Marley Spoon Meal Kit Delivery Review: Recipes, Cost and Taste
As you might already know, we love healthy food delivery services and today, I am so excited to share my honest review of Martha and Marley Spoon meal kit and recipes.
Our goal is really to find the best and most affordable options for meal delivery (whether it’s pre-made frozen meals or pre-portioned meal kits) for busy parents, families, students and anyone who wants to save time and even money.
This post contains affiliate links. See full disclosure policy here.
Here are some of the awesome reasons we love meal kit and frozen food delivery services:
- Convenience – Having all your ingredients or meals delivered to your door saves you a lot of work.
- Time-saving – Grocery shopping and meal planning can take up tons of time and meal kit and recipe boxes do it for you. And of course, you get more time to enjoy what’s important to you.
- Less food waste – Pre-portioned ingredients help to avoid this food waste.
- Save money – If you usually buy impulsively when you’re grocery shopping, having meal kits delivered to your door helps you avoid the temptation to overspend. (This was my biggest struggle saving money on food).
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s dive into this review of Martha and Marley Spoon recipes and meal kits.
[2019] Marley Spoon Meal Kit Delivery Review: Recipes, Cost and Taste
How does Marley Spoon work?
Marley Spoon is a meal delivery service offering meal plans (with recipe cards) and pre-portioned ingredients and delivers to your door.
Marley Spoon promises 7 new recipes each week for a two person box, and 5 for a family box (2 adults and 2 children) with a variety of vegetarian, meat and fish options.
Click here to try Marley Spoon Australia (Get $35 off total on your first three orders)
Click here to try Marley Spoon USA (Get $60 off total on your first three orders)
With this meal plan delivery system, you can skip any week you’d rather do your own meal planning or if you’re going away on vacation and won’t need it. You can order up to 5 weeks ahead so that you have your meals planned early.
How much is Marley Spoon per week?
Marley Spoon meal kit boxes are priced based on how many people you want to cater for and how many meals you wish to receive per week.
Typically, most people order 3 meals per week for 2 people which would be $61.50 per week (about $10 per serving) or for four people ($106 per week, which works out to be $8.90 per serving).
You can choose to order less (2 meals per week) or more (up to 4 meals per week). The more you order per week the cheaper it works out to be per serving.
Marley Spoon discount code or voucher?
Yes, you can get a discount on your first order. If you live in the United States, click here to get $60 off in total on your first four boxes.
If you are located in Australia, click here to get $35 off your first order.
My review of Marley Spoon meal kit delivery
In a snapshot (in case you are in a hurry), here are my thoughts on Martha & Marley Spoon and my first box.
Ordering Marley Spoon and sign-up process
I ordered my first box by signing up on the Marley Spoon website. The signup process was quick and easy. I had to create an account with them, choose my meal preferences and recipes, then fill out delivery and account details.
Soon after that, I received an email confirmation stating the delivery date and login details.
Delivery timing and customer service
My first order was due to arrive within 12 days after signing up and ordering. And it arrived on the exact delivery day as promised (big green tick). They sent another email confirming delivery day one day prior, which is a nice reminder.
My meal kit box was delivered directly to my door. The box was chilled and had frozen packs to keep meat and produce cool.
I’m not sure what time they delivered it as I wasn’t home to receive it but at 5 PM (when I got home and opened the box), I found all ingredients cool and in good condition.
I haven’t had to deal with customer service directly as there were no issues. But so far, I’m happy with their service.
The unboxing and food quality
I took out all the packs (three packs for three meals, plus a separate packaging for meat). The box had the ingredients for all three recipes as promised along with the recipe cards with instructions and beautiful images for all six steps.
Day 1 – Delivery day and the first meal
I placed all ingredients in the fridge with the exception of the ingredients needed to cook the Beef Green Curry Stir-fry with Greens and Jasmine Rice and proceeded to cook straight away.
I later realized I forgot to include the beef mince in the photo (oops!) since it was in a different bag.
The cooking process
So being the rule-follower that I am, I cooked the meal as instructed and everything turned out perfectly (phew!). It took me less than 30 minutes to get this meal ready, and there was barely any clean up required.
This was great since I usually dirty up tons of dishes (don’t ask me why) when I cook. I found this meal really easy to cook and the instructions were straight-forward and easy to understand.
