- Meal kits promise to get dinner on the table in about 45 minutes, but after a long day, this can still feel like too much time.
- Gobble offers delicious meals that take just 15 minutes to cook because ingredients are pre-prepared so you don’t have to do the chopping and mixing.
- These recipes taste as good as their competitors’ meals. I made dishes that ranged from a great spaghetti with vegetables to a poke bowl.
- Read more: The best meal kit delivery services
If you’ve never tried a meal kit like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron, here’s what you’re in for. You get a pre-determined number of meals delivered to your door each week. Ingredients like produce, protein, and sauces are pre-portioned, and you just need pots and pans, and basic pantry items like salt, pepper, and olive oil.
With these meal delivery services, you get to choose your meals, which can usually accommodate many dietary restrictions, and you don’t have to shop for groceries. From opening the kits to getting them on a table, you’re working for about 45 minutes at the most.
For me, that was still too long. I've been an avid meal kit user for the past two years, so I've tested just about all of them.
My review of Gobble
At around $12 per person per meal, Gobble is priced similarly to other meal delivery services and offers a discount to first-time users (your first six meals for $36). Gobble sends out the same kinds of meals as its competitors, but somehow crams all of the meal-making into as little as 15 minutes.
Any meal kit experience feels a bit like building with LEGO. You put a few things together according to instructions, and hopefully, it turns into a great dinner. Perhaps you pour a bunch of little packets into a bowl to make a sauce. You chop your vegetables. You boil your rice for 20 minutes. You saute your aromatics.
But all of those little steps take time and create room for error. Gobble manages to serve up a meal kit experience without those steps. It's kind of like the Duplo of meal kits - there are fewer small blocks, but you can still build a nice structure. Instead of making your own sauce, Gobble sends you a premade sauce. Instead of cooking rice, Gobble sends you parboiled rice that takes a minute to microwave. Instead of chopping broccoli, Gobble sends you a bag of prechopped broccoli.
Cooking can be an outlet to unwind after a busy day but sometimes, there's just not enough time. I feel better doing something with my hands rather than staring at a screen while I wait for delivery, so I like that I can prepare a healthy meal in as little time as possible.
Gobble's taste is on par with the likes of Blue Apron and Sun Basket.
I made dishes that ranged from a great spaghetti with vegetables to a poké bowl. It also caters to those who are vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free, though there are other meal kits that cater to dietary needs much more specifically. I've seen entire boxes that can be paleo or kosher from other companies. At least with Gobble, everything is packaged separately so if you are allergic to nuts, you won't have to worry about cross-contamination.
I feel satisfied after I make a meal and don't usually feel the need for a side or snack afterward - though they sent me free cookies with my first box as a regular paying customer. They tasted great and like the rest of the dish, didn't take long to prepare.
The bottom line
Gobble is a great option for anyone who doesn't have time or energy to go to the grocery store and prepare a full meal. It's great when waiting for your oil to become fragrant with the scent of garlic takes too much time, but microwaving a frozen dinner doesn't give you the satisfaction of actually making dinner.
