My surgery is in two days so I'm thinking WAY down the road but I'm curious - does anybody use a healthy meal delivery service like Hello Fresh, Hungryroot, etc? I'm a single mom of two with a demanding job and I wonder if it might make sense to use a service like this (eventually) to take the pressure off meal prep once or twice a week. In your opinion, are any of these services bariatric-friendly, specifically the keto plans?

Edited March 13, 20233 yr by Jillian K8
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any thoughts on Factor? I’ve seen ads on it too…

35 minutes ago, Sigh said:

any thoughts on Factor? I’ve seen ads on it too…

Same. I assume some of these Keto meal kits are higher in fat than is probably good for our stomachs though.

I have never used these as to me they seem expensive. I have also never been one to use take away foods, mostly because when I had a family they were expensive. Money has been very tight early in my married life. We have always cooked from scratch. So my take on these foods is somewhat biased.

I found that if I could make one meal for myself every week, bag it into tiny portions and freeze them. At the end of a few weeks I had quite a stock of deliciousness. You will be surprised at how tiny your meals will be. I put them into little zip lock bags and freeze them flat.

At the moment I am into poke bowls, I prep 3 or 4 at one go and keep them covered in the fridge. Less washing up, cheap and delicious

13 hours ago, Jillian K8 said:

My surgery is in two days so I'm thinking WAY down the road but I'm curious - does anybody use a healthy meal delivery service like Hello Fresh, Hungryroot, etc? I'm a single mom of two with a demanding job and I wonder if it might make sense to use a service like this (eventually) to take the pressure off meal prep once or twice a week. In your opinion, are any of these services bariatric-friendly, specifically the Keto plans?

Before my surgery, I used Hello Fresh almost every week. I've tried a few of the others. Hello Fresh's meals are delicious but usually pretty high in calories. I chose mostly the ethnic meals so I don't know if they have things that are kid friendly. I also liked Marley Spoon, which seemed to have smaller portions and lower calories. I did try one of the low carb plans of one service but I can't recall which one. Maybe green chef, which has good meals, too. Dinnerly is probably the most kid friendly but the meals I got took a long time to prepare and they lean heavily on carbs like pasta, rice, and potatoes, as does Every Plate. Sunbasket was another I tried. It was good but not as good as others so I didn't continue. I have not tried Factor.

Overall my favorites were Hello Fresh and Marley Spoon. My advice for way far in the future is to watch the calories and the portion sizes, which can be huge. I did love having the mental exercise of meal planning and shopping mostly taken away.

I haven't tried to figure out if the boxes would work for me anymore. I am still eating very little and have some restrictions on vegetables. I think one Hello Fresh portion would be a week of dinners for me at my current point. lol

Hope this has helped a little!

Edited March 14, 20233 yr by Lisa XO

I used Dinnerly for a while and really liked it. Its one of the lesser expensive meal kit services, but the ingredients were always fresh and they have tons of options. Mostly, I just picked meals my family would like and then modified them for myself as needed (skip the pasta or eat the sandwich without bread or whatever). I didn't use it specifically for surgery, but rather just to make my life easier and it def helped.

1 hour ago, Sleeve_Me_Alone said:

I used Dinnerly for a while and really liked it. Its one of the lesser expensive meal kit services, but the ingredients were always fresh and they have tons of options. Mostly, I just picked meals my family would like and then modified them for myself as needed (skip the Pasta or eat the sandwich without bread or whatever). I didn't use it specifically for surgery, but rather just to make my life easier and it def helped.

Interesting! Good to hear ?

I've used Factor 75 and it's been awesome. They have keto, paleo, low calorie, "regular", etc... And you choose all your meals and you can choose how many meals you get each week. They make things so much easier. 1 meal (which I would have completely laughed at before my surgery) actually lasts for 2 meals. So getting the 3 or 4 meal box (cheaper options) lasts a full week. If I get the 6 meal box and choose 3 dinners and 3 breakfasts, that lasts me all week. I do a homemade protein shake for lunch everyday, so it works out well (I do the keto Arbonne shakes and add things like triple seeds, avocado, fruit, mct oil, almond milk, almond butter, etc to them). I've loved it. And I can eat what I want on my schedule.

