January’s chilly embrace and the post-festive lull present the ideal chance for a health overhaul. In the aftermath of Christmas indulgence, shedding excess weight is a priority for many, with many diets offering to assist in this annual ritual.
Among the UK’s favoured options stands Slimming World, a diet club that not only provides local group weigh-in sessions but also offers online membership. Innovatively catering to those on the Slimming World journey, the brand has introduced its Slimming World Kitchen service.
This service, which debuted last year, permits members to choose up to five different dishes via their online platform. Customers then receive bespoke recipe boxes delivered straight to their home, loaded with all the essentials for crafting delicious meals.
Since these culinary creations are considered “free food” in the Slimming World universe, they are crafted to dovetail seamlessly with the brand’s “Food Optimising” scheme, supporting weight loss efforts. From personal experience, I can vouch for Slimming World’s effectiveness, having previously shed significant weight through their programme, although I’m no longer an enlisted member.
My trial of the Slimming World Kitchen boxes at their launch was successful, as I noticed a six-pound drop over a week while abiding by the more comprehensive plan rules. Embarking on my own January health kick, I decided to commit to using the boxes for an entire month to evaluate their effectiveness.
The service operates on a subscription model, requiring you to choose upon sign-up whether you’d like the boxes delivered weekly, fortnightly, every three weeks or monthly. There’s also the flexibility to skip weeks or cancel your subscription at any time.
Here’s how I fared throughout January, crafting all the meals and assessing the pros and cons of the service – and crucially, whether it contributed to any weight loss. The process is straightforward: simply visit the Slimming World Kitchen website, select your desired delivery week, and 15 recipes will be presented. You can opt for up to five dishes per week, with portion sizes available for two or four people.
Each dish is individually priced, displayed on the website per dish and per portion to assist with budgeting – for instance, sizzling steak in oyster sauce is priced at £13 (£6.50 per portion). Generally, meat dishes are pricier than vegetarian alternatives, and it proves more cost-effective if catering for four people, with prices ranging from £10 – £13 for the two-portion options and from £13 – £22 for the four-portion options.
Selecting your meals is a simple task; each calendar week offers a menu from which you can pick up to five dishes. During my selection period, the options included tantalising dishes such as jerk hake with mango salsa, hunters chicken with baby roasties, and sticky spiced tofu and rice. I opted for meals that I wouldn’t typically prepare at home or those I’ve struggled to perfect despite numerous attempts.
So, what’s in the box?
The boxes are quite substantial (especially if you’re opting for five meals), and upon opening, you’ll find a recipe booklet on top, featuring numbered recipes for the entire week. Inside the box, you’ll discover five bags filled with the ingredients for the recipes you’ve chosen, each numbered to correspond with the recipe in the booklet.
A separate compartment within the box houses refrigerated items – fresh meats and yoghurts required for the recipes. However, it’s worth noting that the bags now also indicate they need refrigeration.
This might not pose an issue if you own a large American-style fridge, but for those of us with smaller fridges, fitting all the bags inside isn’t feasible. Consequently, I had to remove the vegetables that needed refrigeration from each bag. To maintain some semblance of organisation for the upcoming week of cooking-from-scratch, I endeavoured to keep everything else (like vinegars, garlic, ginger etc) inside the brown bags.
The treasure trove found within the meal boxes tailored for Slimming World enthusiasts lies in the fact that EVERY morsel is aligned with the plan’s “free food” category. Followers of this programme can, in essence, indulge in endless quantities of “free” foods – think lean meats, pulses, fruits, veggies, and an array of herbs and spices – and, if all goes to plan, still observe the numbers on the scale descend.
Another perk is the ready-to-go nature of these recipe constituents. That means no guessing games with spice quantities – everything comes pre-measured in handy sachets. You’ll encounter the precise amount of tomatoes your dish requires, and even find things like tomato puree neatly packaged for convenience.
Accompanying the ingredients is a comprehensive recipe guide replete with step-by-step instructions. Cooking times are offered up as helpful estimators too, but take it from my experience – if you’re flying solo in the kitchen, like I was, you might find the prep takes a bit longer, particularly if veg chopping isn’t your forte. That said, seasoned chefs might whip through the prep at lightning speed.
