I know, I’ve already reviewed Gousto and HelloFresh maybe another form of meal kit is overkill. But then again, Simply Cook were recommended to me. So, in for a penny – or £3 in this case, the cost of their trial box.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Simply Cook is a meal box option that’s cheaper than the other options, because it only supplies four elements of the meals – the recipe, then three pots of flavour. These might be pastes, sauces or even sprinkles (like crispy onions) for on top of your finished meal. You need to buy everything else – oils, meat, fish, veggies.
In each pack you get four recipes, and you can choose how often you receive a delivery. Weekly, fortnightly, monthly, it’s all up to you. Oh and it’s letterbox friendly, so no waiting in for a delivery. You can also choose the recipes you want – but do be aware, they don’t remind you to choose ahead of a deadline, and if you don’t select what you would like, they will choose for you.
Each recipe card is easy to work with, as you’d expect, everything is broken down into steps. Whilst the recipe specifies the main protein and vegetables, there are also option extras, so you can tailor it to your diet or preferences, and a tear-off portion of the card so you can just pop it into your pocket and go to the shops. More recently, they’ve added an online option, so you can simply add the required items to your online supermarket shopping.
So far so good.
Let’s get to the recipes themselves.
We’ve had two boxes, and tried a number of the recipes. As you’d expect, there are a lot of curries, but also some great noodle recipes too, glazes and pasta dishes. And of course, as you’re buying the main ingredients, you can adapt to suit you. So chipotle honey salmon might end up being cod or even chicken. Online while you’re making your selection, you can see a full list of allergens, and adapt it to your needs.
The concept is a great idea, and we’ve had some great recipes. But we’ve also had a couple of misses. One delightful prawn curry had an intensely flavoured garnish that overpowered the flavour of the curry, and rather spoilt it. We also had some recipes, where I’ve got all the ingredients in the fridge already, because even with my recipe box subscriptions, I still have plenty of opportunity to get creative in the kitchen.
Overall, we don’t think it’s for us. It’s duplicating a lot of things we already have at home, without the pure convenience of the HelloFresh or Gousto boxes, where everything is delivered at once. It may be once things are more ‘normal’ it suits us better. But for now, we’re good with what we’ve got.
All that said, if you think Simply Cook is for you, pop over to their website, and you can get a trial box for £3 – this is not in anyway sponsored, nor do I receive any freebies or discount for the recommendation.