for the ingredients.
The cooking is labor intensive and time consuming. Often you wind up with one maybe two meals and no leftovers. In my view anything that labor intensive is worth shopping for and preparing multiple meals.
To freeze.
What if you can’t freeze whole eggs or celery? Seriously you can freeze just about anything though I leave potatoes out of my stews since they tend to get mealy.
But as an introduction to preparing meals you cannot even pronounce, these vegetarian meal boxes have their virtues. It might be your introduction to a new group of foods far away from your cultural norm.
You just might prepare it again … sometime.
The meal plan just might become your gold standard.
My acquaintance with Indian food for example pretty much ends with Pad Thai. Even then I would be at a loss to choose the original ethnic dish from its Americanized counterparts.
On the other hand, I grew up eating New Haven, Connecticut-style pizza and everything else is unworthy. Yes, I am a pizza snob.
Wait! I never did elaborate on the the vegetarian meal box I prepared.
One was a black bean burger and since I have never eaten one I liked, my feelings don’t count.
Another was Indian – I would have to write down the recipe name if I wanted to learn to pronounce it, then search out the exotic spices (probably not) if i wanted to prepare it.
I am not the person to recommend any meal plan or any food, but if you don’t have the time you can always give it away before it goes bad to someone who does like to cook – like maybe your mother.
Join us on November 8th …
