You know we love our freezer meals here at OMV. But there are always going to be times where Past You wasn't considerate enough (or was too busy) to make a big, freezer-friendly batch of veggie lasagna or chili, and now Present You is scrambling...and about to order a giant greasy pizza, out of defeat and hanger. And Future You will most certainly regret it.
Recently I got to try Veestro's new meal delivery service, and it is perfect for those times. Everything is vegan, GMO-free, plant-based, dairy-free, and much of the selection is gluten-free. You can do one-time or recurring orders, so there's no subscription pressure; you can also choose from a la carte or pre-curated packages of meals, snacks, desserts and beverages. Many items are available in single-serve or family sizes, so you can try them out and then stock up on family sizes if you like them.
I'm picky, so I went for an a la carte assortment of single-serve dishes: a couple soups, a salad, some main dishes and even a few juices. Hands down, my favorites were the Kale and Quinoa Salad (pictured below-it comes with savory tempeh bits, dried cranberries and a yummy tahini sauce), Risotto with Butternut Squash (pictured above), Veggie Empanadas (I'm not supposed to have gluten, but I cheated with these-totally worth it), Gluten-Free Quinoa Burger (which was so huge I couldn't finish it in one sitting), and the Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was really surprised at how awesome the juices were to have around. The thought of lugging out, and then cleaning, the juicer is usually enough to deter me; I could simply pop one of the frozen Veestro juices (my favorite was the Cleansing Tonic with beets, kale and Maqui berry powder) in the fridge overnight and it would be mostly thawed in the morning.
My favorite parts about Veestro were that the site was super easy to navigate (every item has reviews, ingredients and nutrition/allergen info), and the food actually tastes like someone made it-not like it came from a factory. Since the meals don't include preservatives, they are perishable, but they'll keep for up to 8 weeks in the freezer and 2 weeks in the fridge. Which is great if you're like me and occasionally just forget to eat a meal. If I still worked in an office, I would definitely keep a bunch of Veestros around for emergency lunches!
There was only one very minor qualm I had: for some items the cooking and thawing times were much longer-sometimes twice as long-than what was suggested on the package. Although everyone's appliances are different and cooking times always vary, so no worries there. The delivery process was totally smooth but did require some lead time since orders are only shipped on Mondays. (As long as you order by Friday, your order will be shipped Monday.) Everything was delivered intact on dry ice via FedEx (note that shipping can be a little costly), and you don't have to be home for the delivery. I loved that the packaging was minimal and most of it was recyclable; the plastic cartons Veestro uses are BPA-free, too.
While I'm definitely not going to be giving up on making my own freezer meals, it was so nice having real food ready to go-that I didn't have to make! I'd definitely recommend keeping some Veestro meals on hand, especially if you often find yourself scrambling for meals.
how to order
You can order Veestro meals a la carte, or in pre-curated packages like Gluten-Free and High-Protein. Note that there's a $35 minimum order, and orders over $199 get free shipping.
Disclaimer: We received samples from Veestro in order to try the meals, but this had no influence on our opinion and this isn't a sponsored post.