I actually never drink wine when cooking, but never say never. You can bet there was very little fuss or stress involved in cooking dinner in this instance, which a very rare occurrence with two small children.
Portions and serving size
I was very curious to see what the serving size would be like when cooking from a meal kit. At first glance, the pre-portioned ingredients didn’t seem like much and I was doubtful that we would have adequate filling dinner servings.
But I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be big enough for two after cooking (see the photo below). In fact, we had a small amount leftover that would be eaten the next day.
Day 2 – Smoky BBQ Beef Burger with Mango, Tomato, and Aioli recipe
The second meal was actually cooked on day three post delivery since we ended up having other plans and were not home to cook.
But even on day three, I was very pleased to find the fresh produce in this kit was still fresh and good to eat. That was a big plus for me!
On their website, Marley Spoon state that they expect all the ingredients to stay fresh up to 4 days from the date of delivery to your door. I’m writing this a few days after finishing tasting all the meals, and the ingredients did remain fresh as you will see in the photos I took.
So on to this second meal – the Smoky BBQ Beef burger with Mango, Tomato, and Aioli. I have to say this was my favorite recipe. We don’t normally make burgers at home (we eat only them out), but this burger turned out delicious.
The mango gives this beef burger a fresh and healthy kick and goes really nicely with the smoky BBQ flavor infused into the beef. And my husband and I really enjoyed it.
Day 3 – Panzanella with Goat Cheese and Cherry Tomatoes
Okay, so this was technically day 4 (since we skipped cooking on day 2 as previously mentioned).
I was glad this meal was easy to cook and tasted amazing since I had never made it before.
Here is the biggest highlight – We have really enjoyed trying out new and fresh recipes without having to buy ingredients we rarely use otherwise (which minimizes food waste).
In the past, when trying out new recipes, we would buy lots of unfamiliar or rarely used ingredients only to use them once and let them rot or expire in the fridge or pantry.
Now, we can use pre-portioned ingredients through Marley Spoon meal kits for any new recipe and avoid the guilt and stress that comes from wasting food and money.
What kinds of food and recipes does Marley Spoon deliver?
Now that you know how it went for me, let’s discuss what types of food Marley Spoon offers.
Firstly, you can have a look at the current recipes for the USA here (or click here for Marley Spoon recipes in Australia) and it will give you a really good idea of what to expect.
You will find almost every kind of food from vegetarian, seafood to various cuisines. The last thing you will worry about is variety here.
Can you cancel Marley Spoon any time?
With Marley Spoon, you are not tied to a contract and you can cancel at any time. Just be sure to cancel before the box goes out for delivery.
If you log in to your account, you will see the latest date you can cancel by. Don’t forget! Otherwise, your next box will be automatically shipped out to you once you go past that date.
When I ordered my very first box to try it out, I wasn’t interested in receiving another box unless I enjoyed my first order (obviously). So a few days later (you can do it straight away too), I logged into my Marley Spoon account and paused the subscription.
It gives you an option to either cancel or pause your membership. In both instances, you can re-commence your membership any time you want.
Is Marley Spoon healthy?
Many of you might ask if Marley Spoon is healthy or will Marley Spoon meals help you lose weight (if that’s your goal).
Looking at the Marley Spoon menu (Australia, USA) you will find a majority of the recipes are sugar-free and moderately low fat with good portions of protein to carbohydrates included in most meals.
They offer quality ingredients such as grass-fed beef and they claim that their recipes make up of 60% fresh veggies (and judging by the current recipes, this seems to be the case).
Marley Spoon also gives you an option to add a fruit box with your order.
While this is the case for most of their meals, it’s up to you to choose the recipes that are identified as healthy (watch out for the healthy tags next to the recipes).
You can also click into each recipe to make sure you avoid recipes with added sugar, high-carb ingredients (if you’re aiming for low carb or weight loss).
Choose recipes with lean protein such as chicken breast and fish.
They also have meals labeled as low calorie or healthy, which is a good way to quickly filter out the best healthy options.
Busy schedules and unhealthy eating
Perhaps the least obvious way Marley Spoon might contribute to weight loss and healthy eating is through eliminating last-minute takeout and pizza delivery 😉
For most people, work or study commitments, family demands and household workload (including meal planning/cooking/clean-ups) take up tons of time.
These things can increase your mental load (emotional exhaustion and overwhelm) and put a strain on your relationships due to stress.
