After a terrible experience with Gobble a few years ago, I decided to give this meal kit subscription another try and have had better luck, but there are still issues. Learn all about Gobble, my experiences and how to get 6 meals for just $36.00 should you decide to give them a try.
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I first tried Gobble in February 2018. I was so disappointed in the food, that it took me three years to finally be willing to give them another chance.
I’ve never had a bad experience with any other meal kit, so I was quick to write them off at the time.
Why was Gobble so bad? Basically the quality of the food was below that of the other meal kits at the time, and the recipes just weren’t that great. My husband literally threw away his steak and I’ve never seen this man throw away steak before.
Due to their 6 for $36 deal, I decided to give them another try in February 2021 and had a better experience. I’ve had one other box between now and then.
None of the boxes have been perfect, including this one. The issues aren’t as bad as they were in 2018, but the fact that I’ve never really had issues with all of the other meal kit subscriptions that I’ve tried is concerning. I just don’t trust that the next boxes will be as good as they should be, especially for the cost.
I canceled my subscription back in February because I cook and develop recipes for a living. Simply put, I just don’t need these types of boxes, but I do enjoy them once in a while.
So why am I reviewing more Gobble boxes? Because they offered me the same 6 for $36 deal to come back, which I did in early July 2021, and then I forgot to cancel before they charged me for this box.
Table of Contents
What Makes Gobble Unique?
Gobble claims (or used to claim) that their meals can be made in just 15 minutes because their chefs do the majority of the prep work. You can also swap out the proteins in some of the meals.
When I was updating my notes on Gobble, I noticed that they now have what they call “Lean and Clean” meals where the carb count is a bit lower. It’s not so low that it would work with most keto diets, but some of the meals are very reasonable if you are able to cut carbs out of the rest of your day.
August 2021 Gobble Review
Plans and Cost
With Gobble, you are required to order a minimum of 2 of the main meals (not add ons) with 2 servings of each to meet their shipping requirements.
Meals are $11.99 per serving, if you order 3 or more meals (6 or more servings). Each meal is $13.99 if you only order the minimum of 2 meals (4 servings). There is no set limit as to how much you can order.
Shipping is a flat rate of $6.99 per order.
Packaging and Delivery
Delivery days depend on your location. You are able to change to delivery day when more than one day is available.
Because Monday is not an option where I live, I chose to receive my delivery on Tuesday or Wednesday.
My package arrived on time and very cold. Even with 90°F+ temperatures, half of the ice was still solid.
Inside the box, each meal is packaged together. I know that some may find this wasteful, while others appreciate how easy it is to gather all of the ingredients when you are ready to cook.
I do recycle as much as possible.
There were 3 large ice packs in the bottom of the box and the 2 packages of chicken and steaks were right on top of them and super cold.
The Food
Meal 1: Mexican Spiced Cauliflower with Elote-Style Corn & Black Beans
This meal was an easy choice for me, as I love cauliflower and dishes with black beans and corn.
The cauliflower was cooked in a skillet, then corn and seasoning were added to it. The black beans came prepared and the salad was a really simple combination of tomatoes, shallots, cilantro and an orange-cumin vinaigrette.
Surprisingly, my favorite part of this recipe was the salad. I never liked tomatoes or onions growing up, and now it’s like I can’t get enough. I ate half of everything else and the entire salad as one meal.
The black beans were also really good, as was the cauliflower and corn medley.
The only issues that I had were that the green onions were wilted and about 1/3 of the cilantro was wilted and unusable. I didn’t care to use the onions anyway, and used as much of the cilantro as I could save. At least this time around, I could save some, rather than none of it like last month.
The recipe didn’t take long to prepare and was easy. There does seem to be a typo in the instructions that could be an issue for someone who isn’t experienced cooking.
Under the step to cook the cauliflower, it says to heat a pan on medium and add the cauliflower and water when the oil is hot. It never says to add oil and you shouldn’t add 1/4 cup of water to hot oil. Someone could easily get confused here.
Meal 2: Gigli Pasta & Diced Chicken with Sweet Corn & Bacon Cream Sauce
I was also really looking forward to this dish, except for the 910 calories per serving! But, it’s a cream-based sauce and pasta so that is to be expected.
This meal was pretty good. I actually didn’t care for the chicken, but that’s pretty normal for me with pasta dishes like this. I was a vegetarian for over 10 years and still don’t care for meat in every single meal.
Again, the green onion was sad and wilted, but the celery takes the cake here. It looks like I was literally sent the scraps?! All three pieces are the ends, dry, and in overall poor condition. I didn’t use neither the onion or the celery.
