Riverford Organic Recipe Box Review

One of the delights of being a full time, working from home mum is getting to think of what to eat for the full family at every meal time. I love to cook (when I get time to faff) and love food (when I can be led by my cravings and get to sit and enjoy my food) but generally meal planning in the week leaves me cold.

We’ve got our favourites down pat and my click and collect food basket has barely changed in over a year. IfI could pay someone to devise healthy meals, shop for them and probably even cook them I would. Luckily the Carnivore enjoys cooking and is very good at it, otherwise we may all be very hungry (jokes).

I’ve looked into recipe boxes and delivery services before and been tempted but never quite got round to trying them out. When Riverford contacted us about trying their organic recipe boxes I was keen to give it a whirl – it would be one less meal to plan, right? All I had to do was tell them if we wanted a veg or meat box and they would do the rest.

I ordered the Herbivore option (natch) and we knew we could do something for the Carnivore to meat it up later. I was told when our box would be delivered and then I knew Sunday’s tea would be taken care of. The ingredients are good for around 5 days so even though it was delivered in the week, we had time to use it up.

If followed my stories on Instagram you’ll have seen the grand unveil – It’s a nice treat to not know what you’ll be eating that night. Kind of like when your beau cooks a surprise for you…except you’ve been married several years, with two kids and no one has time for surprises any more. Hurrah for Riverford!

The meal was Crispy Tofu and Peanut and Lime Greens – right up my herbivore street – but (no offence) but tofu has never been a great love for my meaty man, so we changed his to chicken but all with the same sauces.

All of the food is in the right portion sizes in handy containers, so you have very little food prep or chopping to do. This is the one area I had a wobble, as we try to be as environmentally conscious as possible and so individual portions in packaging erk me. They do re-use or recycle everything, including the box the meal is delivered in, and I couldn’t think of a better way for it to be done, so it’s fair enough. I know Riverford care about organic, wholesome living so I’m sure this is something they are working on.

All in all, I think we would keep using the subscription service and especially right now when we are so busy with our littles and can’t dedicate tons of thought to meal planning and preparation. I also know that by using a recipe kit we’ll be getting balanced, healthy meals rather than going to heavy on one food group (hello carbs!).

Have you tried recipe kits? Or do you get a thrill out of meal planning and food chopping?