I can see the appeal of recipe kits like Grubby, if you live a busy life it can be hard to find time to plan, go out and buy all the ingredients you need for tasty, nutritious meals every week.

I really enjoy cooking (if you couldn’t guess), but even I don’t always have time to cook new, tasty, healthy meals every week (running my own freelance business and being a dad of 2), so I thought I’d give Grubby a try and share my thoughts.

This was honestly the thing that drew me in, you can tell that Grubby seriously cares about the impact they have on the planet, they:

On top of all of this, Grubby even donate a free meal to children living in poverty in Uganda for each box sold – having donated more than 12,000 meals already.

One thing I was a little bit disappointed about was the plastic that some of the produce came in. This is what Grubby have to say on the matter:

From time to time, plastic is used in our boxes… the tricky truth is that in some instances, plastic still plays an important role in tackling food waste and keeping produce fresh. Don’t get us wrong, we’d much rather use eco-friendly alternatives, and we’re pushing ourselves to continuously research and test new materials.

So this is definitely something Grubby is aware of and is continuously looking into – for more information on the sustainability of their packaging make sure to check out their FAQs.

Each week you can choose up to 4 recipes (serves 2-3 people) or 2 recipes (serves 4-5 people) from a lineup of 10 (the recipes change every week).

If you’re someone who likes to plan ahead, you can even choose the meals for the following 4 weeks.

Your Grubby box will be delivered on either a Monday, Tuesday or Friday – depending on the day you select in the Grubby app when choosing your meals.

If your circumstances change you can skip weeks or change the delivery day.

Once your box arrives, you can expect to find fresh, pre-measured ingredients inside for all of your meals – with each recipe’s ingredients found in separate bags based on the recipe.

If you’re lucky, you might even get a freebie in your box – in my case, I got a free vegan hazelnut truffle chocolate bar from Rhythm. Safe to say it didn’t last long.

And if you like to listen to music whilst cooking, each recipe card has a QR code to a curated Spotify playlist so you can listen along whilst cooking.

Grubby freebie – vegan hazelnut truffle chocolate bar

Now that we’ve covered all of that greatness, how much will Grubby set you back?

Well, you have a few options to choose from.

If you’re choosing the regular box which serves 2-3 people per recipe, you can choose from:

Or if you’re choosing the family box which serves 4-5 people per recipe:

So now that you know what Grubby stand for and how it works, are the meals any good?

Butternut, pepper & pinto quesadillas, avocado salsa

This recipe required a bit of context switching – oven, frying pan, making the sauce and preparing the salsa.

But the recipe was structured in a way that meant I didn’t fall too far behind and everything was ready when it was meant to be.

It did take me a little bit longer to make, the recipe said 30 mins but it ended up taking me around 40 mins.

I knew when I was cooking it that it was going to taste good.

The balance of flavours between everything was spot on, you wouldn’t guess you’re eating so many different veggies in one go. If I got this in a restaurant I’d be really happy.

Roasted med veg risotto and toasted seeds

This recipe was pretty straightforward, it didn’t involve too much context switching.

I did find the order of steps could’ve been better (as the veggies from the oven were ready much sooner than my risotto in the pan).

Timings were pretty accurate, it took maybe 5 mins longer than stated.

Taste-wise, it was okay. Not the most flavoursome meal, but when you got a spoon with the toasted seeds, the flavour kicked in. I’d happily eat it again but I wouldn’t choose it over their other recipes.

This was the recipe I was most looking forward to. Following the recipe was pretty straightforward – it mostly consisted of chopping veggies and adding them to a pan.

Timings were again pretty accurate, it probably took me 25 mins to make – whereas the recipe said 20 mins.

It had a generous portion size (possibly could’ve served 3 people depending on how hungry you are). As for taste, it was great, the crunch that the peanuts added were an underrated addition – would definitely eat this meal again.

Honest answer, yes, but not all the time.

There are many positives to Grubby; the meals are tasty, I don’t need to plan what to cook, or buy the ingredients and with bigger box sizes it means I can cook enough food for my wife and me for 2 separate meals.

But the sticking point for me is – cost.

But as someone who enjoys cooking and will happily go out and buy the ingredients, the cost difference can be vastly different.

Personally, I feel like I could incorporate Grubby into my schedule when I get busy.