Though it’s not very visible, the chicken was supposed to be “sliced” according to the ingredient list, but “diced” according to the recipe title. Mine arrived with a little of both.
Some pieces were so large that they had to be cut into 5 bite size pieces and a couple of pieces had large globs of fat that needed to be trimmed, as well. Having to trim and dice the chicken was not a step in the recipe.
And, the sauce was prepared in March? The package states to keep frozen until ready to use. It was thawed when it arrived, but I took a chance with it and no one got sick.
As usual, the recipe was still very easy to prepare and also fairly quick, even with the additional steps.
Meal 3: Seared Sirloin Steak Calabrese with Polenta & Balsamic Reduction
Even though the other meals still turned out really good, this Steak Calabrese was my favorite of the three.
It’s a pretty acidic dish with the tomatoes, roasted red pepper vinaigrette and balsamic glaze, but that’s the kind of food that I really love, especially when paired with a more bland base like polenta.
The steak needed just slight trimming, but was very tender and flavorful. The quality of the steak has been really good since my bad experience in 2018. I will definitely give them credit there.
The polenta came prepared, as did the balsamic reduction, Calabrian garlic confit and roasted red pepper vinaigrette.
Sadly, all of these green onions were in fair condition. I was able to slice two bunches of 1-inch pieces though.
The steak was simply seasoned with salt and pepper and seared until done to my liking. Then the vegetables were added and cooked.
Unfortunately, the instructions said to add the tomatoes and the onions at the same time, but the onions cooked much faster and I had to pick them out to prevent them from burning so I could finish cooking the tomatoes.
Once the tomatoes were ready, I added in the rest of the ingredients.
Overall, it was a really good dish.
Final Thoughts
I would say that this experience with Gobble was just okay. The fact that the produce continues to show up wilted or unusable is disappointing, but at least I could salvage the majority of each meal.
The quality of the meats has most definitely improved since my initial bad experience, minus the excess fat on the chicken and the fact it wasn’t cut as it was supposed to be.
The issues haven’t been so bad that the meals were not salvageable or even affected all that much at all, but it is still bothersome. I have not had this issue with other meal kit subscriptions, though I am sure it still happens occasionally.
I did reach out to Gobble after my last box, but prior to receiving this one. They did credit my account $25 which has left me with a slight dilema.
I was planning to cancel after this box, but now I kind of feel like I should at least use the credit. And, do I contact them again? I just don’t know.
I’m still undecided, but regardless if I do use it and the next meals are out-of-this-world amazing, I am still canceling. I just feel the risk of receiving low quality items is too high to pay full price for.
With all that said, all of my issues could possible be because of my particular areas packaging facility, or even with the delivery service throwing around the boxes? I simply don’t know.
Tips For How To Order
I always see people upset that they can’t view the menu before entering credit card information with many of the meal kit subscription services. The truth is, you can see the menu, but they don’t always make it easy. Here are a few ordering tips should you choose to order from Gobble:
- View the menu from the link in the top menu bar before entering your email to use the discount. Make note of which week you want to start based on which meals you want to try. Once you enter your email, it’s a hassle to try to go back to the menu because Gobble starts moving you through the sign-up process.
- There is no need to sign up specifically for Gobble’s Lean and Clean plan. You can still choose from the Lean and Clean menu items from the main plan. Most weeks have 3 Lean and Clean meals, while I did notice that some weeks only have 2.
- Be aware that you can’t see the recipe specifics such as ingredient list and nutritional information until after you sign up for an account.
Current deals for new customers (may also work for returning customers if quite a bit of time has passed) are:
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Matt says
I would agree with everything here but tke it a step further: the 15 minute claim isn’t even for “advanced” chefs. Frequently, the cooking instructions for an ingredient is 15 minutes or longer. For delicata squash it says “Bake in the oven for 12 minutes” then “Stir the delicata squash and cook for 4-5 minutes until browned.” “Set aside and allow to cool slightly”. Mind you I’m also cooking chicken for 12 minutes and then using that same pan after removing the chicken to saute some kale another 6 minutes plus plating. If someone moved through opening all of the ingredients, rinsing the produce, cooking, and letting the chicken rest, you’d get through this in 25 minutes. If you used two pans and deglazed the chicken pan and poured that into the kale, you could cut that down to 20 minutes. BUT, the average person reading the recipe through, following the steps, etc? It’s 30 minutes easy. Most meal kits take 30 minutes. They aren’t saving time at that point, but just using the allure of saving time to get you to buy theirs instead of someone else’s.