Why use a meal kit?

Why use a meal kit?

For a lot of college students, cooking comes with several barriers. There's not enough time. It's too much effort. Or even that some people just don't know how to cook. Meal kits, which have been popular for more than a few years, are ideal for busy college students who often don't get to eat healthy, nutritious meals.

It saves time.

According to the 2014 American Time Use Survey, Americans ages 18 and over spent an average of 37 minutes doing food preparation and cleanup. Breaking that down further, young adults (ages 18-24) spent only 21 minutes, while older working adults spent 38 minutes everyday cooking. While this could be because of a variety of reasons – lack of cooking literacy, the convenience of eating out, more disposable income to eat out, the accessibility of ready-made meals – it's a running theme that time is a limiting factor for young people especially. Making a meal is a process that includes deciding on a recipe, getting ingredients, doing all the prep work, cooking the meal, and cleaning everything up. Meal kits help streamline the process by giving you the idea and ingredients for your dinner.

It's easy.

For a lot of people, one big barrier to cooking a meal is simply not knowing how to cook. Cooking any meal for the first time can be daunting, but meal kits are designed to show that cooking can be simple and accessible to anyone. For some, they may be a great and easy introduction to cooking. For others, they can be a helpful way to cook on a regular basis.

It's simple.

For some people, finding a recipe can be difficult because they don't have all of the required ingredients or cooking appliances. Meal kits are created with accessibility in mind, so they don't usually require gadgets or fancy techniques. Even if you don't know how to do a certain technique, there are several cooking demo videos – some of which made by Anabel's!

It's a good way to try new things.

Humans are creatures of habit. For many, this applies to cooking as well. Even if it's not the same pasta dish every night, it can be easy to fall back on a pasta dish more often than not. Getting a different meal kit is an easy way to try new foods while improving your cooking skills.

It makes you look good.

Meal kits let you cook healthy meals, which make you look good and feel healthy. But the ability to cook can also make you look good by impressing your friends, family, or significant other. Just the act of taking time to create something for someone else is a meaningful gesture. Meal kits can also be used with other people. Cooking and sharing a home-cooked meal with someone is a great way to get to know someone, teach them how to cook, or learn how to cook with them.

It's a good way to meal prep.

Cooking large quantities in advance for meals later in the week is another great way to save time and money. If you do all your cooking on the weekend or early in the week, then you don't have to spend time every night making dinner, or going out to buy something because you didn't have time to make something.

Why use Anabel's meal kits?

There are already a lot of meal kit services - Blue Apron, Sakara, HelloFresh, Martha and Marley Spoon. A lot of these services can still be on the pricey side, and often require a long term subscription. Anabel's meal kits are ideal because they're designed and assembled by college students who are studying food science and nutrition, and who understand a student's typical cooking skill level, as well as the time and financial constraints that college students face. Each meal kit ranges from $10-12 and has fresh, wholesome ingredients to make breakfast, lunch, dinner, and leftovers. Our meal kits are also easily customizable and can be adjusted to vegan, gluten free, dairy free, etc. In line with Anabel's core pillar of physical and economic accessibility, Anabel's meal kits are available to be picked up right on campus in the store, which eliminates expensive delivery fees for students on a tight budget. Unlike other meal kit services that require a long-term subscription, there are no membership fees or binding commitments with our meal kits. Pick up a box one week to test it out, get one every week or for special occasions.