I’m a frozen meal sceptic – here’s what I thought of Cook’s meal service

Cook also offers a subscription for your favourite meals and will deliver them every one week to eight weeks, depending on your desired frequency.

Does the food stay frozen?

Keeping frozen food frozen is vital for health and safety. If your food is delivered via one of Cook’s couriers it will be in a heavily insulated box and will stay frozen into the early evening if it has to be left in a safe place. If it comes via another delivery service, you will need to be in to accept delivery as these arrive in carrier bags or boxes and need to be put straight into your freezer.

My delivery driver brought my food straight to my door and it was still solidly frozen so I had no worries about transferring it into my freezer.

Is Cook packing sustainable?

Your Cook meal will be delivered in a cardboard box with paper padding which is fully recyclable. The dry ice packs or gel freezer packs may be recycled depending on your local council.

As for the packaging of the food itself? Cook’s meals come in 100% recyclable plastic trays (which are made from 85% recycled plastic).

What are Cook recipes like?

As someone who loves cooking, I’m always sceptical when I try out a meal prep company. But Cook meals did not disappoint.

Firstly, I adored the variation of the recipes. I like to eat a lot of varied flavours (I get very bored if I eat the same thing every day), so being able to choose from curries to lasagnas and noodles to cassoulets really fitted how I like to eat. And, most importantly, the food was really, really good.

As I mentioned, I wasn’t sure if Cook meals would be the sort of thing I could eat every day – I worried I would find ready meals too dull or rich – or simply miss cooking. But on a busy week, my Cook meals weren’t just a life saver in terms of ease and convenience, it actually made me wonder why I ever bother cooking at all.

Even when reheated in the microwave, Cook’s food managed to maintain loads of flavour and keep the right texture. It’s worth noting that some of the recipes aren’t complete – for instance, a couple of the curries I ordered came with just the sauce and meat without the rice or bread, so I did have to add my own ingredients to the meal. But even with that in mind, I thought that Cook was surprisingly affordable for a meal prep company, especially considering the cost of single ingredients in supermarkets at the moment.

Who is Cook most suited to?

Cook can be for anyone who wants to eat really well without spending time in the kitchen (and isn’t that most of us?). I found the portion sizes decent enough – as did my always-hungry boyfriend, which says a lot.

It’s also great for someone who wants ease without eating a load of ultra-processed foods, additives and preservatives.

Cook is also great for anyone who wants convenience but hates waste, since it’s an environmentally-conscious founding B-corp business.

Are there any negatives to Cook?

Honestly, I’m struggling to come up with a negative for Cook. The main issue would be that a £5-7 meal isn’t a realistic amount for everyone to spend on food. And the only other downside I can think of is that the ‘healthy’ options were mainly categorised by being ‘low calorie’ – I’d love to see some other options labelled as ‘healthy’ that included the same nutritious, protein and veg-focused meals, but were slightly more hearty – as we all know calories aren’t the only thing that matters for (or most important aspect of) health.

Is Cook worth it?

Whether Cook is worth it or not depends on your income, how hard you find cooking fresh food and what you want to prioritise at meal times. While they may not be an everyday affordable meal, they are a good price for the quality (and worth every penny).

Going forward, I will absolutely be stashing a load of Cook meals in my freezer ready to go on days when I have no time or energy. Cook has been game-changing – and I don’t want to go without.

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