Prepared food delivery services have been on the rise in Canada over the past few years. This is likely due to the convenience and affordability they offer consumers. However, not all meal kit services are created equal. In this blog post, we will warn readers about the dangers of ordering the cheapest meal kits in Canada.
Note this will not talk about cheap home delivery, rather meal kit delivery services in Canada. (Everyone already knows takeout is terrible for your health so there’s no point in even talking about it.)
6 Things That Remove the “Cheerful” From the Cheapest Food Kit in Canada
When you think of cheap meal kits, the first thing that comes to mind is probably convenience. After all, who doesn’t love getting everything they need to make a meal without having to leave the house? But what if we told you that there are some things about cheap meal kits that can actually take the convenience away? Well, here are six reasons why ordering meals from low-cost meal delivery services in Canada isn’t “cheap and cheerful”.
1. You’ll Be Eating the Same Meal Plans Every Week With Canada’s Cheapest Meal Kits
Many cheap meal delivery services in Canada offer the same weekly meal plans over and over again. This can get boring fast, not to mention it’s unhealthy to eat the same thing every day. Eating the same thing is bad for your diet: if you eat the same thing every day, your body will stop responding to it and start storing more fat.
It won’t just make you gain weight, it’ll make sticking to a healthy diet harder. After all, if you’re eating the same soggy vegetables and bland chicken dinners, you’re more likely to pick up the phone and order something from the 30-minute easy greasy next door.
Regularly changing menus and flavorful dishes are what will keep you trucking through even the strongest of cravings.
2. Low-Quality Ingredients That Are Harmful to Your Health
Cheap meal kit delivery services in Canada often use low-quality ingredients in their food. This can be harmful to your health and risk causing illnesses in the long run. For example, artificial preservatives are often used in cheapest meal kits in Canada. These chemicals are known to be harmful and can cause cancer, asthma, and other serious diseases.
You should avoid cheap meal kits because they’re more likely to contain ingredients such as MSG, artificial sweeteners, or trans fats. Some food ingredients that you’ll commonly find in cheap food kits are:
- Sodium nitrite
- Potassium bromate
- Benzoates
- Sulphites
- Artificial colors
- Artificial flavoring
Not that they’ll you’ll know they’re there because there won’t be any food labels telling you what you’re actually eating.
At Protein Chefs, our delicious meals are made from scratch using fresh ingredients only. We NEVER use any preservatives or artificial flavors. All the meals are then packaged and shipped to you fresh until you’re ready to heat them up in your oven or microwave.
3. Meals Are Prepared by Amateur Cooks and Don’t Follow Canada’s Food Guide (or Know What it Is)
Cheap meal kits are often prepared by amateur cooks who don’t follow Canada’s Food Guide (they’ll be too busy following recipe cards). This means that the food you eat won’t be balanced. Too much protein one day, too little the entire next week.
Worse still, there’s no guarantee what kind of quality control measures are being taken to ensure that what you’re eating is safe for consumption. Don’t expect meals to be pre-portioned either, making sticking to your diet that much harder.
Did you know at Protein Chefs all our staff is Food Handler certified and meals are prepared by master chefs?
4. Taste the Difference of Stale, Store-Bought Produce
The cheapest meal kit delivery services in Canada often use stale, store-bought produce for their recipes–and that’s something you’ll definitely be able to taste. Pulpy produce, discolored greens, and antibiotic-laden meats. Sounds unappetizing to us just writing it, you’ll actually have to eat it.
If your cheap service has used really old produce and meats, it can lead to food poisoning if not cooked properly. If the meal delivery service is trying to save cents here, you don’t know where else corners may have been cut.
5. You Get Artificial Preservatives for Free With the Canada’s Cheapest Meal Kit
That’s one shortcut most meal delivery services in Canada take–loading up their food with artificial preservatives. These chemicals are harmful to your health and can cause a variety of illnesses (see above).
Some of the most common preservatives that you’ll find in the cheapest meal kits in Canada are:
- Sodium benzoate
- Potassium sorbate
- Sulphites
- Nitrites
At Protein Chefs, we never use any preservatives or artificial flavors in our food. We use a combination of freshly cooked food and vacuum-sealed packaging to preserve flavors.
Here’s What You Need To Know |
6. Low-Quality Plastic Packaging That Contaminates Your Food and the Environment
Cheap meal kit delivery services often use low-quality plastic packaging that can contaminate your food and the environment. In addition, this type of packaging is often not recyclable and contributes to landfill waste.
There’s a lot of attention being drawn to cheap plastic containers for food packaging and food contamination. Recent studies have shown non-food-safe, low-quality plastics leak microplastics into the food.
Protect your and your family’s health by making sure your meal kit delivery service uses packaging made from food-safe materials that are recyclable.
The Cheapest Meal Kit Delivery in Canada Will Be No Better Than Fat-Laden Ready-to-Eat Meals
In the long run, cheap meal delivery kits are no better than eating greasy food from Uber eats or your favorite restaurant. They may be convenient and affordable but at what cost?
Don’t be fooled into thinking cheap meal kits are a good idea! If you want to save money and eat healthily. You’re better off spending more money on high-quality meals that won’t make you sick in the long run.
Instead, This Is What You Should Look for In Healthy Meal Kit Delivery Service in Canada
If you want to enjoy delicious healthy meals without having to slave over a hot stove or grocery shop, we recommend that all Canadians consider meal delivery services. If you’re not sure what to look for when deciding between meal kit companies, here are some things to keep in mind:
- The meal delivery service should have a good reputation and be reliable. (For instance, are they mentioned in health magazines?)
- You should only order from a service that uses fresh, high-quality ingredients.
- The meal delivery service should not use artificial preservatives in their food.
- The meal delivery service should have a wide range of meal options to choose from so that you won’t get tired of eating the same thing every day.
- They should support local farms by buying local.
- The meal delivery service should use food- and environmentally-safe packaging materials.
Eat Healthy Without Burning a Hole in Your Pocket
It’s why thousands of people across Toronto and the GTA turn to us for thousands of meals every week. Enjoy flavorful, nutritious meals every day without the hassle of shopping at the grocery store, cooking, and cleaning.
Check out our menu (yes, we accept credit cards). We have dishes to suit every dietary need–keto, paleo, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and more.