As someone who runs their own business, there are weeks where I just don’t have the time and/or brain capacity to plan out what to cook for the entire week – this is where Grubby would come in really handy for me.

But that’s just me personally, Grubby could be exactly what works for you. 

So if you’re in the market to try out one of these recipe kits, I’d definitely recommend giving Grubby a try.

Whether you’re new to plant-based eating or you’ve been plant-based for a while, Grubby is definitely worth a try – you’ll be making healthy food choices that have less impact on the planet.

Looking for something that doesn’t require so much effort? Check out my review for allplants – frozen vegan ready meals.

Grubby’s 100% plant-based recipe kit offer veggie-packed recipes that have less impact on the planet

Grubby, the plant-based recipe kit that doesn’t cost the earth

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I love a good plant-based recipe kit, but finding the right one for you can be tricky.

You need to consider taste, how much work is involved, whether it’s healthy and most importantly how much does it cost?

The big selling point of Planthood compared to other recipe kits is time and effort.

They boast a mere 15 minutes to cook a meal – and I mean cook, not just warm something up in the microwave.

But how does Planthood make it possible to prepare a freshly cooked meal in just 15 minutes?

Simply, they do all the heavy lifting – by cooking sauces, preparing dressings and garnishes all from scratch so when it comes down to it, all you have to do is add it in while cooking.

I’ve tried my fair share of plant-based recipe kits and ready meals, and whilst Planthood isn’t perfect, they’ve found a happy middle ground – which I’ll cover in this review.

As always when picking out one of these recipe kits I like to know what they do to help the planet (besides selling plant-based meals).

And it’s good to see Planthood doing their part too, they:

This plant-based recipe kit doesn’t only taste good – they do good too.

If you’re after some more details, make sure to check out Planthood’s sustainability page.

We donate 1% of all our sales back to the planet and work closely with environmental charities to protect nature and boost biodiversity.

Planthood recipe kit unboxing – Stryve

Each week you can choose between 3 to 5 meals (from a choice of around 10). You’re also able to select whether these meals serve 2 or 4 people.

Your Planthood meal kit will be delivered on either a Monday or Thursday – which you can choose on the website and you’re able to change this from week to week.

If your circumstances change you can skip a week or change the delivery day.

Once your recipe kit arrives, you’ll find individual bags with the ingredients of each meal pre-measured to get started.

This is an easy one to answer, simply put – yes.

It’s hard to believe the meal is going to turn out so well, I really had my doubts whilst cooking a couple of them – especially as you’re only dealing with like 6-7 ingredients for the meal.

But it shows how much of the heavy lifting is done by the sauces and garnishes that are freshly prepared for you.

Planthood don’t just understand flavour, they also manage to get that perfect blend of textures in a meal, which simply elevates it to another level.

Creamy kimchi macaroni with roasted broccoli & garlic panko breadcrumbs

Tahini miso ramen with crispy chilli tempeh, pak choi & brown rice noodles

Crispy mushroom shawarma with garlic tahini sauce, pickled radish & fresh mint in soft flatbread

I must be a terrible judge when it comes to portion size as on multiple occasions whilst cooking one of Planthood’s meals I thought to myself – what am I going to eat after this to fill me up.

But to my surprise each time, I sat down to eat the meal, it’s a far more generous size than I first expected.

So to answer the question, are Planthood’s meals filling – yes. At least they are for me.

Time to see if Planthood lives up to its claim – do meals really only take 15 minutes to prepare, and are they as easy as they say?

Each time I entered the kitchen to cook one of the meals it ended up taking me longer than 15 minutes to cook… by like a meagre 5 minutes.

20 minutes though, to cook a tasty meal is a massive win in my eyes.

And to say they were easy to prepare is an understatement – I fully expected to be running around frying one thing, boiling another and so on, but that just wasn’t the case.

So up until now, everything sounds pretty great.

There are a lot of different ingredients that go into making the delicious sauces and garnishes – but these largely all seem to be A-OK.

But to make recipes quick and easy something has to give. And that thing is a smaller variety of plants per meal.

What I mean by this, is that your meal might have 1-2 key vegetables in it and if more were to be added this would impact the simplicity of putting a meal together and how long it takes.

So that’s it – all things considered, these meals are still really good for you! Especially if the other meals throughout your day have various plants in them.

Planthood recipe instructions and nutrition

I’d say Planthood is on the pricier side (compared to some other recipe kits, but only slightly).

