We all need to eat, but it’s not always easy to prepare healthy meals. Grocery shopping takes time, and it’s not always convenient or easy to find fresh, healthy ingredients. For some, getting around the store or bringing purchases home can be difficult. But there are ways to overcome these challenges and eat healthy.
Today, dozens of companies cater to your nutritional needs with customizable meal plans, many of which can also be customized to meet your dietary needs and preferences. Take a look!
Customizable Meal Kits
Do you love to cook but find it a hassle to get all the ingredients in the right quantities? Do you wish you could try out a new recipe every day, but don’t have access to a car or have trouble carrying heavy groceries up the stairs? If you also have specific dietary restrictions, it can be difficult to keep thinking of new, appetizing meals to make.
These days, it’s all the rage to have meal kits delivered, so you can enjoy the fun part of preparing a healthy meal without having to worry about the grocery shopping. You can choose a plan based on how often you’d like to receive ingredients, and whether you plan on cooking for yourself alone or preparing meals for family or friends to share. Meal kits come with recipes to follow, but since you’ll be preparing the food, it’s often easy to add or remove ingredients to fit your dietary needs.
Here are a few you may be interested in:
- HelloFresh allows you to create a plan that fits your lifestyle. You can customize your order to either “classic” or “veggie,” choose the amount of servings you want to prepare and specify how frequently you want the kits delivered. HelloFresh offers 10 new recipes each week, ranging from butternut squash risotto to New York strip steak. Each meal is around $10.
- GreenChef offers organic, seasonal ingredients and traditional, Paleo or vegan menus featuring recipes such as barbecue tempeh and apple-stuffed chicken. You can even view the company’s suppliers to see where the ingredients come from. The kits will be dropped off in refrigerated boxes on the days of your choice, and you don’t even need to be home to receive them. Prices range from $10 to $15 for each meal.
- PeachDish allow you to include a main course, side and a vegetable, rather than just a main dish. PeachDish also provides a list of its suppliers and gives in-depth instructions on how to prepare recipes on its website, so you can view them before ordering. Prices vary, but a single meal is typically $12.50. You can subscribe for weekly delivery, make a one-time order or buy certain southern-style entrees, kitchen staples or treats from the PeachDish store. (Check out these chocolate chocolate chip almond cookies!)
Don’t Want to Cook? Meals That Meet Your Needs
Even if you don’t want to cook, there are plenty of meal delivery kits that can help you meet your specific dietary needs. These can be much healthier choices than the take-out or frozen dinners that are so easy to grab when you don’t feel like spending time in the kitchen, but they don’t sacrifice flavor. You may have to limit your salt or sugar, but these options prove you can still enjoy mouth-watering meals.
Low Sodium
Even if you’re relatively healthy, too much sodium can lead to conditions such as high blood pressure or heart disease. While people of all ages should be keeping an eye on their sodium intake, the National Institute on Aging recommends people over the age of 51 should reduce their sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day.
Meal delivery service Magic Kitchen offers sodium-controlled options such as basil chicken with rice and zucchini. You can order either a la carte or in sets of seven meals, which are typically around $80 each. The nutritional information is available online, so even if you need to restrict your sodium beyond the National Institute on Aging’s guidelines, you can plan accordingly.
Diabetic-Friendly
More than 25 percent of adults over the age of 65 have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. For those who are affected by diabetes, there are meal delivery options that cater to lowering blood sugar, blood cholesterol and blood pressure.
Bistro MD, Diet-to-Go and EasyLife Meals all offer programs specifically targeted toward people with diabetes. Bistro MD even includes dietitian support along with its meals. Diet-to-Go’s diabetes-focused plan follows the American Diabetes Association guidelines for carbohydrates and fat, and is also recommended for people managing pre-diabetes. Each service has different delivery and meal options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so browse the sites to see which one is right for you.
Allergy-Conscious and Diet-Specific
Even if you must avoid specific foods, there may be a meal delivery plan for you. Paleta allows you to choose from a wide array of customizable meal plans, whether you have a specific allergy, are gluten free or stick to a plant-based diet. Healthy Chef Creations is another option for vegetarian and vegan or gluten-free meals, and it offers a Healthy Senior program, which includes free shipping with its dishes that range from a veggie quinoa breakfast bowl to cilantro lime cod.
As you can see, meal delivery services do not have to be limiting or boring. There are plenty of customizable meal options, whether you’re looking for daily meals or just a few options per week. If you have a specific health concern, talk to your doctor or nutritionist before subscribing to any meal plan to make sure you’ve found the best option.
Have you tried any of these meal options? Do you have a favorite meal from one of them? Share your recommendations on Facebook or Twitter!