Healthy Meals, No Cooking: A Review of Kettlebell Kitchen

I absolutely hate cooking. It stresses me out more than anything else, and I stink at it.

The paradox is that I want to eat healthy, and cooking whole foods is usually the best way to do so.

For a while my partner and I had a great system in place: I did all of the chores except cooking, she did most of the cooking, and I assisted her. We were spending quality time together, and her presence soothed me enough to cope with the occasional stress.

The majority of our dinners came from Blue Apron, and we had time in our schedules to cook during most nights. Then we got new jobs. Hers in particular required longer hours. By the time we were both home and ready to cook, it was very late and we were exhausted. We wanted to be able to eat something healthy the moment we plopped down on the couch.

While I was searching for a solution, I remembered Kettlebell Kitchen. A few years ago one of my co-workers had used it for his lunches. Every workday he would stop by the nearest gym, pick up a meal, heat it up and chow down.

I don’t have a gym membership, and it definitely seems like I’m different from their ideal customer. Nonetheless, it was the only legitimate service I could find that delivered healthy, balanced meals I could simply heat up and eat.

Once I learned that they deliver meals to both homes and gyms, I signed up and gave it a try. The user interface wasn’t amazing, and I was a little confused at times. Mostly it was that I had trouble making changes after I had confirmed an order or subscription.

Fortunately the company has a stellar customer support team that was there for me throughout the process. Also, I’m not tech savvy, so take my comment with a grain of salt.

They have great delivery people, too. I have this running theory that the executives at Kettlebell Kitchen instruct their delivery workers to have a Batman-style approach to service.

Every time I receive a Kettlebell Kitchen order, the bag is sitting outside my door, and there’s no one in sight. They give you a heads up that they’re coming, but I have yet to actually interact with a delivery person. The deliveries are always on time, and I don’t need to worry about someone knocking or asking me to open the door when I’m in the middle of something.

Kettlebell Kitchen has meal plans based on goals related to fitness, weight loss and nutrition. I use exercise primarily as a way to keep up my energy, maintain my weight and help with sleep and anxiety. Based on this mindset, I thought the fat loss plan was best for me.

They’ve since changed the names of their meal plans. Fat loss is now the Slim Plan.

Customers on meal plans have the option of a free 30-minute consultation call with a Kettlebell Kitchen nutritionist. I didn’t take advantage of this benefit, but I’m sure it’s great for people who want extra advice.

As for the meals themselves, all of them are healthy, balanced and filling. Here are some of my favorites:

• Bodybuilder’s Essential With Sweet Potato
• Chicken Primavera over Carrot Noodles
• Athlete Honey Mustard Chicken with Rice

In terms of flavor, don’t expect it to taste as good as something freshly cooked. I don’t mean that advice as a criticism, though.

Blue Apron took me an hour to cook, and there was a lot of cleanup and dishes to deal with. Kettlebell Kitchen takes minutes and seems to have the same health value, so it’s only natural that there would be some kind of trade off.

The price will vary depending on what you order. Including the shipping and delivery to my home, the service cost me about $100 a week for six meals. That’s not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but for me it was worth it. I can eat healthy without cooking, and having all the meals in my fridge reduces how much I go out for food that is more expensive.

My story shows Kettlebell Kitchen isn’t only for people who love to work out. It’s for anyone who wants to save time — and perhaps avoid cooking — without sacrificing a healthy diet.