You’re ultimately paying for that convenience of being able to quickly and effortlessly throw a meal together that tastes great and is good for you.

Again pricing will depend on what you’re buying, but if you’re looking to buy meals that serve 2 people per meal you’re looking at £7.50 per serving:

And if you’re looking at getting meals that serve 4 people per meal, you’re looking at £6.50 per serving:

When you break it down by serving size, these meals are quite competitively priced.

If you’re someone who gets takeaway regularly throughout the week – Planthood is a great alternative, you’ll likely save some money and they’re better for you.

And if you’re a little bit more like me, Planthood can simply take the pressure off during the week!

Planthood verdict – would I buy it again?

Truthfully, to date I’ve only ordered a few boxes from them – but this shouldn’t reflect the offering of Planthood.

I think what Planthood are offering is fantastic and it’s great to see someone tackle the time/effort problem of recipe kits – which is what I love most about them (other than the taste of the food of course).

If you’re in the market for a plant-based recipe kit, I would highly recommend you check out Planthood.

If you’re looking for something more hands-on that not only tastes great but is chock full of plants make sure to check out my review for Grubby the plant-based recipe kit.

Planthood’s on a mission to create the most mouthwatering plant-based recipes that are incredibly fast and convenient to prepare.

Discover the deliciousness of Planthood’s plant-based recipe kits

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The NHS is struggling, the planet is changing, and an ageing population needs to stay healthy. Food sits at the centre of all three.

When people ask what Stryve is, I usually say it’s a healthy recipe site. That’s true. But it’s not the whole answer.

Something is going wrong with the way we eat. Not in a vague, nutritionist-on-Instagram way. In a measurable, costly, increasingly urgent way.

And while it might feel like a personal problem — your weight, your energy, your health — it’s actually a collective one. The choices we make at the dinner table are quietly shaping the NHS, the climate, and the society our children will inherit.

Stryve exists to make it genuinely easier to eat better — for yourself, and for everything else. Here’s why that matters more than most people realise.

The NHS treats the symptoms. What we eat determines how many there are.

The NHS is under pressure, and food is a major reason why

The NHS is one of the most treasured institutions in the UK. It’s also one of the most strained. Waiting lists, underfunded services, overstretched staff — the headlines are familiar.

What gets less attention is how much of that pressure is preventable.

£9.3 billion estimated NHS spend on obesity-related illness in 2025 alone — covering type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and certain cancers.

Obesity is now the second biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK, with over one in four adults living with it. And the trajectory isn’t improving — the number of years of life lost to disability caused by obesity and overweight has:

These aren’t abstract statistics. They’re people whose quality of life has diminished, families under strain, and a health service being asked to treat conditions that, in many cases, better food choices could have prevented.

The Darzi Review into the state of the NHS

One of the three biggest shifts the NHS needs to make is from treating sickness to preventing it — and that shift has to start with food.

The good news? Preventable means changeable. And what we eat is one of the most powerful levers we have.

The people who’ll need care, and the people who’ll provide it — both need to be healthier than we currently are.

An ageing population needs a healthier one to support it

Here’s a demographic reality that rarely makes it into food conversations: the UK’s population is ageing faster than it’s growing.

ONS National Population Projections, 2024

1.8 million the projected rise in people of pensionable age in the UK between 2024 and 2034 — rising to one in five of the total population. Over the same period, deaths are projected to outnumber births from 2026 onwards

What that means in practice: fewer working-age people supporting more older dependants. And poor health is already one of the key reasons workers exit the workforce long before retirement age — shrinking the tax base that funds pensions, social care, and the NHS itself.

The people who will bear the weight of supporting an ageing society need to be healthy enough to do it. The people ageing into that system will place far less strain on it if they arrive there in better health.

Diet is one of the most powerful levers we have on both outcomes. It’s not the whole answer — but it’s a significant one, and it’s one we each have more direct control over than most people realise.

Extreme weather is already disrupting the food system. What we choose to eat determines how much pressure we add to it.

The planet can’t afford how we’re eating either

There’s a third dimension to this that often gets separated from the health conversation, when it belongs right alongside it.

The weather is changing in ways that are increasingly impossible to ignore. Droughts, floods, wildfires, and extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and more severe — and they’re not happening somewhere abstract. They’re disrupting harvests across Europe, destabilising food supply chains, and pushing the cost of everyday ingredients higher.