As for the financial footprint, there’s flexibility to suit different appetites. Whether it’s two or four meals you opt for, each recipe carries its own price tag, as my month-long adventure attests:
- Week 1 peeled off £60 for a five-meal ensemble (plus £4.99 delivery);
- Week 2 notched down to £49 for four meals (and the £4.99 delivery again);
- Week 3 mirrored the previous week’s costing at £49 plus delivery;
- Week 4 saw a minimal hike to £61 for five meals, delivery included.
Culminating in a monthly total of £238.99.
And now for the burning query: What was the impact on the scales?
Addressing the pressing question that many are curious about, I am happy to report a significant weight loss after engaging with meal boxes for an entire month. It’s crucial to acknowledge that throughout this period, I was scrupulously adhering to the Slimming World diet plan. This meant my daily intake included options like fruit and fat-free yoghurt for breakfast, as well as lunches such as beans on toast (incorporating my Healthy Extra B for the wholemeal bread), or homemade tuna pasta (using my Healthy Extra A for cheese topping).
One of the perks for those dedicated to the Slimming World programme is the fact that these meal boxes consist entirely of ‘free meals’, allowing the flexibility to allocate HEA and HEB choices to other meals throughout the day. Having embarked on this dietary journey post a rather indulgent Christmas, any seasoned dieter understands that the initial week often yields greater weight loss, largely attributable to shedding “water weight”.
Standing at 5ft 6ins and being overweight for my height, I’m aware of the multiple stones needed to lose to fall within a healthy range. Still, the sheer joy was uncontainable when, upon scaling at the culmination of week one, I had shed 6 lbs – mirroring the success I experienced the previous year when I first sampled the meal boxes.
Following an impressive first week, the weight loss naturally tapered to a more sustainable one to two pounds over the subsequent three weeks. After a full month of utilising the meal boxes and adhering to the Slimming World plan, I was delighted to have shed a total of 10lbs.
Despite consuming generous portions of wholesome, vegetable-rich, home-cooked meals from these boxes, I never felt deprived and still managed to lose a significant amount of weight by sticking to the regimen. There was a commendable variety of culinary styles to choose from each week, including a selection of vegetarian options as well as fish, pork, beef, and chicken dishes.
While I enjoyed all the meals (especially after investing so much time in their preparation), some truly stood out and are ones I’ll certainly attempt to recreate.
Here are my top five picks:
- Creamy chicken supreme: This dish was a real winner – the sauce, crafted with fat-free yoghurt, stock, and mustard, rivalled anything you’d find in a restaurant.
- Barbecue baked sweet potatoes: I thought it prudent to sample a fully vegetarian dish, and this proved to be the most surprising revelation. The flavour of the aubergine barbecue was exceptional. I’ve already whipped up this recipe again due to its irresistible taste.
- Posh risotto with steak and garlic mushrooms: I opted for this as I’ve always struggled to perfect a proper risotto. This dish helped me conquer that challenge. It was a wonderfully flavoursome dish, enhanced by the superior quality of the steak.
- “Just like mum’s” savoury mince with colcannon: This is one that immediately catches the eye, and here’s why. Despite my own mum never having prepared this dish for me, someone out there is calling on fond memories – because it truly was delicious.
- Beef lasagne with charred broccoli: This is a culinary challenge that I’ve never quite mastered in my home kitchen. However, this particular lasagne was delectable. A small confession though: I may have bent the rules slightly by using my Healthy Extra A allowance to sprinkle some extra cheese on top.
However, not all trials were a success. Certain meals seemed to require significant effort yet the payoff lacked lustre.
This was my sentiment towards the chicken tikka masala sided with cucumber salad which left me somewhat underwhelmed. Then there was the jerk pork dish, which I’d somehow forgotten I had tried and hadn’t enjoyed last year. Unfortunately, time had not favoured this dish and my feelings remained unchanged, leading to immediate regret for revisiting it.
