Planning dinner is not something that I love doing. I’m not particularly creative with my cooking and tend to stick to the same ol’ boring dishes. Shame, my poor family.
Anyway, when UCOOK asked me if I would love to try their services out for a week I was pretty excited – I wouldn’t have to think of what to cook for three nights!
When I mentioned on my Instagram Stories that I was trying them out, and asked what you all thought of the concept, I had so many responses and a ton of questions.
So, in this blog post, I’m going to try and answer them all and also give you my honest thoughts about UCOOK and whether it’s worth ordering or not.
Before we get into the thick of things, if you aren’t too clued up on who or what UCOOK is, let me fill you in quickly.
About Ucook
Back in 2014, David Torr and Chris Verster Cohen decided that they could help people eat healthy meals, ethically and sustainably sourced but without too much effort.
They went from packing 24 boxes out of their garage to sending out thousands of boxes from their warehouses in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, impressive right?
UCOOK has 3 philosophies that they stand by when it comes to their food:
Local: UCOOK supports small-batch farmers as well as upskill programs so when you order your box, you know that you are giving back to a community.
Organic: Wherever possible, UCOOK sources organic ingredients for their meals.
Seasonal: It’s so much more sustainable to use seasonal produce and so UCOOK really prioritizes this.
Sustainability
Something that I think is really great is that UCOOK has a recycling program in place. So instead of throwing away the packaging, all you need to do is hand it to your driver that delivers your food and UCOOK will take care of the rest.
With everyone trying to minimize their carbon footprint and waste, this is a really awesome service.
So what exactly is UCOOK?
In a nutshell, it’s a delicious dinner in a box. All you need to do is cook it, and the recipes are super simple and easy.
Each meal is in a separate brown bag and it has the exact right amount of each ingredient which is so handy!
A new menu is uploaded every week
- 3 Health Nut
- 3 Easy Peasy
- 3 Vegetarian
All you need to do is sign up, set up your payment method, and then choose your meals for the upcoming week. Easy right?
Right, so now that you know what UCOOK is all about, let’s chat about my experience with them.
I decided to put everything under subheadings, just to make sure that I covered every single little thing.
Ordering:
This was an absolute breeze. Took me all of 5 minutes and was really user-friendly. If you want to see how to order, just go to the UCOOK highlight on my Instagram profile.
Delivery:
I missed the delivery on Monday morning, and by 4pm the courier hadn’t come back yet. I called UCOOK to follow up and they said that if he didn’t come back that afternoon, all my food would be placed in cold storage and would be delivered the next day.
Luckily (for my tummy) my order got delivered just after I called them, but it’s good to know that if it hadn’t, my food wouldn’t have gone to waste.
Packaging:
Again, you can have a look at my UCOOK Instagram highlights but the packaging is great!
There are ice bricks to keep everything cool, and each dish is in a separate brown bag with a sticker telling you how soon you need to cook the meal. Ten out of ten!
Portion Size:
I ordered the ucook 2 portion option and it was enough for myself, Dan and Aria without anyone wanting a second supper.
I was so impressed because we do not eat tiny portions.
Quality of the food:
Oh my word, so delicious, so yummy, so moreish!
Really I cannot fault the quality of the food or how it tasted. Every meal was really, really good!
Is UCOOK worth Ordering?
So, after all of this, do I think that UCOOK is worth ordering? Yes, I do.
It really simplified dinner time for me and knowing that all of the ingredients were locally sourced and almost all organic was great too because I am far too lazy to do all of that myself.
Having UCOOK also got me to create dishes out of my comfort zone and I have remade some of them too!
Did UCOOK save us money on our weekly grocery shop?
No, but that’s not what their aim is.
UCOOK is all about reducing the hassle and schlep of dinner-time planning, by providing healthy and exciting meals to your doorstep.
In saying that though, I do think it depends on the amount of people that you have in your home. My sister lives by herself and she swears by UCOOK, has done the calculations and it all squares out in the end.
>>MY GROCERY SHOPPING TIPS AND TRICKS
>>HOW I GROCERY SHOP AND PLAN MY MEALS
Will I buy another UCOOK box?
Absolutely! If I see a week where there are three meals that really excite me then I will definitely order.
I also think that this is such a great idea for someone who has just had a baby, moved home, etc and doesn’t have the time or ability to make it to the shops.
As a working mom, I don’t always have time to cook new and exciting meals for my family. UCOOK would be a nice way to try and bring some some fun into weekday meals ?
Having a meal planned plus all the shopping done is a win!
I love the idea of not having to decide what’s for dinner. If I ask my hubby what he wants for dinner and he replies ‘I don’t know’ one more time, I think I will go mad! That and not having to cook box fish AGAIN!
I love the convenience coupled with the ability to get to grips with simple yet delicious food ?
I’m a busy mom but I also love cooking and trying out new foodie recipes. During the week I just don’t have time, energy or brain space to plan for or cook new things and so I always resort back to our “default” meals. I love that uCook takes out the hassle factor of getting to the shops and deciding on a meal AND brings the fun factor of cooking something foodie and delicious. How can anyone say no to that??