I taste-tested Gobble and the pricier meal kit delivery service was worth the money

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• At $12 per serving and with over five meal preference options, Gobble offers organized packaging, convenience, and high-quality ingredients. 
• This meal kit is a great way to spice up your weekly meal plans or reduce grocery store trips.
• Although it’s more expensive than most meal kits, the convenience, quick prep, and delicious meals make it worth the extra cost. 

As meal kit delivery services become more prevalent, finding the right one for your dietary, scheduling, and budget needs can be tricky. Although popular options like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh suit many people, other choices simplify meal prep without compromising taste or quality. 

Also: The best meal kit delivery services: Pricing, servings, and meals compared

Creating a nutritious, delicious, quick meal should be simple during a time crunch. So when Gobble offered me a meal kit to test, I was pleased to choose from the company’s extensive menu with various meal options. If you’ve been interested in finding a meal kit service for your family, let me break down my experience with Gobble to determine if it’s right for you.

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I tested Gobble for a week to see how the meals fared with my busy schedule. To begin, you can visit Gobble’s website or app to select your meals from a vast menu that includes Classic Dinners, Lean & Clean Dinners, Premium Dinners, Summer Grilling, and more. Then, you set up delivery and wait for it to reach your door. When my Gobble box arrived a week after I ordered it, I was presented with a neat setup of ingredients. The box contains refrigeration packs to keep everything fresh and cool during transit until you can transfer those ingredients to your refrigerator. 

Inside the box are the ingredients, an ingredient list that specifies possible allergens, and the supplies needed to prepare the meal. Gobble organized each meal’s ingredients into a large plastic bag, eliminating food waste where needed.

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I chose three pasta dishes: Chicken Parmesan with Penne Pasta and Marinara Sauce, Shrimp Scampi with Linguine in Lemon-Garlic Butter Sauce, Korean Beef Bulgogi with Udon Noodles and Fried Egg. I also ordered a few packs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to bake. All three of these dishes, plus the gooey chocolate dessert, were exquisite, and overall, the instructions were straightforward to follow. 

The first dish I prepared was Chicken Parmesan with Penne Pasta and Marinara Sauce. This meal took longer to cook but was worth it in the end. When testing other meal kits, I noticed some instructions called for a particular pot or pan to prepare the dish. The need for special cookware might frustrate some people if they weren’t expecting to need extra (or specific) tools. However, Gobble kept it simple and offered meals that didn’t require running to the store for additional supplies. 

My husband helped me cook this meal, which made it easier to finish the dish quickly, but it’s possible to have the dish ready to serve in less than an hour, even when cooking alone. The end product turned out great and tasted superb. What makes these meal kits so convenient is the easy clean-up afterward, and no food goes to waste because everything is portioned out for you. 

Gobble’s menu variety meant I could pick dishes I normally wouldn’t cook. In my house, we typically eat the same thing every day to maintain consistency in our diet and not worry about food waste. Sometimes, a meal can seem too difficult or complicated to assemble quickly, which can be intimidating. 

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One of those out-of-the-box meals was the Shrimp Scampi. I don’t cook seafood often, so I was really excited to cook a meal I can usually only eat at a restaurant. Surprisingly, this dish turned out wonderfully and took us less than 40 minutes to assemble.

Luckily, my husband and I don’t have any food allergies. But if you do, Gobble is flexible with substitutions. You can often switch ingredients to avoid ingesting any food allergens. However, my husband and I have dietary restrictions, and we count calories and macros. Gobble included each meal’s calories per serving on the instruction sheet to accommodate us, so we didn’t have to calculate the nutritional information. 

Our last and final dish of the week was the Korean Beef Bulgogi with Udon Noodles and Fried Egg. This dish was one of the quickest we’ve created across all meal kits, and it tasted like it came from a Korean restaurant. Technically, we could have chopped some of the veggies, like onions and peppers, instead of having them pre-chopped for us, but we didn’t mind the added convenience. 

What’s excellent about meal kits is how much you can save on food. When you break it down, buying a meal kit for $12 can be cost-effective compared to shopping at the grocery store and definitely more cost-effective than eating out. Meal kits include all the ingredients you need for a single meal at the same price as a pound of beef at your average grocery store, which can be $8 to $12 per pound. 

Also: Get the most out of your groceries: How to prevent food waste

Although prices can vary depending on the grocery store, it’s important to note all the other ingredients needed to create your meal. Perhaps you buy extra ingredients you’ll only use once or do not buy the right amount and risk wasting meat and produce.

It’s important to note that Gobble is one of the most expensive meal kits on the market in terms of cost per serving. For two people, one Gobble meal kit a day for five days costs $12 per serving or $120 total.

ZDNET’s buying advice

If you want to experiment with meal kit services and want one that has a vast menu with thoughtful packaging and food information, Gobble is an excellent choice. However, it is pricier than other meal kits, so I don’t recommend Gobble to people with big families.

However, if you want quick and delicious meals with quality ingredients and easy preparation, Gobble’s cost can outweigh the benefits for you and your busy family. If you value your time and want to create meaningful experiences at the dinner table without the hassle of intensive cooking and planning, try Gobble.