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Cook-at-Home food boxes

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby scullion » Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:25 pm

asking as one who has never bought such a box, does all of the veg etc come pre-washed and prepped for you to just put in pans or do you have to do all the stuff like scrub your potatoes and cut them up?
if so, what's the difference from following a recipe in book?

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby aero280 » Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:56 pm

It all came prepared and sealed in boxes. much like a "ready meal". My fish pie was cooked and just needed warming and browning. Much the same for the rest. The green veg was washed and chopped, but uncooked.

One of the nice touches of the Zedel meals is that the stuff that is oven heated/cooked is all done at the same temperature and at for same time.

We didn't have any of the schnitznel which needed frying, so I can't speak for that.

This is the "as delivered" picture.

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby cherrytree » Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:47 pm

All we have had to do was put the dishes in the oven

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby dennispc » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:26 pm

Generally Hello Fresh comes ready prepared, butternut squash for example and sweet potato wedges come ready chopped, but not everything.

The advantage for us was that during lockdown we didn’t have to do so much shopping. And, not being a ready meal, we can cook from scratch, which we prefer. We know what's in it.

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Pepper Pig » Sat Feb 20, 2021 8:14 pm

We’ve just had the main course from the St John box. I couldn’t be more underwhelmed.

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Feb 20, 2021 8:19 pm

Found the Sudi Piggott article, in the Mail, way back last August, so porbably out of date

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food ... -home.html

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby aero280 » Sat Feb 20, 2021 10:24 pm

Not a home cooked meal, but , if anyone is in Warwick, my DiL has just posted a picture of a takeaway from "The Aubergine". Turkish special called "The Sultan". Another example of a restaurant adapting to circumstances. There must be a few good restaurants doing this sort of thing.

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Pampy » Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:29 pm

Another supplier of frozen ready meals https://www.potage.co.uk/

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:58 pm

A local restaurant has expanded its Larder offshoot and also now sells frozen meals.
https://www.samslarder.co.uk/

I'd be keen to try their fish pie or chicken pie. Compared with COOK - our usual go-to for when we want to treat ourselves - the prices are high! But maybe they're worth it!

If we do, I'll report back!

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Pampy » Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:01 am


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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Renee » Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:04 am

What a fabulous meal Aero which brings back happy memories for me of holidays in Turkey. Sadly no Turkish restaurants in this part of Lancashire. :thumbsdown

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby herbidacious » Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:33 am

I have done Hello Fresh: they never let you go. I still get calls from them 5 (?) years on trying to get me to start up again. Too much packaging (tiny plastic pots of spices etc.), (vegetarian) dishes bulked out with cheap carbs, and lots of ingredients I already had. The things I made were nice but seemed to be mainly vegan and based on lentils and rice. This may just have been bad luck as I only had a box every other week, but even so... it was sustained bad luck, if this was the case.

I see nice-looking Hello Fresh style services advertised on FB all the time, but Hello Fresh has just put me off the whole thing. I also didn't like the way it sort of regimented my cooking. I don't cook from scratch more than twice a week usually, and like to make enough to last two meals.

However this seems quite different from the services other people are offering. Some of the ones mentioned here look more like ready meals that cook at home. i.e. more heat-at-home than cook at home?

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby mistakened » Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:27 pm

I have just read
Pampy wrote:Quite a few places here https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/best ... -meal-kits

I am deeply envious

Moira

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:44 pm

Hmmm, Moira's link brings up pasta dishes easy to make at home (useful reminder!) and Pampy's the posh food boxes (well, they may not all be but my eyes fell on one from Daylesford which looked rather nice!).
I'm afraid it's pasta for me unless a very, very special occasion crops up. I can't create the restaurant ambience at home and I think that's as equally important as the food when you are paying a considerable amount.

I was wondering if I could call Warwick a local run though - wow!

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby herbidacious » Tue Feb 23, 2021 7:50 pm

Well that's it isn't it. The actual food is often only a small part of the value of eating out. It is pretty important to me, actually. Hardly at all to husband. It would (and indeed will) be so nice to be cooked for, especially something a bit sophisticated, and have it served up... OH does do this a bit, but cooking, as I have said disloyally many tmes, is not really his thing :)

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:06 am

Not quite in the same league as top notch restaurant boxes but 'Cook' has been mentioned.

A friend whose husband is shielding, received a Cook 'care box' as a surprise from a relative. It was a delightful surprise (well, semi surprise as you need to check that the person has freezer space!) and they've really been relishing the meals. They've had Salmon en Croute, Lamb Tagine and Goats cheese tartlets so far. Rather a nice idea to arrange for someone or oneself.

https://www.cookfood.net/menu/meal-bundles/food-boxes

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:18 am

Yes, we're big COOK fans! The lamb tagine is great, haven't had the other dishes your friends had but tried lots of the others!
All the desserts we've tried have been great.

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby jeral » Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:27 am

The Cook site looks good. It offers more veggie and vegan dishes than all the others I've looked at and all dishes look very eatable -and no prep so aren't just a box of veg.

Thanks for the link Earthmaiden and endorsement KeenCook2.

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Amber » Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:50 am

We like the Cook lasagnes too. They used to sell proper baking dishes the same size as their lasagnes, so you could transfer them before they went in the oven, and then ‘lose’ the giveaway packaging ;) :D .

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Re: Cook-at-Home food boxes

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:32 am

Not quite on topic but does anyone have a fruit and veg box delivered? Many years ago we tried Abel and Cole and found them very expensive and of varied quality and packaging. It didn't last but on the few occasions I've been out with the dog early I've seen both they and Riverford Organics delivering to local roads. I was talking in the middle of the night to a friend from High Wycombe who gets a fortnightly delivery from a firm called Oddbox and says they are very good. She lives on her own but reckons the basic mixed fruit and veg box is good value so I have bitten the bullet and started a trial.

https://www.oddbox.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQi ... FPEALw_wcB

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