Afrigather I’m a lazy cook dinner, which is why I’ll attempt nearly any meal package, supply subscription service, and/or ready meal that comes my means. However I even have excessive requirements for what I eat, so I’m normally left fairly dissatisfied. Mosaic Foods’ frozen meals, which I’ve tried a number of instances previously yr, do a variety of issues higher than the opponents. They provide extra selection, portion sizes are larger, and there’s precise greens to begin—in actual fact, Mosaic’s choices are 100% vegetarian and embody some vegan meals as properly. However they are often unreliable on the subject of taste and are usually not all the time as handy as a frozen meal needs to be (in my humble opinion), particularly given the worth tag. After making an attempt Mosaic objects from each class, together with oat bowls, smoothies, veggie bowls, soups, and pizzas, I can say that I’d order sure objects from Mosaic time and again, however I wouldn’t depend on the service various instances every week. Learn on for my full Mosaic Meals overview: how the meal service works, the dishes I beloved and those I’d skip, and what to know earlier than you join.
Ranking: 7/10
Execs:
- Vast number of choices from a various vary of cuisines
- Mosaic+ (chef-designed objects which can be a lower above the opposite choices when it comes to taste)
- Filling parts
- Excessive dietary worth
- 100% vegetarian with vegan choices
Cons:
- Inconsistent taste
- Some dishes warmth extra evenly than others, and others take too lengthy to warmth
- Highish price ticket
What’s the cope with frozen meals today?
After I was rising up, frozen meals catered to one in every of two stereotypes: meat-and-potatoes sort dinners for hungry, cooking-inept males, or low-fat, 300-calorie dishes for weight-reduction plan girls. Neither class was excellent—suppose freezer-burned greens and thriller meats that by no means fairly thawed. At the moment the freezer aisles supply dozens of ready-made choices for all types of eaters, and meal delivery services like Mosaic Meals and MagicKitchen.com convey them straight to your door. People’ urge for food for frozen meals surged by 21% in the beginning of the pandemic and has solely continued to rise, with frozen meals making up a $69 billion greenback market in 2021.
It’s not breaking information that freezing prolongs meals’s lifespan and locks in dietary worth at peak freshness. About 40% of meals within the U.S. goes uneaten every year, a lot of which is fruit and greens previous their prime. Lots of the new frozen meals manufacturers, together with Mosaic, are constructed on the premise that, if we relied extra on freezing, we may scale back meals waste, and our total meals system could be extra environment friendly and fewer taxing on the setting.
How Mosaic works
Mosaic Meals, which was based in Brooklyn in 2018, sits on the intersection of health-minded and family-friendly meals supply companies. Its roster of premade meals attracts from a variety of cuisines, makes use of largely greens and no synthetic elements, and is bought in parts meant to maintain you full (no 200-calorie “lunches” right here). Mosaic doesn’t promote itself as vegetarian, however there’s no meat to be present in these dishes, and objects are tagged as vegan, nut-free, wheat-free, and/or containing egg.
Mosaic is primarily a web based retailer (although they presently have a pop-up in Brooklyn), and its supply space covers most main metro areas within the Japanese and Western US. Like lots of its opponents, a subscription is required, but it surely’s a reasonably versatile deal. You select your meal plan (six, 12, or 18 objects) and your delivery frequency (weekly, or each two, three, or 4 weeks). And you may change, pause, or cancel your subscription at any time with out penalty. Delivery is quick—one or two days—and the meals arrives on dry ice, in a sturdy cardboard field with recyclable packaging, able to go straight into your freezer.