Within the seafood category, I ventured to try a “showstopper salmon”, setting my expectations high. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to its title, delivering a rather bland experience.
What’s truly commendable about these meal boxes…
What stands out about the meal boxes is their dedication to health, bursting with wholesomeness in each pack. Adherents to the Slimming World program will find joy knowing that every ingredient is categorised as “free food”.
The bonus? No fussing over weights or tally marks against your HEA and HEB; the recipes have been designed with freedom in mind.
Noteworthy too is the evident quality of the fresh meat and vegetables; they really did impress. Even the stock cubes and tinned items included in some recipes came from esteemed brands, a nice touch that didn’t go unnoticed.
Embracing home cooking allows you the luxury to freeze extra portions should your family or significant other be disinclined to partake in the meals. This method is also splendid for stretching your budget further, particularly if you’re dedicated to following the plan.
The servings are quite substantial; hence, it might be wise to stow away leftovers regardless. However, four weeks into the routine, I must confess that the culinary commitment started to wear thin. While I was enduring long hours over the stove up to five nights a week preparing each meal single-handedly, the prep time began to feel burdensome.
Granted, one could argue that spending an hour chopping and stirring is practically a cardiovascular workout, which, in theory, could assist with weight loss efforts. But what truly tested my patience with the meal boxes was the pervasive use of onions – they were called for in nearly every recipe.
Although the savoury allure of fried onions can enhance any dish, the overpowering scent lingers mercilessly in the home, infiltrating clothes and hair – a drawback unless you happen to be an onion aficionado with a top-notch extractor fan (mine, frustratingly, falls short). Towards the month’s close, I also encountered a sense of “vegetable fatigue”.
Yes, I acknowledge the health benefits and their role in weight loss, but some recipes seemed intent on delivering an entire day’s worth of vegetables on a single plate, which frankly left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed. I was so inspired that I began to reserve some vegetables from the dishes for use in my lunch meals, such as additional peppers and mushrooms for a wholesome omelette.
The verdict
For followers and long-standing fans of Slimming World, these boxes undoubtedly provide fantastic inspiration and fresh recipes to experiment with. The contents of the box were all fresh and incredibly healthy, and there was a certain satisfaction in preparing everything from scratch – it’s easy to see how these meals could cater to an entire family (even those not specifically aiming to shed weight).
It also sparked ideas for incorporating a wider variety of fresh herbs and vegetables into my regular recipe rotation for an added boost. The inclusion of a recipe book with the box is a bonus, allowing you to recreate your favourite dishes at home after trying them out via the box.
However, I would note that if you were to order Slimming World Kitchen without being a member of the slimming club, you’d need to familiarise yourself with the overall plan if you intended to use the meal boxes as a weight loss tool throughout the week. The recipe booklet included does touch on the “lowdown on how Food Optimising works, but it stops short of detailing the broader plan’s rules.
The box also provides only your “main meal” for the day, leaving those aiming for weight loss to wonder about suitable breakfast and lunch options – though there are numerous prompts to “join your local Slimming World group” peppered throughout the booklet. My own weight loss success with these recipes came from adhering strictly to the Slimming World plan.
Having previously followed the plan, I was already familiar with the categorisation of “free” foods, the need to count certain items as HEA and HEB, the appropriate portion sizes, and the “syns” system that allows for a fixed number of daily indulgences. For those pursuing alternative dietary approaches, the booklet thoughtfully includes a comprehensive table of nutritional information per serving at the end, complete with calorie and fat content.
It’s undeniable that the cost of the food is higher than purchasing ingredients independently at the supermarket; this premium reflects the convenience of receiving bespoke recipes. Nevertheless, the total monthly expenditure of £238.99 did give me pause when I considered the overall amount paid.
Personally, I wouldn’t opt for a full five-meal box again as the sheer volume of food entering my home was somewhat overwhelming, given the size of my kitchen and fridge. However, for an occasional burst of culinary inspiration, I believe a three or four meal box is well worth considering, as the majority of the recipes were of excellent quality.