The foods we’ve always taken for granted are becoming less predictable, less reliable, and in many cases more expensive.

What makes this particularly relevant to what ends up on our plates is where most crops actually go.

A significant proportion of global grain and soy production doesn’t go directly to people — it goes to feed livestock. Feeding crops to animals, then eating the animals, is a fundamentally less efficient way to feed a population facing increasing pressure on the food system.

4x the greenhouse gas emissions of a high meat diet compared to a vegan one, based on research across 55,000 UK consumers.

And it’s not just emissions. The same research found that high meat diets generate significantly higher land use, water use, and biodiversity impact than plant-forward alternatives.

Moving from a high meat diet to a low meat diet alone reduces an individual’s carbon footprint by around 920kg of CO₂ equivalent every year — roughly equivalent to a return flight from London to New York.

None of this is an argument for giving up meat. It’s an argument for balance. Eating more plants, more variety, more whole food — alongside whatever else you enjoy — is one of the most practical things an ordinary person can do. The health benefits and the environmental benefits point in exactly the same direction.

And done well, it tastes better than you’d expect. That’s the whole point.

More variety, more plants, more real food. Not a compromise — a starting point.

The frustrating thing is that none of this is new information. We’ve known for years that diet drives health outcomes. We’ve known that animal agriculture is a major contributor to emissions. We’ve known the population is ageing.

The nutrition space is noisy, contradictory, and often driven by trends rather than evidence. Every week there’s a new superfood, a new villain, a new regime. It’s overwhelming — and that overwhelm leads to inaction.

I started Stryve after losing my dad to a terminal illness in 2017. In the years that followed, I read everything I could about food, nutrition, and longevity — trying to understand what we actually know, and what we can do with it.

What I found, cutting through the noise, was consistent:

A diet built around whole foods, plenty of plants, real variety, and fewer processed ingredients is one of the most evidence-backed things you can do for your long-term health.

Not a fad. Not a trend. A set of principles that hold up across the research — and that happen to be better for the planet too.

That’s what Stryve is built on. Every recipe here is whole food, nutritious, and built with both health and environmental impact in mind:

You don’t have to change everything at once. But eating more plants, more variety, more real food — that’s a direction worth heading in.

For your health. For the NHS. For the people who’ll need to be cared for, and the people who’ll do the caring. And for the planet too.

Weekly ideas on eating better for yourself & the planet

NHS obesity spending — Nesta / Frontier Economics

Diet-related illness and disability — Food Foundation / Global Burden of Disease 2021

Dietary emissions across 55,000 UK consumers — Nature Food / University of Oxford, 2023

High meat vs low meat carbon footprint — Climatic Change / University of Oxford

I built a recipe site around something much bigger than recipes

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Chances are you’ve heard of allplants, but if not, they sell frozen vegan ready meals prepared with fresh ingredients by chefs and the best part is, you can enjoy them from the comfort of your own home because they’re delivered straight to your door!

Now you might be thinking, aren’t you all about cooking?

Yes, I do like to prepare freshly cooked meals – but there’s often a day for one reason or another my wife and I don’t have something to eat.

In which case we’d likely reach for a takeaway or throw something together that really doesn’t constitute a meal.

If a day comes when we don’t feel like cooking, we know we have something both tasty and healthy stashed away in the freezer.

And with my wife going back to work after maternity leave, we thought it would be the perfect time to give them a try and share our allplants review with you.

When it comes to buying something new I’ll always see what the company’s commitment is to the planet.

And with allplants you don’t have to look far before you find out where they stand.

allplants entire ethos revolves around the planet, they:

These vegan ready meals are not only easy and tasty, but they’re also planet-friendly!

If you’re after a more detailed look, make sure to check out the allplants 2022 impact report.

We have publicly committed to Net Zero by 2030 with over 500 other B Corps and as part of the Tech Zero taskforce. Decarbonising our economy is a focus of allplants.

allplants ready meal unboxing – Stryve

As I mentioned above, allplants meals are frozen, so that might have you thinking that they only sell meals for dinner and lunch.

But in fact, they also sell sides, breakfast, treats and smoothies – all plant-based.

