Ready to Heat vs Ready to Cook Meal Kits

Do you want meals fast or faster? You can pick between ready to heat and ready to cook packages. Meal delivery companies now let you choose between delicious classic meal kits and ready-made heat and eat meals. Meal kit companies know time is of the essence, so they are offering more heat and eat options that let you have your food ready in minutes.

Just Heat or Cook Yourself – Which option is right for you?

One goal of meal delivery services is to save you time, but exactly how much time depends on the type of meal you select. You can get “ready-to-heat” meals that are fully prepared and only require minimal effort on your part. Or you can get the classic meal kit that provides you with instructions on how to prepare and cook the meal yourself.

Good delivery services make sure that you get fresh ingredients with every meal choice. So it is mostly a question of what fits best with your lifestyle, budget, and schedule.

Ready-to-cook meal kits save you the trip to the grocery store and the need to gather the right portions of ingredients. They also help you become more confident in the kitchen as you learn cooking skills. Then again, ready-to-heat meals mean even more convenience and time-savings with minimal effort, including very little cleaning. Here we break down a few more benefits of each to help you decide which is best for you.

Benefits of Ready to Heat Meals

The main benefit of ready-to-heat is that it takes little time and effort. You don’t have to follow too many instructions, mostly just uncovering and placing the tray in your microwave or oven. If you are not interested in learning any cooking skills, it doesn’t make sense to invest the time in them.

Ready-to-heat meals also typically come in their own trays, which means you don’t have to bother getting out pans and cleaning them afterward. You also don’t have to use any of your own ingredients, even basic pantry staples like salt or oil.

You can use the single-serving sizes of ready-to-heat meals quite flexibly. They’re great for a single-person household, or to give everyone more choices within a multi-person household, or as convenient lunches at home or work when you don’t have time or access to cooking tools.

Benefits of Ready to Cook Meals

Unlike ready-to-heat meals, meal kits give you an experience. From unpacking the ingredients in the box, to learning and practicing new cooking skills, you feel like you are getting more than just a meal. 

Since you are the one cooking, you also have more control over the final ingredients and can customize the meal for yourself or other members of your household. Meal kits are also designed to be completed fairly quickly, most plans have 15 or 30-minute meal prep options, so you have options in terms of the length of time you want to commit.

Meal kits also lend themselves to a shared experience. Since meals come in serving sizes of 2 or 4, you can cook and eat together, but in a more leisurely way than if you’d had to do everything yourself.

The shared experience of meal kit preparation and cooking could be a benefit that makes you want to spend the extra time.

Compare for Yourself! The Best Ready to Heat and Ready to Cook Meal Kits to Try

Meal kit services have made it really convenient to try their plans and see what works for you.  With all the options available, there is the best delivery service out there for you that fits your dietary needs, your budget, your lifestyle, and, of course, your schedule.