1 hour ago, SleeveDiva2022 said:

I've used Factor 75 and it's been awesome. They have Keto, paleo, low calorie, "regular", etc... And you choose all your meals and you can choose how many meals you get each week. They make things so much easier. 1 meal (which I would have completely laughed at before my surgery) actually lasts for 2 meals. So getting the 3 or 4 meal box (cheaper options) lasts a full week. If I get the 6 meal box and choose 3 dinners and 3 breakfasts, that lasts me all week. I do a homemade Protein Shake for lunch everyday, so it works out well (I do the keto Arbonne shakes and add things like triple seeds, avocado, fruit, mct oil, almond milk, almond butter, etc to them). I've loved it. And I can eat what I want on my schedule.

OMG this is so exciting! Thank you so much for your tips. It helps me look forward to surgery in 2 days. ?

10 hours ago, Jillian K8 said:

OMG this is so exciting! Thank you so much for your tips. It helps me look forward to surgery in 2 days. ?

Of course!! Any time. And since I work full time, I'm in school, I sell Arbonne, I work out 5 days per week, and I'm dealing with some crazy health issues, having Factor 75 meals that I can just pop in the microwave anytime is a huge help. They come already cooked. Nothing to prep and cook. Just heat in the microwave and call it good. LOVE it. If you only want dinners, I'd go with the 3 meal box because you'll get 6 meals out of it. If you want breakfast and dinner, go for the 6 meal box and choose 3 of each. You'll get 6 breakfasts and 6 dinners out of it.

Nope I didn’t & don’t. I prefer to know exactly what I’m eating from ingredients to cooking style. I portion out & freeze a lot of what I cook so I have a wide variety of meals a simple defrost & reheat away. All I have to prep & cook are vegetables & I can do that in a couple of minutes. I happily eat the same meal I’ve cooked for a couple of days & only cook from scratch every three or four days.

At the moment I have multiple portions of beef & barley and chicken & lentil soups, zucchini noodle bolognese, pork schnitzel, lamb cutlets, steak, roast chicken, savoury egg muffins, etc. I’m adding two portions of lamb back strap tonight. My freezer is literally full of meals.

But you have to do what works best with your family. Just check the nutrition information very carefully.

Edited March 15, 20233 yr by Arabesque

Unless you absolutely don't have time for anything else you're probably going to be better off setting aside a few hours on the weekend and prepping these things yourself. Meal service portion sizes are intended for people with an anatomically-typical stomach and will be likely much larger than you're going to be able to or want to eat.

On 4/3/2023 at 9:28 AM, pintsizedmallrat said:

Unless you absolutely don't have time for anything else you're probably going to be better off setting aside a few hours on the weekend and prepping these things yourself. Meal service portion sizes are intended for people with an anatomically-typical stomach and will be likely much larger than you're going to be able to or want to eat.

1 Factor meal usually feeds me for lunch and dinner. So a 1 week box really goes far. I work full time, I'm in college full time, and I have a lot of medical crap going on due to complications from my sleeve. In and out of surgeries before I can be cleared for my revision. So for me and what I have going on right now, the Factor 75 meals are perfect.

2 hours ago, SleeveDiva2022 said:

1 Factor meal usually feeds me for lunch and dinner. So a 1 week box really goes far. I work full time, I'm in college full time, and I have a lot of medical crap going on due to complications from my sleeve. In and out of surgeries before I can be cleared for my revision. So for me and what I have going on right now, the Factor 75 meals are perfect.

Aw man, hope things turn around soon!

On 4/6/2023 at 5:27 PM, SleeveDiva2022 said:

1 Factor meal usually feeds me for lunch and dinner. So a 1 week box really goes far. I work full time, I'm in college full time, and I have a lot of medical crap going on due to complications from my sleeve. In and out of surgeries before I can be cleared for my revision. So for me and what I have going on right now, the Factor 75 meals are perfect.

Indeed it sounds like you are exactly the sort of person these services were designed for!

I've tried several meal delivery services and use them semi regularly (at least once a month). I've used HelloFresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef and Every Plate. Home Chef is by far my favorite but I liked them all except for Blue Apron. My only complaint would be the prep time which is why I like Home Chef the most as they have "fast" meals that cut down on the prep time.