TRIED AND TESTED | Marley Spoon Family Box Recipe Kits
Cooking for my step children is a never-ending mystery. The eldest used to eat (and try) anything until he got braces and some things had to be ruled out. The youngest one isn’t so brave and the food she eats and likes is pretty limited and plain, apart from her favourite Nigella Lawson recipe, I’ll never understand this, it contains so many things she insists she doesn’t like. Kids are weird.
So, Marley Spoon have bought out some family sized recipe kits and we thought we’d give them a go. An easy way to try something new, yes I have plenty of cookbooks but not the time to riffle through them for ideas.
All laid out and ready to go…
First off was Meatballs in red pepper sauce with spelt spaghetti. This was a bit of a risk – fennel seeds and green stuff (parsley) in the meatballs, would the youngest freak out? No, she didn’t! She loved the meatballs, we all loved the meatballs, so easy to make and the result juicy and tender, not dense and chewy.
The end result!
Ade and the kids weren’t too sure about the red pepper sauce, when it comes to pasta, I normally knock up a robust tomato sauce so I think everyone kind of missed that, a compliment to me I guess.
Day two of the Marley Spoon challenge!
The following night I have to admit, the kids ended up going home before dinner of Creamy chicken curry with Indian bread. So Ade and I were left with a hell of a lot of food to get through (it could have served between 4-5 people.) Due to the yoghurt content, we couldn’t re-heat it to eat the next day. The curry was subtle, cooked with garam masala, spinach, chickpeas and yoghurt, no faffing, so simple.
A winning result
Marley Spoon‘s ingredients are well sourced and free-range from small independent suppliers but the naan bread was Sharwood’s, perhaps there are no such places offering them? A gap in the market maybe? Now I expected Ade to not be very keen on this meal, he’s not a big fan of healthy food but he went back for seconds! I’ll never understand people – it’s a good job I’m not psychologist.
I used to presume recipe kits like these are marked-up produce for cash rich, time poor people, but Marley Spoon actually compare their ingredients with high street supermarkets and so nothing is over priced, in fact they cost less (the cost starts at £4 per portion). Obviously you pay for the convenience of everything being portioned out and delivered though.
The only thing I didn’t like about the site is you can’t browse the recipes before inputting all your details (unless you click here). I don’t think anyone would sign up for such a plan before they know what they’re going to get.
For us, Marley Spoon would be a good back-up for when we’re up against it and want to serve up tasty food without resorting to the same old dishes. Plus it avoids that massively annoying thing of not being able to find that vital ingredient.
Marley Spoon provided our recipe kits, this does not affect our review in any way. We always write with complete honesty.
