If you’re looking for reviews on meal delivery services, then keep reading I’ve got you covered.

I’ve spent a lot of my hard-earned cash eating and discovering the best meal delivery services all for you pet, from Blue Apron to Hello Fresh and more…Discover my Pete’s Paleo review and how Pete won my hungry heart.

How often do you really want to make dinner?

Oh sure it’s all great fun when you’re swanning about like Jamie Oliver, Nigella, Ina, or Martha in the kitchen. But I’m sure that’s usually reserved for when you want to show off, am I right? Like maybe four times a year?

Well when you’re not planning your Festivus dinner what are you supposed to eat the other 361 days out of the year?

I personally don’t like to cook on a daily basis. I don’t have small children who need yogurts or cookies constantly thrown at them in between meal prep.

Unless I’m making eggs, I’m really not interested in what I’m going to have for dinner.

Until dinner time arrives. Then forget it, I’m a raging shrew and being hangry doesn’t even begin to cover my crazy.

Besides my kitchen is really clean and I like to keep it that way. I don’t want a bunch of dishes in the sink and the only glass I want to see on the counter is a wine glass.

Enter in, dun, dun, dun, the in-home meal delivery service.

Blue Apron vs Hello Fresh Meal Deliveries: You Bought It Now You Cook It

I started my meal delivery service journey by signing up for Blue Apron.

Blue Apron was amazing. I love that they work with local farmers. The vegetables are crisp and fresh. The meats and seafood are either grass-fed or wild caught. Very important.

I don’t want to eat any farmed seafood or CAFO raised meat. Do you know the amount of antibiotics they pump into those poor animals?

But that’s a subject for another time. Know where you get your food, that’s all I’m saying.

Now back to the Blue Apron meal delivery review…

…You know I love my labels and Blue Apron knocks it out of the park with their packaging and presentation.

Even the instructions are crystal clear, the 10 year old can whip up a Blue Apron meal with no help from me. The variety of spices used in the meals and cuisine styles presented are fantastic.

What I didn’t enjoy was that it took me nearly an hour to make my Blue Apron dinner.

I’m a really good cook (that’s real modesty, Joan). So if someone with less kitchen skill than me tries to make a Blue Apron dinner, odds are it’s going to take you at least an hour and a half.

Did I mention the clean-up afterwards?

Yeah, there were three pots and a bunch of bowls to clean. Let’s not forget the actual plates. I don’t want to deal with that every night.

One other thing that annoyed me, was even though I ordered the smallest plan (three meals), each meal is designed to serve two people. That left me was six dinners for the week. I’m single unless I invite someone over…who’s going to eat the food?

I’m sure in theory that sounds awesome. But I am not one whom enjoys eating leftovers. I don’t like eating anything the next day unless it’s lobster macaroni and cheese or a steak.

It’s trauma from my early childhood when my father would make a huge pot of soup and we’d have to eat it for a whole week. Don’t ask it’s a European thing. Let’s just say they like to conserve time and energy too.

I tried to share the meals with my family but it was too much of a hassle. After three deliveries Blue Apron was dismissed.

Next Up: Hello Fresh Meal Delivery Service

After a couple of months I decided to give meal delivery one more try – I told myself, “Stop being lazy and quit eating out.”

Hello Fresh meal delivery service was up next and since they teamed up with Jamie Oliver for some of their meal recipes I was intrigued. By the way, I think what Jamie’s doing with food in public schools is inspiring.

Did I say I love Jamie Oliver? I truly do.

But I wasn’t that impressed with the meals from Hello Fresh. The packaging was just eh…I like an impression to be made when I open up my package and this did not do it for me.

I was confused as some items weren’t clearly labeled. The food was great and the meal was delicious. But I wasn’t sure if the meats and seafood were all wild, pastured, or grass fed?

Overall it just wasn’t for me.

Meal Delivery Service #3 – Gone Local

So then I tried a local delivery service called fit Fit Fixins. This delivery service caters to Paleo and diet conscious eaters.

The staff was friendly and everything was prepared fresh. It came in perfect cold packed reusable meal containers. Just heat and eat.

We were getting closer to Nirvana, but this still wasn’t it. I found the food a little boring for my taste so I stopped it after three deliveries.

I try to eat Paleo most days and I aim to keep my carb count under 50 grams. I don’t know if wine is officially Paleo, but it is for me.

The criteria for my perfect meal delivery service was:

• The food needed to be precooked.
• Wild, grass-fed, and sustainable ingredients ingredients are a non-negotiable.
• Recyclable packaging. I need to be able to stick it in the recycling bins without the garbage men Gestapo throwing my bottles all over the street because I accidentally threw a plastic bag in the green container one time. I’m sorry. Do you hear me? Sorry, with all your rude rules and recycling etiquette lessons.
• I needed a Paleo option. I’m fine with a potato here and there, but I cannot lose weight with a ton of rice, bread, and pasta. If you want to lose weight you either need to give up most carbs or you need to be smart and save your carbs for WINE.

