Snap Kitchen Review

Based in Austin, Texas, in 2010, Snap Kitchen affords fully-cooked, heat-and-eat meals by way of a weekly subscription. Snap delivers to fifteen completely different states, affords in-store choose up in shops in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, and may be discovered at choose Complete Meals Market places.

Snap Kitchen says its objective is to “empower busy individuals to eat properly with out compromise,” believing that you just don’t have to decide on between well being and comfort. The corporate additionally cares about sustainability and demonstrates this by providing totally recyclable packaging. It has donated over 4 million meals to charities as a service to the neighborhood.

Meals are created by cooks with enter from the Snap Kitchen’s employees registered dietitians. Subscribers can select from Snap’s low carb, Complete 30, excessive protein, keto-friendly, and paleo meal plans. All meals are free from gluten, soy, preservatives, synthetic sweeteners, and added hormones. We tried the service to see what it’s all about.

Pricing: Easy and Simple

Snap Kitchen affords two weekly meal supply subscription choices at both six or 12 meals per week. You’ll be able to select from any weight-reduction plan class for each plans and delivery is free.

Weekly plan choices abstract: 

• 6 meals per week: $75.99 ($12.67 per meal)
• 12 meals per week: $125.99 ($10.50 per meal) 

How It Works: Getting Meals Is a Snap

Signing up for Snap Kitchen on-line is fast and straightforward from a desktop laptop or cellular machine. When establishing an account, you’ll be able to preview the menu, choose your meal plan and most well-liked supply dates, after which fill your field with meals. Use filters to view meal choices by weight-reduction plan class or by the calorie vary, protein sort, allergens, and goal ranges for carbs, sodium, and fiber.

You don’t must decide to a particular weight-reduction plan with Snap Kitchen. You’ll be able to combine meals from any of the completely different weight-reduction plan classes with ease. Simply be sure you enter your order appropriately because you received’t be capable of change it after your order is locked in. As soon as your first field is dispatched, your subscription will mechanically renew on the weekly fee until you skip per week or cancel your account.

Snap Kitchen solely affords recent, by no means frozen, heat-and-eat meals. Every meal is designed to serve one, so this service works properly for busy individuals with entry to a microwave or typical oven. What you see is what you get, because the meals can’t be personalized. Nevertheless, the corporate affords quite a lot of completely different taste profiles.

The meals are packaged in order that do-it-yourself sauces and dressings are added after reheating for optimum taste and texture. Elements embrace quite a lot of animal proteins, reminiscent of beef, bison, pork, poultry, and seafood. Meals additionally embrace greens and grains together with a number of rice plus quinoa and gluten-free pasta.

Selecting Meals: Meals With Attraction

Scrolling by means of the menu, you’re met with quite a lot of colourful and engaging meals that promise taste and aptitude. Snap Kitchen retains it easy, providing 35 meals that may work for lunch or dinner and only one choice for breakfast.

You received’t be capable of customise your meals or exclude particular substances and there are not any meal add-on choices. However relying in your supply space, you may be capable of add chilly brew espresso, kombucha, packaged salads and soup, and healthful snacks reminiscent of plantain chips, pumpkin seeds, almond butter packets, and beef jerky to your field.

The menu consists of some seasonal choices, new meals, all-time favorites just like the Korean barbeque meatballs, and classics with comfort-food vibes just like the turkey meatloaf and ranch burger entrees. Nevertheless, whereas the entrees are different, you received’t discover a lot number of vegan or vegetarian entrees.

When deciding on your meals, remember that the meals have a refrigerated shelf lifetime of three to seven days. 

Your subscription will renew every week until you bear in mind to go in and skip a supply or cancel your subscription. There isn’t a solution to order on-demand or to solely order one meal. The automated renewal may be a problem for busy (or forgetful) individuals.

With loads of overlap, there are 35 complete meal choices throughout the six weight-reduction plan classes. The choices change, however right here is how the menu formed up on the time of this overview:

• Seven Excessive Protein choices such because the bison quinoa bowl with peppers and onions
• 9 Stability entrees which have a tendency to incorporate a extra liberal carbohydrate for dishes just like the baked ziti with Italian beef sausage
• Eight Keto-friendly dishes just like the Cajun salmon with braised greens and bacon
• Eight Low-carb choices together with the romesco hen with grilled kale and mushrooms
• 13 paleo meals just like the za’atar hen with lemon-roasted potatoes
• 12 Whole30 reminiscent of almond-crusted salmon with roasted carrots and zucchini

There have been 5 new entrees listed on the menu when ordered, together with a seasonally applicable turkey and butternut squash stuffing with cranberry sauce. The menu additionally consists of six entrees labeled as favorites together with the cod piccata with garlic roasted cauliflower and Korean BBQ meatballs with sesame broccoli and carrots we reviewed.