So with that information to hand, you have 2 options – you can pick the exact dishes you’d like to try or you could choose one of allplants bundles – which might all be mains or a combination of mains, breakfasts, treats and smoothies.

Also, there’s a lot to choose from, and with a menu of 100+ vegan dishes, you shouldn’t get bored of their meals quickly.

Sometimes plant-based ready meals may not hit the spot when it comes to taste – but not allplants!

It took a little while to decide, but for my first order I decided to go with:

Miso roasted tofu, coconut and edamame smash, with power grains, sweet chilli broccoli, sesame cabbage, and a pea and edamame medley.

Buttery bechamel, lightly steamed spinach and caramelised leeks are generously layered with a creamy almond ricotta in this rich and more-ish lasagne.

So good they named it twice. Peri peri sauce coats roasted tempeh, garnished with a peri peri rub, served with spicy rice and a vibrant pea crush.

Fluffy potato gnocchi mixed through a cheesy sauce with baby spinach, leeks and broccoli, topped with a nutty garlic crumb.

Layers of roasted aubergine, courgette and lasagne, covered in a rich, sweet red pepper tomato sauce and a creamy garlic bechamel, topped with red pepper flakes and basil.

Honestly, every meal I had was tasty, there weren’t any that I felt like I wouldn’t happily eat again. Some maybe needed a little bit more salt (but that’s an easy addition).

I also found myself having one of these meals for lunch at the office, I cooked two meals the night prior – one for dinner and one to take to work, I simply reheated it in the microwave and it was still yummy.

One thing that really bugs me about ready meals is that they’re usually very unhealthy as a lot of them have high levels of salt, sugar and fat.

But with allplants, that’s not the case. All their meals are prepared from scratch, by chefs and nutritionists – working together to find the perfect balance between micro and macro nutrients all whilst using fresh ingredients!

And before a meal even lands on your doorstep you’re able to check out what ingredients it uses and its nutritional information – so if you’re after some high-protein vegan meals you don’t have to guess.

allplants recipe showing nutritional highlights

With allplants ready meals, you don’t have to worry about meals taking much longer than stated on the box.

Simply take a meal out of the freezer, remove its packaging and whack it into a preheated oven (or the microwave if you fancy).

Of the recipes I tried, they ranged from 35 minutes up to 55 minutes, but generally, the recipes fall around the 45-minute mark.

allplants recipe cooking time and instructions

Serving sizes will vary depending on what you’re buying, but here’s an idea of what to expect.

This is going to depend entirely on what you’re buying and how many servings each meal has. But to give you an idea, for a single-serving meal:

You also need to spend a minimum of £25 to place an order.

So you’ve figured out what you want to buy, and now you have the choice of a one-off order or a subscription.

I know what you’re thinking, not another subscription, but let’s take a little look at what a subscription offers you:

I’ll be honest with you, I have a bad taste in my mouth from some subscription services (cough no reminder email cough).

But so far allplants have been really good – I’ve not felt like they’re trying to use any dark patterns to trick me into buying another round of food.

Let’s take a minute to talk about deliveries because most of us have jobs and aren’t sat at home 24/7.

With allplants selling frozen ready meals, you might be worried about your delivery sitting on the doorstep whilst you’re out.

Well not to worry, each box comes with a liner inside and a dry icepack so your meals will stay frozen until 10 pm on delivery day.

So don’t worry – allplants home delivery makes a plant-based lifestyle much more accessible.

allplants review verdict – would I buy it again?

I have to say, I’m really impressed with allplants. The meals are not only super healthy but also really tasty (they’re not like a typical bland vegan ready meal). Plus, there’s so much variety to choose from.

As for the packaging, allplants have some killer branding but more importantly, it’s easy to recycle or reuse! The box is a guaranteed hit with small children and cats alike.

With a lot of these things, the price is usually the sticking point. But when compared to a takeaway (which is what we’d typically have instead), allplants work out to be much cheaper.

So the real question is, would I buy allplants again?

Blog

I built a recipe site around something much bigger than recipes

Discover the deliciousness of Planthood’s plant-based recipe kits

Grubby, the plant-based recipe kit that doesn’t cost the earth

How to meal prep for the week an easy guide for beginners

allplants – frozen vegan ready meals that are good for people and planet

Is a plant-based diet affecting my health? I did a Thriva blood test to find out

6 ways to get a better night sleep

I built a consistent walking habit, here’s what helped

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