Souper Freak

Tonight I made ravioli “salad” inspired by 101 Cookbooks….again! It’s the third time in about that many weeks. It’s just so delicious and easy! This time I made a couple of tweaks: broccolini instead of asparagus and, for the first time, butternut squash ravioli. It’s the second time making it with ravioli from the Sunday Divisadero farmer’s market — the middle time we made it with ravioli from Trader Joe’s wasn’t hardly as good. If you haven’t made this recipe yet….now is the time!

But that’s not really what I’m here to talk to you about. I’m really here to talk to you about something I really meant to talk to you about last week. And that something is a little company called Cook! SF. What is it you may ask? Well, quoting their website, it’s a service that delivers “real simple meal kits that you prepare in 20 minutes.” Why oh why is the Souperfreak using a meal delivery website? Well, that’s because my awesome sister Cara Textoris bought a Groupon for three free meals from Cook! SF that she donated to me when she moved away to Cleveland. (Thanks Sis! Also, I’m SOOOOO excited that she is headed here in two days to visit for the July 4th weekend. Yayyyyy!!!!)

It works like this: You select meals from their website off of a menu that appears to rotate from week-to-week. They offer everything from meat dishes to fish to vegetarian to lunch time salads to special “detox” dishes. What makes this different from ordering in from any restaurant? It all comes to you raw with a set of directions. Essentially, they are the sous chef (and the menu planner and the grocery shopper and the cooking instructor and the delivery guy) and you are the one who ultimately cooks it and pops it on a plate.

Here’s me opening the box:

Being from Cleveland, I did what any proper Clevelander would do: I ordered the most expensive things on the menu since it was all FREE! The Groupon granted me a choice of three dishes. I chose two (grass-fed, locally-raised) steaks with a pomegranate sauce and root vegetable mash (to feed Tyler and me) and one halibut with a side of stir fried veggies. Ultimately, this was not the most sensible decision seeing as I don’t like big slabs of meat, but again, I’m from Cleveland. I get the most I can for free.

So, what does the Souperfreak think of this service? On one hand, I get it. On the other hand, I would NEVER order this using money from my own pocket. I’ll explain by fleshing out the pros and cons:

The pros: From my experience and assessment, the leading reason to use this service is the crazy convenience. You can cook an impressive, healthy meal using fresh ingredients in 15 minutes FLAT, if not fewer. There is no chopping, there is no measuring, there’s no grocery shopping. Every single ingredient comes pre-measured, pre-chopped and ready to pour into the pan — even the olive oil and chopped onions and splash of wine:

The cooking instructions are easy to follow. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked any meal that was so stress free.

I’ll say another pro is the wide variety of selections — they cater to every taste and preference, from vegetarian to gluten-free to meat-and-potatoes. The ingredients are definitely top quality, as well as being locally sourced and responsibly raised.

The cons: Doing this regularly would cost a fortune!! My three meals plus delivery would have cost over $60 if I’d paid out of pocket. Now maybe if I’d gone to the store to purchase those ingredients, I would have spent a good deal of money — even eating in is expensive! But I don’t typically buy steaks or even fish fillets, and if I’m going to pay that kind of money for dinner I don’t want to have to cook and clean myself. There are so many options for eating out (deliciously) in San Francisco that it’s hard to justify $20 a meal for food you could overcook or otherwise screw up.

Fortunately, I didn’t screw it up — in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever cooked a steak before, and I did a great job. I just actually can’t eat more than a few bites of a big slab of beef, so I ended up giving at last half of mine to Tyler. But looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

And here we are with the sauce and onions and side of mashed parsnips, etc:

In the end, I get it for some people: the busy family (or individual) with enough money but not enough time, who wants to make home-cooked meals but needs some help to do it. I can also see it as the supreme healthy-eating luxury: you can sign up for their two week detox program, complete with three square meals and snacks, and know every morsel you’re putting into your body is a step towards better health. Hell, I’d probably sign up for a two-week detox diet if I could afford it. But I won’t be a returning customer. Too rich for my blood, and the meals were satisfyingly easy to prepare, but didn’t blow me away. The one situation in which I could see myself placing an order was if I knew I had dinner guests coming on a night I didn’t have much time to prepare. To know that everything is cut and prepared and all you need to do is follow some simple directions….that’s worth the peace of mind and the extra minutes of chatting with your guests. But beyond that? I’ll stick to shopping and chopping myself!