You’ll be able to skip or make modifications to the menu objects, supply handle, and cost methodology up till 11:59 p.m. CT on the day earlier than your lock date, which may differ however is a few week earlier than the scheduled supply. 

What We Made

We didn’t filter for any meals restrictions and selected a mix of member favorites and people with completely different taste profiles. We went with the six-meal plan and obtained all meals as promised per week later. For the aim of this overview, we’ll share suggestions on the 5 meals beneath, which spotlight the number of the meals we obtained:

• Cod piccata with garlic-roasted cauliflower
• Almond-crusted salmon with roasted carrots and zucchini
• Turkey meatloaf with potato-turnip mash and inexperienced beans
• Korean bbq meatballs with sesame broccoli and carrots
• Steak avenue tacos and Spanish rice pilaf with salsa verde

Packaging: Largely Environment friendly

The meals arrived in a compact cardboard field with 29 items of recyclable packaging inside. The meals have been stored completely chilly utilizing three strategically positioned ice packs. Every meal got here in a two-piece BPA-free recyclable plastic meal container, every with a sticker label. 5 of the meals additionally included a two-piece ramekin inside to carry taste boosters like barbeque or marinara sauce. The meals have been stored in place with cardboard dividers and the recyclable insulating field liner.

Whereas most packaging was important for conserving the meals cool and safe throughout delivery, there have been a few further items of paper that appeared pointless. The heavy inventory paper packet full of a postcard and two stickers did not add to the expertise and we felt this could possibly be eradicated. 

The field was well-packed and the meals was chilly to the contact though it shipped about 36 hours earlier than and traveled by means of a number of southern states within the early fall warmth.

Be aware: Folks dwelling close to pickup places can subscribe to a Native Meal Plan and choose up their meals or use a neighborhood courier as an alternative of choosing customary delivery by way of FedEx, UPS, or Ontrac. 

Buyer Assist: A number of Avenues

Snap Kitchen typically offers clear details about its meals and the service.

Every meal consists of microwave directions on the label. Nevertheless, Snap Kitchen recommends reheating within the oven as the popular methodology. It will assist to print the oven-reheating directions subsequent to the microwave ones (or direct clients to the web site) since utilizing the standard oven is most well-liked. 

The corporate offers a helpful FAQ part that’s simple to seek for and is usually up to date. This was useful to us in studying extra about how the meals are shipped, whether or not the packaging is recyclable, how the service works, and what the completely different dietary designations imply. As a service, the corporate additionally affords a handful of instructional and well timed weblog posts to assist wholesome consuming as properly. This can be a good service for purchasers since they is likely to be visiting the location every week. 

General, we had a optimistic customer support expertise. Fortunately, all meals have been delivered as promised with no points when it comes to high quality or freshness. However when issues come up, the corporate affords a handy on-line chat to shortly join with buyer assist in addition to e-mail and cellphone which have an extended response time. We reached out to customer support twice (as soon as by chat and one other by cellphone) to kind out an admin situation that arose after we canceled our account. After contacting them the second time by cellphone, the difficulty was resolved inside a couple of minutes.

Vitamin: Numerous Protein

Snap Kitchen hits the mark for the diets it helps. Vitamin info for every meal is obtainable on the level of buy, making it simple to see how the meals will match into any weight-reduction plan or consuming plan. General, Snap Kitchen does job disclosing the big eight food allergens and sesame on the label. Although most are clearly marked, a few meals didn’t embrace allergens on the web label.

True to keto and low-carb fashion, most meals heart on animal protein and are excessive in protein. The corporate’s cooks do job pairing the meat, fish, or poultry with high-quality greens so as to add fiber, colour, and enhance the general nutrient worth of the dish. Nevertheless, some meals are decrease in energy and will depart you wanting extra meals. 

