Thanks very much for giving this a go for the benefit of everyone here. I am sorry your first meal was not 'good value' for you, Anna. I probably would not have followed their directions to the T either if they asked me to use a box grater. I might have just put the sweet potato in the oven or microwave and cooked it that way - or, as you did, grate it using other means. I agree with you on thin pork chops. I have no idea why anyone ever buys those for just the reason you stated - they are tough even before you can flip them - especially if cooked in a sauté pan. I probably would have known that too upon seeing how thick they were, and perhaps decided not to cook them as directed either. They are designing meals for the lowest common denominator, not that I blame them, but it means that many just won't 'work' for some reason or other for everyone. If everyone who orders that meal finds the pork chops too thin to cook without being tough, I hope people provide that feedback so the company decides to include thicker chops or changes the recipe or discontinues that recipe in future.
I thought the prices were not bad (in line with US kit prices it seems which is a great bargain in Canada - no exchange increase, etc.). I thought the meals pictured for this week looked great (on screen) but seemed very limited as you noted - and I didn't want to push the 'order' button to find out whether I would get to choose IF I was in their delivery area (which I am not).
I see that they mention they do occasionally offer gluten and dairy free options (which are not something I would want or need) but I wonder if they allow you to choose not only the main selection but particular elements of the meal otherwise (in other words, could one substitute kale for something else if desired?). I doubt it unfortunately - and I understand why - though perhaps one could ask them not to bother sending kale at all if one knows one dislikes it or cannot eat it even though one's value for a meal goes down if they do that.
And, given that apparently only their liners are 'unrecyclable' (but may be reusable), I am wondering what other things in your kit(s) seemed overly packaged (in, I guess, an environmentally poor manner) to you?
Another question - Portion size? Did it seem sufficient? If you had only half (i.e. a single portion) of any given 2 person dish (and enjoyed every morsel of your meal), would you have leftovers or been left hungry?
Aside from the fact that I doubt I could ever get any kind of 'meal kit' delivered here, one of the issues for me would still remain that so many of them seem to include kale and other cruciferous/brassica vegetables (and soy) which I am not supposed to eat. That is probably because they are fairly hardy and would stand up reasonably well to transport, (as opposed to things like lettuce).
