Meal Kit Reviews: Gobble is Great for Those in a Hurry

2025 Update

I just tried Gobble again and while the concept hasn’t changed too much in all these years, I was not happy with the results. I’ve updated my original review from 2019.

Of all the meal kits out there, Gobble used to be my favorite. The food is very good and it can be prepared in about 15-20 minutes. They accomplish this by using simple recipes and sending you some pre-cooked (lentis, rice). That convenience has a price, and Gobble has among the highest prices in the industry. Unfortunately, the price is no longer matched by the quality of the dishes.

The Plans

Gobble offers plans for 2 or 4 people. You can order as few as 2 meal kits a week or as many as you want. Cost is $15 a serving (or $17 if you only order 2 meal kits) – that is $30 per kit for 2 or $48 per kit for 4. You also have to pay $10 shipping, regardless of how many kits you order. Thus, the standard plan of 3 meals for 2 people per week costs $100.

As other companies, Gobble usually offers discounts for its first week. Currently, you can get two meals for two for $18 with my referral link (and I’d get a $20 credit if I was subscribed when you use it, but I already cancelled my subscription).

Gobble also offers lunch and breakfast subscriptions, but I haven’t tried them.

Unsubscribing is easy (though you need to google around to find the link), and you can skip weeks when you don’t want to order anything.

The Food

Gobble offers mostly American and European food with some Asian, Indian and Mexican choices. They have numerous beef, chicken, seafood and vegetarian (but not necessarily vegan) choices every week. The dishes do take about 15-20 minutes to put together and most were quite tasty.

The dishes are simpler than those offered by other premium meal kit companies, but the ones I had were nice enough. Cooking speed is also achieved by sending some ingredients pre-cooked, you just have to warm them in the microwave. These precooked ingredients (rice, lentils, roasted sweet potatoes) were surprisingly tasty. Indeed, my daughter thought the rice was the best part of the vegan meal she had.

Ingredients seem to be fresh, though quality has gone down, at least on the beef.

Another problem – one that seems ubiquitous with meal kits – was that the portions of meats/seafood sent were of different size and shapes, meaning that you could not cook them at the same temperature without burning one. This I found annoying. This problem seems to be ongoing years later.

Finally, some recipes require the use of multiple pans, though you can modify them so you only use one at the time, albeit that takes longer. As someone without a dishwasher, minimizing the number of pots and pans I use is a priority for me.

The Shipping and Delivery

I was now able to get my meals on a Monday. They were promptly delivered in the morning and I got a text when they arrived.

The Packaging

Inside the box most of the ingredients come in plastic bags organized by recipe. Cold ingredients are at the bottom of the box, between freezer packs.

The Results

I found that the recipes I made in my last order, in 2025, were not significantly different than those in years past but I enjoyed them much less. I’d only have one of the three meals I prepared again.

Caramel-Glazed Cobia with Coconut Rice & Chinese Broccoli

This was a perfectly pleasant dinner. It felt a little bit rushed to cook, but it was simple to prepare and the results were very good. The coconut rice was tasty, the fish well portioned and boneless and the vegetables were fresh. But this dish was all about the prepared teriyaki sauce it came with and that you use to cook the fish with and the four over the whole meal – and the sauce was very good. The vegetables added some crunch to the meal, so it was multi-textured as well, and I liked that the fish was meatier than some. All in all I’d have it again.

Flat Iron Steak with Sugar Snap Peas, Sherry Vinaigrette, & Goat Cheese

I was disappointed by this dish. The steaks were pretty small but, more problematically, tough and with too much gristle. The fennel rub didn’t do anything to enhance the flavor which was pretty mediocre. The rest of the dish tasted only of the pungent sherry vinaigrette, which was too acidic and not particularly tasty. After plating it according to instructions (or as close as I could), I had to rescue the mushrooms from the salad

Chicken Marsala over Toasted Orzo with Broccoli & Cauliflower with Chicken Cutlets

This was the worst dish of the three, and I really did not enjoy it. First, it also required my dirtying three different cooking pans to prepare and several other dishes just to prepare – not something I’m fond of doing as I don’t have a dishwasher. And then, it just didn’t taste very good. There was no sweet marsala flavor in the marsala sauce, it really didn’t taste much of anything. The mushrooms would probably would have been better on their own. The orzo was completely insipid – it’s not like there was anything to flavor it -, plus following the instruction left me with a lot of water, so I had to actually strain it (and dirty a strainer). The vegetables were just so-so. It was a waste of time and calories to make.

Meal kits from years ago

	Blackened Chicken with Marble Potatoes & Broccolini a forgettable dish
	Seared Flat Iron Steak with Baby Carrots & Harissa Green Lentils Great meal quality, but it wasn’t a steak.
	Thai Basil Tofu with Brown Rice The tofu was tofu, but the rice was great!
	Curried Beef Bowl with Basmati Rice & Mini Samosas Very tasty!
	Albacore Tuna with Pearl Couscous, Chermoula Vinaigrette Loved the chermoula!
	Burmese Shredded Chicken with Coconut Rice & Burmese Salad  Best meal kit yet!
	Thai Tofu Noodle Bowl with Peanut Sauce Great Vegan choice
	Gobble’s Japanese Style Steak with Jasmine Rice & Vegetable Stir-Fry OK