Snap Kitchen does point out consuming clear in just a few locations—highlighting that its meals accommodates no preservatives, antibiotics, synthetic sweeteners, hormones, or different “junk.” However contemplating the corporate’s deal with restrictive diets, the location doesn’t lean too closely into weight-reduction plan language, opting as an alternative for an eat higher, really feel higher motto over one about weight reduction. Nonetheless, there’s an underlying theme round clear consuming. 

The Cooking Course of: Very Easy

Meals may be prepared inside about 3 minutes or much less, the place the cooking course of consisted of opening the packaging, following the cooking directions, and checking if the substances have been completely cooked.

The microwave heating directions on the package deal have been clear and applicable for the person meals. Nevertheless, the meals are a lot better when reheated in a traditional oven, which is Snap Kitchen’s most well-liked reheating methodology. The issue? You’d solely know this in case you occur to learn the directions for every meal on the web site. There, you will see that heating directions for each oven and microwave reheating choices.

Usually talking, the instructions have been clear. Nevertheless, there have been instances when the meals wanted greater than the really helpful time within the oven, and when microwaving, it could be simple to neglect to take away the plastic ramekin. Most meals weren’t applicable for reheating on the stovetop, and it could have helped to separate the elements a bit to make sure even cooking.

Taste, Freshness, and High quality: Above Common

Borrowing from worldwide cuisines but introduced as acquainted, Snap Kitchen offers a various number of taste profiles. The substances are prime quality and are delivered recent. General, the meals have been well-seasoned and attractive. We didn’t want so as to add salt and didn’t discover that any of the dishes have been overly salty.

Usually, individuals may keep away from meals like turkey meatloaf as it might typically be dry. However Snap Kitchen did job including moisture to the meatloaf and making it style like one thing you’d make at house. The salmon within the almond-crusted salmon was certainly dense and a bit dry—although nonetheless tremendous to eat. Alternatively, the cod piccata was a welcome addition to the week. The fish was moist and flaky and seasoned properly, with a tangy lemon sauce and capers to drive the flavour house. Although the piccata was a favourite, we wanted so as to add extra greens because the portion was small—with solely 5 small cauliflower florets, we have been left feeling hungry and had so as to add extra meals to dinner.

The steak tacos have been tender, however they lacked taste with out the salsa verde on high. Although these avenue tacos are a member favourite, this one missed the mark when it comes to presentation because the delicate corn tortillas crumbled and fell aside after heating. With or with out the sauce, the Korean BBQ meatballs have been a favourite and left our tasters wanting extra. Although the rice bought a bit powerful upon heating within the oven, the meatballs have been tender and flavorful.

Snap Kitchen says on its web site that its objective is to supply protein “as responsibly as potential, whereas nonetheless conserving our meals accessible.” There are just a few particulars accessible about sourcing, together with utilizing cage-free and licensed humane egg whites and liquid complete eggs, in addition to wild-caught shrimp and cod.

Snap Kitchen Is Good For

Snap Kitchen says its objective is to empower busy individuals to eat properly with out compromise, and it appears to hit the mark. The meals are tasty, nutritious, and straightforward to organize. You’ll be able to set and neglect the subscription and have lunch and dinner able to go on most days of the week. Nevertheless, it’s not match for vegans, vegetarians, and anybody who prefers to prep and prepare dinner meals.

The Competitors: Snap Kitchen vs. Mother’s Meals

We in contrast Snap Kitchen to Mother’s Meals as each companies present warmth and eat meals that cater to particular dietary wants. And each are created with cooks and dietitians on the staff and embrace a mix of consolation meals and globally-influenced flavors.

Snap Kitchen, nonetheless, is considerably dearer (beginning at $10.50 per serving in comparison with $6.99 per serving) and caters to busy individuals who want a low-carb, higher-protein weight-reduction plan that does not have components. Mother’s Meals targets senior adults with meals designed to assist handle power illness. The meals typically comprise preservatives and components and have a tendency to have a extra comfort-food focus. Plus you should use Medicaid, Medicare, and different well being plans to get Mother’s Meals. That isn’t an choice with Snap Kitchen. 

Methodology

We ordered, cooked, and evaluated meals from 27 meal supply companies to get a way of every one’s choices, diet profiles, costs, and, in fact, flavors. We contacted the customer support groups at every of the businesses, crammed out surveys, and wrote detailed evaluations about every one.

Our writers are all registered dietitians and relied on their analysis and its ensuing knowledge to tell their evaluations.