How do prepared meals work?

Last Updated on December 18, 2021 by Ed Joven

There has been a massive increase in companies offering prepared meal solutions. They seem to be everywhere now, and there are many different options in terms of the service they provide. What is the purpose of these services, and why might you be interested?

The idea is that a busy working family can get quality meals delivered to their door for sensible prices, ready to cook or simply heat. Does that sound like a great idea to you? If so, read on and we will tell you more.

What’s it All About?

For a great example of a business offering Prepared Meals – Tractor At Home has all the elements you will find in most of the competition. The overall idea is that you choose from a changing menu of meals. You can also select how many you want and what frequency. There are different types of meals available – we’ll talk more about that in a minute – and they are all created by chefs and use fresh ingredients. Let’s talk in more detail about the sort of meals you can choose from.

What Meal Choices are There?

As with all meal delivery services Tractor At Home, our chosen example, offers a selection of categories to choose from. In this case these are:

Feature meals which include the likes of lasagne, meatballs, spicy beef and more across a menu that changes regularly.
Salads and Side plates to add to your meal.
Soups, Stews and Sauces including a wide variety of options.
Single Serve Meals for those who order for just one person.
Protein meals to ensure a healthy balanced diet.
One Step Mains which come in many different forms and simply need putting in the oven or heating in a microwave.

Different ready meal providers offer their own selection, but usually across a similar range to those listed above. How does it work?

Is it Easy to Use?

The idea is that the customer registers with the meal provider and sets up an account. This will include a simple and secure payment system using one of the popular methods. You then simply browse the options and click on the meals you want delivered. You can select the day of delivery and even set up regular deliveries.

You’ll find full details of ingredients, fat content and more plus great illustrations. As the menus change regularly you can keep coming back to your favorites or try something new. There really are a massive choice of meals here with everything from traditional mains to more exotic foreign dishes for you to try.

For families, you can select how many of each meal you want and as many of them are suitable for freezing this is a great way of ensuring you have quality, ready to use meals to hand whenever you need them. This sort of service will certainly save you time in shopping for fresh ingredients and preparing the meals, but will it save you money? Let’s finish by looking at this aspect.

Are Prepared Meals Value for Money?

Are these meal delivery solutions good value for money or simply a fad? There’s no doubt that if you go to the shops and look for the fresh ingredients and buy them, then take the time to prepare the meal, you will likely spend less than the cost of using these services. Yet, the benefit lies in having ready to cook or eat meals delivered, without the need to go around the shops searching. It’s certainly value for money where families are concerned, so why not give it a go as there’s no obligation to continue?