Honest Review of Martha & Marley Spoon
I thoroughly enjoy cooking for myself and coming up with new recipes on my own, so I wouldn't say meal kit delivery services are necessarily made for me. However sometimes I want a little break from having to do all the work and I'd like to order a single box.
In the past, I've tried Hello Fresh and Blue Apron. They're probably two of the most popular services out there. Each time I ordered boxes that included 3 meals or 6 servings. From what I can remember the portions were smaller than what I would consider a full meal and the produce did not stay fresh for very long.
Choosing the Right Box
Before my search I determined what I’m looking for in a meal kit delivery service:
Interesting meals that go beyond the basics (ex: chicken, broccoli and rice)
A good price that makes it worth it
Gluten-free options
I compared all of the different meal kit brands to find one that meets my needs. After reviewing options including Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef, Freshly, Sun Basket, Every Plate, Green Chef, Gobble and Dinnerly, I decided on Martha & Marley Spoon.
Why I chose Martha & Marley Spoon:
All the recipes looked interesting. There were options that even as someone who cooks a lot, I hadn't made before.
The current offer right now is $20 off of each of your first 4 orders. Meaning I got 8 servings (4 meals) for $56.91 (7.11 per serving) instead of $76.91 (9.61 per serving). Even though there were other options for cheaper, getting better gluten-free meals is more important to me.
Out of all the meal kit services, it had the most gluten-free options. I believe there were nine and they all looked like something I would want to eat!
Going through the ordering process of Martha & Marley Spoon is very easy. They start you off with a recommendation of meals that you can edit from their full selection. Each meal is tagged with different dietary keywords, making it easier to find meals for special diets. Some of these keywords include gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, meat, healthy, low carb, under 30 minutes, kid friendly, one pot meal and spicy. There are 22 meals to choose from including 2 smoothie options.
The meals I chose:
Scandinavian Crispy Salmon Bowl with Quinoa, Beets & Horseradish Cream
BBQ Spice-Rubbed Steak with Ranch Oven Fries & Wedge Salad
Cheesy Black Bean Chili with Warm Tortillas & Quick Salsa
Lean, Clean & Green Smoothie and Immune-Boosting Orange Ginger Smoothie
The only complaint I have with the ordering process is that the only day that was available to me for delivery was Tuesday. I'd rather receive my box on Monday, being it is the beginning of the week.
Receiving the Box
A day before receiving my box, I received an email from Martha & Marley Spoon letting me know that my box is on its way. The email also included what I would require to make each meal. For example salt, pepper, oil, vinegar and sugar. It also gave me the option to view and print my recipe cards ahead of time.
My delivery arrived on-time and when I opened the box, all of my food was still cold. All of the produce looked good after the trip to my house and I was ready to start cooking. Let’s take a look at what I thought about each meal.
I was the most interested in tasting this meal because it is the most different from usual meals. I loved the horseradish addition to the meal, but I wasn’t a fan of the roasted beets (and I love beets).
Rating: ★★
This meal is my favorite! It was not only the easies to make, but also different than the traditional chili I would make. I really liked the addition of the corn and poblano peppers.
Rating: ★★★★★
Love this meal! It was what I would consider the most basic meal out of what I chose, but the seasoning used on the steak and fries stepped it up from what I would normally put on my food.
Rating: ★★★★
Both smoothies turned out more like a juice than a smoothie. I definitely think at-home smoothies work better with frozen fruit, but I understand why that doesn’t work for food delivery services.
Rating: ★
My Overall Thoughts
The serving sizes are larger than other boxes I’ve tried. The meals are filling.
The meals were hit or miss depending on your preferences. I think this is something you risk with these subscription boxes, but it also gets you to try new things that you might end up really liking.
I did not like the smoothies very much. If I were to order again I would not want to choose any of the smoothie options based on this experience.
The price is higher than some other options, but I think it is worth the larger portions and the amount of choices for gluten-free people.
Overall Rating: ★★★★
Would I Order Another Box?
I think that this box is the best I’ve tried so far for reasons I’ve stated above. However I do not see myself ordering another box in the future. Even though I could see this box working for me and my dietary needs, I don’t think meal kit delivery boxes are the right thing for me. I know that I can make meals at home for less money and that I have more control over what I can do with ingredients.
Do I recommend the box?
I think the Martha Marley Spoon Box is the right fit for someone who A) Has dietary restrictions B) Is looking for larger serving sizes than the ordinary box. Besides those two points, I don’t see much of a difference between the Martha Marley Spoon Box and other subscriptions out there. So if those things are important to you, I would definitely recommend trying out the service and if they’re not, I would tell you to do some research to choose which one is best for you.
I hope you all got some good information out of this post! Let me know if you’ve ever tried out Martha Marley Spoon and what your experience was like. Also let me know if you decide to try it out for yourself. Tag me, @alleydoesfood on instagram if you do!