Stress and weight gain
The effects of stress on weight gain and unhealthy eating are real and proven by many studies.
Unhealthy eating can also arise from poor meal planning due to a busy personal schedule, and increased junk food consumption due to stress and lack of time to properly plan healthful meals and cook at home.
Does Marley Spoon have gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan options?
Marley Spoon does do vegetarian and no gluten added options. They don’t specify any meals as vegan but they do specify some meals as dairy-free and you will need to check it doesn’t include any type of meat you don’t eat.
You can easily identify these meals before clicking on the recipe to order. Simply look for the highlighted “no added gluten” or “vegetarian” labels on the photo of the recipe. See the image below for an example:
Does Marley Spoon provide paleo, low carb or keto meals?
At the time of writing this review, Marley Spoon does not have ketogenic, low carb or paleo specified in their menu.
If you are on lazy keto, it might be possible to fit their recipes into your diet by choosing low carb options and omitting any added sugar so that you stick to your daily carb limit. The same applies if you follow the paleo way of eating.
How to order Marley Spoon boxes?
To order your first meal, simply click here (USA) or click here for Australia to get your discount. When you get to the page, click Start Cooking Now.
You will be asked to fill out your meal preferences (choose what types of meat you eat and don’t eat, any allergies, intolerances etc), how many persons you need meals for, your delivery and account details, and the date you want your box to be delivered to your door.
Next, you will receive an email confirmation of your order and login details to Marley Spoon. You can then go into your Marley Spoon account and change your preferences, delay or pause subscription or choose your meals for your next box.
As you go through the recipes to order your next box, you will see tags such as kid-friendly, healthy, dairy-free, vegetarian, no gluten added next to each meal.
See the recipes before ordering
You can also click on each recipe to see all the instructions and steps that are required to make the meal.
This eliminates any doubts or hesitations you might have about the cooking process for any meal since you can see the steps (along with items and staples you’ll need) before you add it to your box.
Check what you need before ordering
Marley Spoon specifies items/kitchen supplies and pantry staples you will need for each staple (e.g. oil, salt, pepper etc) so that you can get organized ahead of the delivery day.
What are the pros and cons of Marley Spoon meal kit delivery?
When signing up for Marley Spoon, ordering my first box, cooking the meals and tasting different dishes, here is what I found.
First, what I loved about Martha & Marley Spoon:
Convenient – Meal kits undoubtedly save time spent meal planning, finding recipes and grocery shopping, and in doing so, eliminates stress for busy individuals and families.
Variety and gourmet meals – Up to 7 to 10 new recipes every week. This offers an opportunity to try out new meals and different cuisines.
Taste and quality – I found the ingredients from Marley Spoon were fresh and in good condition upon arrival. And the meals turned out delicious (no complaints there)!
Save money – If used correctly (that is, eliminating takeout and most grocery shopping), Marley Spoon reduces food waste and impulse buying.
Flexible / No Contracts – Skip meals by pausing subscription and delay your order when needed.
No cancellation fees – Cancel anytime without having to pay fees or be tied to a contract of some sort.
Now for the downsides, negatives, cons (you get the idea) of Marley Spoon:
Costly (for some) – Even when taking into consideration the money saved from reducing food waste and impulse buying, some people may find that they still overspend due to poor planning or ordering takeaway instead of cooking the meals from the box.
Potential food waste – Just like going grocery shopping (and letting fresh produce sit and rot in the fridge), the same can happen if you are tempted to skip the cooking once you get your fresh food box.
To avoid this, I would order only the number of meals you and/or your family will eat (for example, a two-person box for 3 days a week).
Main message: be honest with yourself and only order if you will cook the meals.
If you don’t like cooking or want pre-cooked meals in your freezer as a backup (hey, we all get lazy/tired sometimes!), then you might be better off ordering frozen pre-cooked meal delivery such as My Muscle Chef (read my review here).
However, even if you think you won’t enjoy cooking, try it and see how you go (you get your first box half price right now anyway)… You never know, you may just enjoy cooking fresh meals at home especially since you don’t have to do the meal planning and shopping.
And that’s a wrap!
I hope this review has been helpful. If you are ready to try Marley Spoon for yourself, be sure to get $60 off by clicking here (the USA only) or get $35 off here (Australia).
If you have any questions, let us know in the comment box below.
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