Dinner. It’s a universal issue for busy families, no matter where they live, including at my house. The grocery store is my least favorite place in the world. I find little joy in trying to pick out the freshest zucchini, even in the beautiful Barcelona food markets. Not to mention, I have zero knowledge (and interest) when it comes to learning about different cuts of meat or how to ask for the fish to be prepared. Besides, even if I did buy groceries, preparing a meal is definitely not one of my strengths. So, while I enjoy food and eating healthy, at this point in my life, I have learned to just let it go and focus on my non-culinary strengths.
Our monthly bill for food delivery apps had been getting a bit out of control, and some of those meals are not exactly the healthiest either. Hiring a private chef to prepare three family meals a week started to look like a pretty good option, until I discovered at the Palo Alto Market meal delivery kits by Let’s Cook. Our dinner table — and my teenage son — have never been the same since.
Meal Kits, Delivered
Let’s Cook, a new Barcelona-based business, drew me in because they combined the convenience of food delivery apps with the healthier quality of a home-cooked meal. North Americans may already be familiar with companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, which cater to a culture that demands speed and convenience. While I have slowed down in a nod to the Spanish way of life, I still have no interest in making week-night dinners. Fortunately, Let’s Cook fixed that with meal delivery kits sent directly to my home.
Let’s Cook, does all of the grocery shopping, selecting quality products, pre-measuring all the ingredients and even providing cooking instructions via email. They used to send paper instructions with the meals, but being an eco-savvy company, switched to email. Let’s Cook also made the eco-conscious decision to use minimal packaging, nothing more than a paper bag and returnable and reusable small jars for liquid ingredients.
A variety of meal plan options are available, based on how many meals you want each week and for how many people. They have three plans: Surprise, Vegetarian, and Gourmet. Let’s Cook sends out an email the week before describing the meals available for the following week, and subscribers can choose to accept those meals or make changes based on personal preferences. We order three meals a week, one of which is always vegetarian, because my daughter is vegetarian. So one night a week we’re all vegetarian! Makes ‘meatless Mondays’ so much easier to accomplish.
The Unexpected Bonus: Getting your kids in the kitchen!
When our meal delivery kits first started arriving, my 13-year old son wanted to help, which completely surprised me. Suddenly, not only was dinner figured out, but my son and I were spending time together cooking dinner three nights a week. As much as I hate cooking, I started looking forward to making these meals because it allowed me to spend time with my son in a fun and engaging way. Eventually, our meal prep turned into my son taking charge and giving me directions as his sous chef! Several months into using the Let’s Cook service and my son now makes all of the dinners and ended up asking me to not help or even be in the kitchen when he is cooking because he has it all under control! It has been incredibly gratifying as a parent to watch him gain confidence in the kitchen and life skills to become independent.
The most satisfying moment was when I was at the dog park and I received a photo and message from my son that said “Dinner’s done.” I honestly did not mean to outsource the family dinner to my 13-year-old son, but I think I won the lottery here.
The Let’s Cook Guys
Let’s Cook began as an idea while Argentinian, Nicolas, and Swedish Gustav, met while completing their Executive MBA at Eada Business School here in Barcelona. Let’s Cook was the duo’s final project and, while it started with five team members, they were the only two who ran with the idea and actually developed it. They launched in December 2018 and, when I bumped into them at the Palo Alto market in July 2019, it turned out to be their first event promoting their business.
Back then I was not yet building The Barcelona Edit, but I was already a loyal customer and fan, telling many of my friends about them and posting about them in my Instagram stories. When The Barcelona Edit finally launched in December 2019, I knew I wanted to share their story and tell even more people about them. It gives me personal and professional satisfaction to support other entrepreneurs, especially when it’s a business that improved my family’s dinner situation.
My family continues to have meals delivered from Let’s Cook and my son continues to prepare them! While we are better some weeks than others at making the meals, we always end up eating them all before the start of a new week of deliveries.
The Barcelona Edit is running a promotion with Let’s Cook through March 31, 2020. Give them a try. I hope you like them as much as my family and I do!
Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post. All of my opinions are my own and I share this with you as it is 100% honest and true. However, we now have an advertising and affiliate partnership with Let’s Cook. Without partnerships like this The Barcelona Edit will not be possible.
