cooksimple Gluten-Free Meal Kits Review {Giveaway Closed}
I’m so relieved that the chaos of last week has come to an end. Friday was particularly intense, as the entire city of Boston and surrounding areas were on lockdown. I’m breathing a big sigh of relief this week, although I’m still emotionally exhausted. It also doesn’t help that I seem to have caught some sort of stomach flu/virus and toast with jelly is about as exciting as it’s been for me food-wise since Monday. You know you’re sick when the brownies sitting on your counter sound totally unappetizing and last for more than a day.
Sidenote: I replaced the pumpkin in the brownie recipe with applesauce, skipped the almonds, and added a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee – so freaking good.
Rewinding to pre-Monday nausea, I had the opportunity to try a few gluten-free meal kits from a company called cooksimple. The timing was perfect, considering my work schedule is still a little crazy and the meals took a max of twenty-five minutes to make, using a couple of add-in ingredients I already had on-hand.
I ended up trying the Punjabi Curry, Tibetan Dal, and Cranberry Wild Rice (they also make a couple of chilis, jambalaya, tamale pie, Asian burgers, and skillet lasagna). The recipes aren’t vegan per se, and some call for meat as the protein, but I appreciate that they offer veggie alternatives, like tofu in place of chicken. The ingredients in the kits themselves are also simple and what you would expect if you were to make the recipes from scratch: the Cranberry Wild Rice included wild rice, onions, carrots, garlic, and rosemary, for example.
You’ll notice, however, that I’m including iphone photos. That’s because these were not photogenic dishes. But really, that’s a very minor flaw and probably only an issue for people who like to photograph their food and/or instagram everything.
How do they taste? Pretty good! The Tibetan Dal by itself was a little too one-note for me, but the serving suggestion recommends fresh cilantro and plain yogurt as toppings, and I think that would have helped to brighten it up a bit. However, both Aaron and I really liked the Punjabi Curry with the mix of savory spices and sweet raisins. The only snafu I had was when I made the Cranberry Wild Rice – it had way too much water and was more like a stew. I’m not sure if I measured something wrong (totally possible given my frazzled mental state) or if the proportions are off, or if I didn’t press enough water out of the tofu. Regardless, I absolutely loved the flavor. It smelled and tasted like Thanksgiving!
The cooksimple meals are priced at $4.99 and each kit makes four servings. Including the addition of a few fresh ingredients, it ends up being about $3 per person, though I’m sure it’s much less if you’re using something like tofu as your protein.
So, how would you like to try a few for yourself? cooksimple has offered to give one reader three of their kits!
To enter, simply leave a comment telling me which three kits you’d like to try!
The giveaway is open to US residents only. I’ll randomly choose a winner next Wednesday, May 1st at 12pm ET.
Disclosure: cooksimple graciously offered a few of their products for me to try, along with this giveaway. As always, all opinions are my own.
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