I’m the type of person who doesn’t get too excited when it comes to cooking. Honestly, there are 1000 things I would rather do than stand in front of the stove. If it doesn’t work with my beloved Thermomix either – that’s holy to me!
Mr. and Mrs. Schweizer feel just like me: They love to eat out, as demonstrated by the federal nutrition survey menuCH. Nearly one-third of those surveyed said they did not prepare a hot meal for lunch during a typical week. Also, significantly more women (50 percent) spend a lot of time cooking — at least 40 minutes — than men (31 percent).
Food boxes like the ones from Juts or Hello Fresh want to encourage the Swiss population to cook more again. Good idea, I think to myself: You don’t have to rush into crowded supermarkets during the corona pandemic. You also save time as you do not have to search for a long time for recipes that are both delicious and easy to apply. Killed two birds with one stone.
Food Box 1: Juts
Key data:
- Choose between seasonal or vegetarian
- for one, two or four people
- Delivery intervals: weekly, every two, three or four weeks
- includes three plates
- no minimum requirements, pause and cancellation possible at any time
Tested box: Vegetarian option for two people per week for CHF 74; The price per meal is 12.33 francs.
“Juts tries to use only selected Swiss products,” says the website of Frauenfeld’s new venture, which first delivered food boxes in 2016. There are three dishes to choose from, all of which seem easy to make when I first look at the instructions. Everything is packed in paper bags, neatly divided into corresponding recipes so that you don’t mix anything up.
Order process: The ordering process is simple. Current dishes can be viewed on the website. Pictures of related dishes could be presented a little better.
Delivery: The delivery date is strictly adhered to and I receive my lunch box as scheduled.
Box contents: When opening the package, I immediately realize a dilemma: packaging, packaging and further packaging. Sure, items need to be well wrapped for shipping, but what happens to all the waste after cooking? According to Juts, every four to six deliveries you receive a prepaid label that you can use to return the sheep’s wool and cooling elements. This calms me down a bit.
Preparation: Three recipes and related ingredients are included in the box. Vegetarian dishes are to my liking, and it turns out, it’s super easy to make – really! I think it’s great: Quantities are precisely tailored to the number of people ordered, which avoids food wastage. Everything works for us.
pleasure: Hard work has paid off: all the recipes taste good! I just need to add more seasoning to all the recipes, especially the potato casserole and the lentil bowl lack intense spice.
Food Box 2: Hello Fresh
Key data:
- You can choose from meat & vegetable, vegetarian, family-friendly or Thermomix-friendly recipes.
- for two or four people
- Delivery interval: weekly
- contains three, four or five dishes – recipes included
- pause and cancellation is always possible
Tested box: Vegetarian variant with four dishes for two for 103.95 francs plus 7 francs postage. The portion price is 12.99 francs.
The Berlin start-up advertises that various recipes are developed by its own Hello Fresh chefs. “100 percent freshness and quality – only the best ingredients from selected suppliers and Swiss meat go into your cooking box,” says the Hello Fresh website.
Order process: On the Hello Fresh website, up-to-date recipes are presented with attractive pictures. The ordering of the box takes place in simple and uncomplicated steps.
Delivery: What immediately struck me about the box is that it is extremely heavy. Poor supplier in my opinion. He drops the package in the stairwell, as I’ve allowed before. Everything about the delivery is going well.
Box contents: When I open the package, I immediately see a large text: “I’m cool and sustainable”. That’s why Hello Fresh tries to focus on sustainability as much as possible. The packaging consists of recycled materials and every four boxes cooling elements, sheep wool insulation and cardboard packaging can be returned with a sealed label. What I particularly like: the paper bags with the ingredients are nicely numbered and assigned to the relevant recipes. Very easily!
Preparation: The recipes are all to my liking, but I quickly realize that the preparation time is quite long. A little tough for a lunch on a home office work day. It also turns out that the preparation of some recipes is time-consuming. It’s also easy to implement, but takes time and patience.
pleasure: The pancake casserole is above-average delicious (I’ve already praised my recipe to my friends and family!), but it takes a lot of work. All other dishes are also delicious – I will definitely make the baked sweet potato and cheddar cheese mix in tacos.
Lunch Box 3: Cooker
Key data:
- My Cake Box contains ingredients and recipe for a cake
- Duration: flexible, three months or 12 months
- Delivery interval: monthly
- flex period can be canceled monthly; With a maturity of three or 12 months, an automatic extension applies
Tested box: My Cake Box for CHF 39.90 on a flexible term.
Foodist’s My Cake Box doesn’t bring fresh food to your home, but provides ingredients for pleasure: thanks to step-by-step instructions, delicious muffins or other pastries recipes should be easy to implement. Foodist has been shipping gourmet boxes since 2012, aiming to broaden the horizon of taste.
Order process: Ordering is easy and takes just a few steps. What is confusing: the page ends with .ch and the prices are in francs, but the delivery is from Germany.
Delivery: Since the box is delivered from Germany, the arrival time is a little longer than expected. But it doesn’t matter as it doesn’t include fresh food.
Box contents: The ingredients are beautifully stuffed and carefully selected. I discover products I don’t know about, like freeze-dried carrots.
Preparation: The recipe is simple to implement and does not require much effort.
pleasure: The result is impressive and if you like carrot cake it tastes good too (unfortunately I don’t, but my roommate is happy!).
overall result
If you don’t like to cook and bake, you can enjoy one of these boxes, but it will all cost you money in the long run. For example, I can eat out with almost no effort at Hello Fresh for about 26 francs for two servings.
In the end, even my two weeks of cooking became stressful. The ingredients are there and need to be cooked. It is out of the question to have a spontaneous meal on the terrace of a restaurant with friends. Unless, of course, I eat two meals in a row. In terms of time, there isn’t much freedom, but I’m also grateful for the change from my usual pesto pasta or tomato-mozzarella salad.
One thing is for sure: the boxes are definitely suitable for people who are looking for inspiration in the kitchen and have a neat and organized daily routine. But personally, I prefer to be free to plan my own meals and skip them spontaneously.