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Your Best Life: Meal kit services

Evening anchor Leslie Draffin tried out two well-known brands to find out if they really save you time and money. Most importantly, she'll see which meals taste best.

TEMPLE, Texas — Meal kit delivery companies are quickly gaining popularity, but if you've never used one, you might not know what you're getting.

Companies like HelloFresh and Blue Apron are household names in the meal-kit world. 

Blue Apron was founded in 2012, while HelloFresh started up in 2011. 

Each company sent KCEN Channel 6 evening anchor Leslie Draffin three meals to try out, so she and her boyfriend Micah Schexnider got to cooking. 

The first meal was from Blue Apron: Roasted chicken and jalapeno-orange sauce, with sautéed cabbage and mashed potatoes. 

Every ingredient needed to prepare this dish, except for olive oil, was included in the Blue Apron package. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish, which was exactly how long the recipe card said it would take. 

The instructions were easy to follow and overall the meal was scrumptious.

“Simply, our mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone,” John Adler, culinary director for Blue Apron, said.

The second meal Draffin tried was from HelloFresh: Sirloin steak provencal.

This meal took a bit longer to cook, about forty minutes in total, but it tasted like something you’d find at a high-end restaurant. 

“[HelloFresh's mission] is to bring fresh and delicious recipes to their homes and really empower [people] to be more successful in the kitchen," Claudia Sidoti, head chef and head of recipe development at HelloFresh, said. 

Draffin also received a Mediterranean lentil bowl and Vadouva-spiced chicken and kale salad from Blue Apron. Both meals took less than 30 minutes to create, however, the finished product for the bowl didn't look anything like the picture on the recipe card. 

Draffin recommends both dishes for a quick, easy weekend bite. 

HelloFresh also sent two other recipes for Draffin to craft: An Argentine chimichurri steak, as well as a roasted pork tenderloin with lemony potatoes. 

Each meal was prepped in under 40 minutes, and tasted great, Draffin said.  

Overall, both companies’ meals tasted amazing, took exactly the amount of time expected and were easy to cook, thanks to the easy-to-follow recipe directions. 

“The most important thing we do is create a guarantee of success,” Adler said.

When it came to these meals, they succeed in Draffin's view. 

Although Draffin enjoyed the quick turnaround in receiving the ingredients and making a tasty dish, she said there are cons for these meal-kit delivery services.

The biggest drawback is no leftovers. 

Each meal was so tasty, you may want to leave some for later, but they're not big enough. However, you can order bigger portions if you have more mouths to feed, or just want more for later. 

Also, the cost may be a deterrent to people on a budget. Each meal costs between $7 to $9 per person, bringing the total price for three meal-kits between two people to a little under $60 per week.

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