Ding Dong... Dinner is Here!
- Sophia Kamveris, MS, RDN
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
So the last time I blogged on pre-cooked home delivery meal services was May 2017. In that time frame, the ones I reviewed (along with many others) have gone out of business. When I asked dietitians across America for some delivery service companies, I received one that was local to Massachusetts —Tough Cookies. I contacted the company through their website and was able to speak with the owner, Allie. Like before, being a dietitian has some perks. I got to try the meals at no cost to me. Prices begin at $11.95 per meal and vary based on what program you order from.
I must admit, I was a little curious as to the name of the company. As a business owner, I always think about marketing and branding, and I wondered where the name came from. From a dietitian’s perspective, it sounded like this was a company that was all about desserts. But when I talked to Allie, I found out that the company was born to serve and support the training of athletes. In athlete circles, tough cookies personifies strength and resilience. In 2017, Allie’s brother (a boxer) approached his sister with a challenge to create “high-nutrition meals that were both delicious and easy to eat during intense training.” Today, the business has expanded beyond the athletic world.
I talk to tons of people and am aware of the constraints many people have today regarding meal preparation. Busy work and life schedules makes it very challenging to shop, plan, and cook meals. So a service like this is quite beneficial to ease and support one’s busy day.
From an environmental standpoint. I've never been a fan of the meals that come delivered that you have to cook. I do like the idea that it promotes people to cook from scratch but waste is an important component for me. There's a lot of little plastic bags that are filled with mere servings of seasonings that end up in landfills. What I absolutely loved about the Tough Cookie meals is that they arrived in compostable containers (the bottoms). A+ for that.
It was easy to review the website for menus. You order mid-week and choose your delivery date day of either the following Sunday or Monday. Delivery tracking was helpful and accurate. I could see where the driver was and I got a few updates as to how close they were. I decided to wait for them outside and they were there within minutes of their ETA. The meals arrived in an insulated bag with two ice packs in them. The packs weren’t as icy as I thought they’d be but it was pretty hot that day. The food containers were cold to touch. I am not sure of the packing to delivery time.
I decided to choose five meals that represented breakfast, lunch and dinner meals (pictures below).
Veggie Cheddar Quiche
Buffalo Chicken Salad
BBQ Pulled Pork
Citrus and Herb Grilled Chicken
Creamy Caramelized Onion and Mushroom.
The quiche was a single piece. It appears to be a sixth sized portion of a 9-inch pie plate. It was 280 calories with 11 grams of protein. It was tasty. It reminded me that I should probably make some of my own egg scrambles in a muffin tin and freeze them myself. But it was a nice treat for a grab and go item for the week. It gets an A.
The Buffalo chicken dish was very good. I am VERY picky about the quality of the meat in (any of my) meals. This was 100% chicken breast; very tender and the seasoning wasn’t too spicy. It was 310 calories with 23 grams of protein. It had just enough zing to it. I wasn’t crazy about the bed of lettuce. It was mostly raw kale, which is bunny food to me (yes! I said that). I can understand how the lettuce has to stand up and not get wilted as it sits in the fridge. It says it came with celery sticks but I didn’t see any. It had a lot of diced tomatoes that were pretty mushy. I would have been satisfied with celery and carrot sticks on a piece of romaine. I think the dressing was ranch but I would have preferred bleu cheese. It gets a B (but that's mostly because of the presentation and not the taste!).
The Citrus and Herb Grilled Chicken was very good! It was 420 calories with 27 grams of protein. The chicken was tender and the green beans were grilled so they were tasty. I wasn’t thrilled with white (basmati) rice. I would have liked quinoa with this meal to add some color and texture to the the presentation. It gets a B+.
The onion and mushroom dish was supposed to come over angel hair pasta but instead it arrived on spaghetti. It reminded me that a meatball was missing but this dish can stand alone as a vegetarian option; but I would have much preferred the lighter weight of the angel hair pasta. It was 180 calories with 6 grams of protein (although, I am questioning the calories because the pasta was pretty plentiful). For 6 grams of fat, it had a wonderful taste to it! It gets a B+.
The pulled pork was shared with a friend who thought it was "very good."
I can see where these home delivery services help people out quite a bit. If your day consists of long hours or you travel a lot for work, these are quite handy. I ordered these meals when I knew my week was going to be super busy and it was a treat to not have to worry about shopping or cooking. According to Allie (at Tough Cookies), you can “skip, reschedule or pause your orders,” if you need to.
I will be recommending Tough Cookies to my patients who are looking for options other than take-out or prepared grocery store meals (both of which are higher in fat and sodium!). According to the Tough Cookies website: “Our menu is constantly changing, and our client family is growing rapidly. But one thing remains the same: our commitment to providing Boston with better access to amazing nutrition.”
Here’s their website if you want to check them out.
In Good Health,
Sophie
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