As of 2019, Terra’s Kitchen has ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy.
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Question…
“What’s for dinner?” For many people, this question is an endless source of stress and frustration.
Let’s face it, it’s easy to fall into a rut with your meal planning. Grocery shopping, ingredient prep, and just coming up with new ideas for dinner every week can quickly begin to feel overwhelming.
Fortunately, there have been quite a few meal delivery services popping up over the years. And many of these services can accommodate any diet imaginable whether you are Paleo, gluten-free, vegan, or vegetarian.
I was recently introduced to Terra’s Kitchen and was immediately intrigued. They believe in clean, sustainable ingredients and every recipe is based on the principles of a Mediterranean lifestyle. They actually promise that your ingredients will be delivered from their farmers to your doorstep three times faster than your local grocery store.
And the best part? Every ingredient is pre-washed, pre-chopped, and pre-portioned so you can have your dinner ready in 30 minutes or less.
How Terra’s Kitchen Works
Terra’s Kitchen has one of the most flexible menu options I have encountered to date. They deliver freshly prepared ingredients for over 50 meals, snacks, side dishes, and salads. As far as meals go, you have plenty of Paleo, vegan, and gluten-free options to choose from.
You will get started by filling out your profile and what kind of meals you are interested in. So if you are you looking for vegetarian options, you could select that and they will automatically pick several selections for you.
If you don’t like what the website picks, you can easily substitute it with something else. And they allow you a lot of freedom to add on to your menu as you would like. For instance, if you can easily add more protein or a side salad to your weekly meals.
The selection process is very simple and the recipes will inform you of any potential allergens in each meal. Every meal is individually priced and shipping is free if your order is over $62.99.
You can choose either three dinners for two people at $74.99 or you can get two dinners for four people at $99.99. You can mix and match your meals to suit whatever you are craving that week.
Terra’s Kitchen only serves clean ingredients that are sourced from sustainable farms and the meals are fairly plant-heavy. They also use fewer plastic containers than most meal delivery services.
You will need to have certain staples on hand like salt, pepper, and olive oil and some basic cooking utensils. There are occasionally recommendations for spice upgrades but you can always see this in the ingredients prior to ordering.
Meals & Delivery
Terra’s Kitchen works well whether you are feeding a family of four or just cooking for one. Every recipe sheet comes with a card containing facts about the meal and the ingredients you are about to cook. And it also includes a second card with a fun story about the dish.
Terra’s Kitchen offers a lot of variety with their menus but they don’t go overboard with strange or complex flavors. This will be especially helpful if you are looking to order meals for your entire family.
Each recipe comes with step-by-step instructions and pictures. I found all of the recipes to be very easy to follow. And while the recipes are simple and straightforward they are also packed with flavor. And the portions are very generous so you may even end up with leftovers!
The meals are sent in a refrigerated FreshRealm Vessel (essentially a mini-fridge) that you will unload and then leave out for a scheduled pickup the next day. The Vessel can be safely reused to deliver food up to 100 times.
The Vessel will stay cool all day and has tamper-resistant locks so you know that your food hasn’t been messed with. When you place your order on the website there is a tracker bar that lets you know how much space is left in the vessel as you select your meals.
While this does cut down on waste, the FreshRealm Vessel can be quite heavy when it is packed with food. This could be problematic for people who have to walk up several flights of stairs to get to their kitchen.
Final Thoughts
I went into this Terra’s Kitchen review with a healthy amount of skepticism. Can a meal delivery service really provide ingredients that are all natural and taste better than something I could just make myself?
For my first experience with Terra’s Kitchen, I was fairly impressed. The ingredients were fresh and nothing was spoiled or damaged. Every recipe was easy to follow and they really did take 30 minutes or less. Everything I made turned out just as well, if not better than I had hoped for.
And I really appreciate the concept behind the FreshRealm Vessel. They could have sent everything in a large cardboard shipping box and asked that you recycle the packaging. Instead, they send it in a reusable, eco-friendly refrigerated vessel. And Terra’s Kitchen came to pick it up right on schedule so it left just as seamlessly as it arrived.
Overall, I had a great experience with Terra’s Kitchen and would definitely recommend that you give them a try. They are a little bit pricier than some of their competitors. But if you are looking for healthy, fresh meals that you can prepare in a pinch, it’s worth every penny.