Thursday, February 23, 2012

BistroMD - Post 2

I just had my first meal and it is far better than anything I can get at a typical fast food restaurant, as good as anything I would order at my favorite take-out restaurants and about the same price as or cheaper than an average carry-out meal.

BistroMD claims to deliver doctor-designed, chef-prepared, restaurant-quality gourmet meals right to your door.

Bold claims, right? We live in a world with so much hype and clever marketing especially surrounding products for health and wellness, diet and exercise.

As I've referenced before, I've bought Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice. High marks for speed and convenience, low marks for taste and portions.

They weren't bad, but I never looked forward to them. Ever. I never had any anticipation for my next meal, and I couldn't see myself eating them every day for lunch and dinner. Not for 2 or 3 days in a row, certainly not for any significant length of time.

You'd never know it to have seen me at my heaviest, but I'm the girl who always takes home half of my meal in a box at any restaurant, and yet, I always feel unsatisfied with the portions provided in frozen meals purchased from the grocery store. Just. Not. Enough.

And just barely not enough, but just barely not enough to make me feel like I still needed an additional snack or dessert, even when one was included. I can't say I ever felt satiated.

And even when I think of my favorites that I discovered through trial and error, nothing was ever as good as my own cooking or restaurant food. I figured that high-quality, low-calorie frozen foods just didn't exist.

I. Was. Wrong.

I just tried my first BistroMD dinner.

Sooo....good!

Beef Tips in Red Wine Sauce
Beef tips in a Bordelaise-Style sauce made with red wine and beef broth, along with mushrooms and seasonings served with a provencal vegetable mix of carrots, peas, and rosemary potatoes.

Yum, right? 400 Calories

I have to say that it did not disappoint.

I intentionally kept my expectations low so I wouldn't feel let down. I needn't have done so.

I expected one of three things: I thought the food might be tasty, but the portions would be frustratingly small. Or the portions would be filling, but the flavors would be bland and the textures would be off. Or, I would get an unpleasant combination of the two - unsatisfying portions of boring food.

I thought it would be made of high-quality ingredients, but I did not expect it to taste very good.

But it did!

It was every bit as good as my own cooking. It was well-seasoned, and it tasted very fresh. It tasted as fresh as I meal I had prepared on the spot - not like it had ever been frozen.

The down-side: It isn't cheap. I'm on the 5-day plan (no snacks) and the price including shipping and handling is $154 a week. That's $616 a month. That's a pretty steep food budget. And that's not including any other groceries, snacks, fresh fruits, veggies, or beverages.

Or the food I will cook for my husband.

That is what kept me from doing it sooner. I didn't think it wouldn't be worth it - it's just so much more than I've ever spent on food for myself alone. If I don't eat out at restaurants at all and I cut back on weekly spending at the grocery store then I guess that lessens the impact on the budget.

The claim is that most people average 1 - 2 lbs of weight loss a week. We'll see what it does for me.

I will say that the meal was extremely filling. I ate dinner at 5:30 p.m. It is now 8 p.m. and I am not hungry at all. I felt full and satisfied immediately.

I look forward to trying my first full day of meals where I eat breakfast lunch and dinner.

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