Who: Dana C. Crawford, PhD
What: Mod Meals
Where: Your house!
It’s six o’clock, and there’s nothing edible save for the can of cat food in your refrigerator. Sound familiar? If no, either you don’t have cats or you are annoyingly organized. Or both!
For the rest of us mere mortals, scheduling time to prepare home-cooked meals and making the associated grocery store runs can be a challenge. As you know, I do love a good night out at a restaurant, but that can’t be the to-do-go solution multiple times during the week. Eating out is expensive and calorie-dense, to say the least. Ordering something for delivery is another option, but frankly, Cleveland Heights does not offer many (or any?) healthy delivery options. Until now.
Enter Mod Meals, my new go-to for a semi-guilt free dinner that does not involve an emergency run to the grocery store or frantic chopping in the kitchen. Mod Meals is an on-line full meal delivery service serving the Cleveland area since fall 2015. Mod Meals specializes in partnering with local chefs to offer fully prepared meals ripped straight from the restaurant.
You had me at restaurant.
Figure 1. Mod Meals short ribs & potatoes. Tender and tasty!
Figure 2. Mod Meals BBQ brisket. Not my favorite, but not bad, either.
Indeed, the meals that we have ordered so far from Mod Meals have been tasty. One of my favorites is the short ribs with mashed potatoes (Figure 1). We have also tried the BBQ brisket (not bad despite a less-than-appealing picture; Figure 2) and the chicken and noodles (Figure 3). Mod Meals also offers side dishes (like side salads), kids’ meals, desserts (cookies and salted caramel pot de crème!), wine, and beer. It can be the one-stop-shop for the night! Meals are ordered directly on their website, and the delivery is made within a half-hour of the time chosen by the diner. Meals come packaged ready to heat up in the microwave or oven. It’s that simple.
Mod Meals is still relatively new, and I am sure they are still working on how to best serve their customers. Right now, Mod Meals is only available Monday-Friday, so if your fridge is empty Saturday or Sunday, you are out of luck and have to either go to the grocery store or order pizza. I have really enjoyed the quality of the meals so far, and I really, really appreciate the detailed list of allergens provided for each meal on the website so we know what we can order for Mom (no dairy, please!). My only concern is that for the price, most Americans will be shocked that the portion size is so small. Actually, the portion size is just fine and probably is what it should be. I have yet to go hungry after eating a Mod Meal. Nevertheless, I worry that the price and lack of perceived value will be an issue for the longevity of my new favorite delivery option. I suppose that means I need to keep ordering!
Figure 3. Mod Meals chicken and noodles. How can you go wrong here?
Update: Mod Meals permanently closed as of mid-2017.