That led me to search for Paleo meal delivery services.

Several appeared: Factor 75, Paleo Power Meals, Caveman Chefs, SunBasket, and Pete’s Paleo were among the most interesting options.

Pete’s Paleo Review – Dinner Is Served

Pete’s Paleo delivery service caught my eye. The founder Pete is a Le Cordon Bleu trained gourmet chef.

Holla! Now you’re speaking my language. Any man that graduated from Le Cordon Bleu can cook for me.

The food is seasonal, organic, local grown from farms in Southern California. It’s all grass-fed, pastured, GMO-free, no soy, and no gluten.

Dairy doesn’t bother me, I don’t mind butter or ghee – I know it’s not full on Paleo, but whatevs.

Pete’s Paleo delivery service ships from two locations one in California and one in Atlanta, Georgia, to make sure your food arrives cold and fresh.

One thing I was a little skeptical about was the fact that the meal delivery service shipped from Atlanta using 2-day FedEx delivery.

I was worried that my food would arrived spoiled and destroy my Pete’s Paleo review since I live in a tropical climate that’s hotter than Satan’s backside all year round.

When my first Pete’s Paleo delivery arrived I realized it was probably sitting outside for a couple of hours and that was because I only decided to check the mail.

My UPS guy does one of two things: Either he knocks like he’s going to breakdown the door – scaring the living daylights out of me or he barely knocks, throws the package on the porch, and speeds off.

I never know he’s been here until I go outside and discover the package has been sitting out there for probably half a day. Goodness man, can’t you ring the doorbell? It works.

I guess that’s better than the FedEx man who thinks were friends and comments on every single thing I order.

I mean this guy is all over my orders. He knows whether I’m ordering wine or shoes.

To be honest, it weirds me out a little, I pretend we’re friends since I can’t piss off the guy that brings me presents I order for myself. Because then he’ll probably break all my stuff. Anyways I digress.

When I opened the box from Pete’s Paleo I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was packaged in a well insulated box with dry ice.

The dry ice melted during transit, but even though my food was sitting outside in the heat for at least two hours or so it was still nice and chilled. That earned Pete an extra point in my book.

Each meal arrives and a big ole Pete’s Paleo Ziploc style bag. Open the bag and your meal is divided out into additional separate baggies containing your protein, vegetables, or starch.

I was a little taken aback when I saw everything in plastic baggies. It doesn’t look that appetizing and I was worried that it wasn’t going to taste good.

But wait for it…When you heat up a Pete’s Paleo meal the food comes alive, the flavors are magnificent, and it’s a wonderfully satisfying dinner.

Pete recommends that you heat up your meal in a saute pan so that’s what I did.

The first night I tried S&P Pork Loin with Mushroom Gravy, Red Beets, and Garlic Broccoli. The nutritional count was 468 calories, 52 grams of protein, and 23 grams of carbs. Hot damn. Winner, winner chicken dinner.

I get to swan around my kitchen using scissors and cutting open baggies which for some odd reason makes me feel gloriously efficient as I snip-snip my way to a gourmet meal without having to do anything else. Don’t judge me, Nigella enjoys using her scissors too.

I heated up the pork and broccoli together in a small saute pan. The beets I heated separately in a glass bowl in the microwave. Then I plated it all nicely on my plate.

Let me tell you this food was beyond delicious, it was well seasoned, it was fresh, and it took all of five minutes.

I didn’t want to write this review until I had at least a weeks worth of meals to make sure it was consistently good.

I’m pleased to say I loved every meal. Even if you order a month’s worth of meals you only will repeat the same dinner twice in one month. Good job Pete.

Now there’s a secret underground cult following surrounding Pete’s Paleo bacon. The next week I went on to order weekly meal delivery service and ordered the bacon.

Oh. My. God. Becky.

Once you eat this bacon you cannot eat any other bacon.

Pete’s bacon is like when you get crispy perfectly cooked pork belly at a restaurant.

It’s so easy to make. I just sliced off a couple of pieces and baked them on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 16 minutes then flipped them over and baked for another 8 minutes.

Pete’s Paleo suggests that you fry it up in a skillet. I have a phobia of grease splatters, one too many kitchen accidents growing up, and I don’t like grease all over the stove. I always bake my bacon and this was no different, it came out perfectly.

I’m dreaming about serving Pete’s bacon as an appetizer with chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosecco.

Or maybe I’ll do a dessert pairing of the bacon with Stilton or Gorgonzola and Graham’s 20 year old Tawny Port wine. Wouldn’t you enjoy that for dessert? Just saying.

So Karen if you’re looking for gourmet meals and you’re not a fan of a bunch of starch because you’ve got to watch your figure – then I highly recommend Pete’s Paleo meal delivery service all day everyday.

I have to admit it’s a little pricey. But when you really break it down, you know you end up paying $12 every time you go to Starbucks to order your breakfast sandwich, random scone, and your venti latte. So spend your money on dinner not coffee, eat a good meal, and save your carbs for wine.

Pete’s Paleo is Wine & Drama approved!