How a Meal Kit Delivery Service Made Me a Better Cook

I wrote a few months ago how Husband and I started using Marley Spoon to help manage weeknight dinners with our mutually crazy busy schedules. We’d fallen into a rut of either chicken and rice or take-out and needed to add some creativity to our meals without the labor of meal planning and grocery shopping. We’ve kept it up for several months now and the short version of the story is: WE LOVE IT! BUT! I’m taking mostly online classes this summer, which means I’m actually going to be around! Like around my house! To make grocery lists and pick recipes and rummage up my own versions of creative cooking. So, we’re putting a pause on Marley Spoon and Husband is very sad. Since I’ve been getting home so late, he’s the one who ends up doing the majority of the cooking and usually has a delicious warm meal waiting for me when I get home. He’s gotten used to the printed recipe card and the pre-portioned ingredients and I don’t think he’s very confident that my skills will match up their previously delivered predecessor.

BUT! I do think Marley Spoon has actually made me a better cook! And even though we’re taking a break (it’s not you, Marley Spoon, it’s us!), I think I’ll be able to transfer some of my new skills into my every day kitchen adventures. So, even though Husband is going to be greatly missing our weekly brown boxes, I’m hoping he’ll be a little impressed of some tips I’ve picked up along the way.

For example:

1. Trying new things. Without Marley Spoon, I never would have realized that I like leeks! Or ricotta cheese on pasta or curry on eggplant or coconut in rice or a number of other things that I now enjoy and plan to repeat.
2. Adding texture. Marley Spoon recipes are all about adding in chopped nuts or grated lemon peel or crunchy slaw to make things much more interesting than my usual bland bowl of noodles.
3. Applying toppings. Marley Spoon recipes love toppings! Drizzles of olive oil, sprinkles of cilantro, dashes of lime juice, or dollops of greek yogurt are all delicious ways to add a bit more flavor (and make the dish look really pretty!)
4. Using things in different ways, like green onions in scones and kale on toast and salsa with steak. I’ve really switched up my meal repertoire of what things “belong” together.
5. Incorporating loads of veggies, but not necessarily in a salad. I eat lots of salads, but sometimes salads get boring, which is why I appreciate all the new ways to prepare vegetables with dinner, such as roasting peppers, marinating cucumbers, making a pile of radishes, mixing spinach with pasta, blending vegetables into a broth, baking carrot chips, etc, etc.
6. Ordering cooking steps to ensure maximum flavor, like sautéing aromatics to bring out the spices or putting a bowl in the freeze to obtain the right consistency or broiling something on medium first before turning it to high.

I’m sure I’ll continue adding to this list as I start to branch out with my own recipes this week, but overall, I’m really thankful to Marley Spoon for helping me to be a better cook. Now, I just need to convince Husband.

Anyone else tried a meal kit delivery service?

This post is completely my own creation with no input from Marley Spoon, although I’m really thinking they should add me on as a spokesperson. 🙂