For this February Gobble review, we tried three meals and chocolate chip cookies. Nothing was quite what I was expecting and unfortunately, we have no plans to order again.
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Update: I stand firmly behind this review as my first experience with Gobble. However, after 3 years I have gave them another try and had a much better experience. If you’d like to read that review, you can do so here: February 2021 Gobble Review
Gobble is yet another meal kit delivery service.
If you are a regular visitor to Delicious Little Bites, you’re probably aware that I am no stranger to meal kit subscriptions. I’ve tried quite a few and have almost always loved them, or at least really liked them.
Unfortunately, Gobble didn’t win me over.
Let’s begin with what makes Gobble unique. They claim that their meals can be made in 15 minutes and with one pan. Sounds good. They also offer a variety of meals to choose from, with the ability to skip weeks, just as most of these types of subscriptions do.
Here is where my trouble began. Before signing up for Gobble, I checked out the “Upcoming Menu” tab on their homepage. There are approximately 90 different recipes shown. They are not separated by week.
I was under the impression that there would be a larger selection of recipes each week, maybe similar to Terra’s Kitchen (Terra’s Kitchen has since changed their structure to only offer pre-made meals. I have not yet tested it for myself, so I won’t be linking it here at this time). However, once I signed up and could see the actual weekly menu, that wasn’t the case.
I also found out that the only nutritional information given besides allergies, is approximate calories.
Because, I have been trying to eat lower carb meals this month, the lack of information really threw me off. I ended up selected 3 recipes that I thought might be okay for my diet.
The recipes sounded like something I would like, but I just wasn’t really thrilled about any of them. I have found from other food subscriptions that sometimes something that doesn’t sound amazing can actually turn out to be the best, so I went for it with high hopes!
February Gobble Review
Gobble Delivery and Packaging
Gobble offers delivery on certain days but lets you choose which of those days of the week delivery works best. I could choose from Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Every other meal kit subscription I have tried so far also offered Tuesday. That’s usually the day I choose so that I can eat the meals for lunch during the week.
My delivery did arrive as expected. The packaging was typical of that of just about every other meal kit subscription I have ever ordered.
Meals are separated into large resealable bags surrounded by plenty of insulation and a huge ice pack at the bottom where the proteins are kept separate. All the food was fresh and there was no damage to any of the items.
The eggs were each individually wrapped in bubble wrap inside of a plastic container.
There are recipe cards with cooking instructions for each meal. Gobble included 2 complimentary chocolate chip cookies with my first order, as well.
Southern Style Baked Eggs Skillet with Black Eyed Peas and Grits
I’m planning to switch things up next month and follow a vegetarian diet, so I ordered this vegetarian recipe because I was intrigued by the soyrizo. I read the ingredients list for chorizo once and refuse to eat it, so I was looking forward to trying a vegetarian version!
Including prep time, this recipe did take a little longer than 15 minutes, but it was straightforward and easy. The grits where already prepared and just needed to be heated in the microwave. The rest of the recipe only required some minimal work.
Once prepared, I quickly learned that I did not like the bitter taste of the greens. My fiancé makes us collard greens every once in awhile, but uses other ingredients that must take the bitterness out.
Unfortunately, because this skillet is all mixed together, and there was a lot of greens, it was hard to pick through to get to the “good stuff.”
I did like all the other aspects of this recipe though, including the grits.
Pan Seared Salmon Cakes with Poached Yukon Potatoes and Gribiche Sauce
I don’t usually order fish dishes from meal kit subscriptions, but felt this was probably the lowest carb meal on their menu. I also have a salmon cakes recipe of my own, so I really thought I would like this recipe.
But, I just didn’t.
I’m not sure if the ground salmon had anything additional in it, but I found it to be a little too “fishy” tasting. Salmon is always hit or miss and this one was just a miss for me.
I ate one salmon cake and the rest ended up going to waste.
The salad was good. The zucchini, which I usually find plain, was actually my favorite part of this whole meal, especially when dipped into the Gribiche Sauce. I didn’t think I would enjoy the sauce which is a mayonnaise and herb sauce mixed with chopped hard boiled eggs, but it was okay.
This recipe took me close to 25 minutes to make.
A few other things to note about this recipe.
One, my poached potatoes didn’t have skin on them like in Gobble’s recipe photo.
Also, the chive blossom in their photo is a purple flower with plenty of petals to decorate the dish. I was curious as to whether or not I would enjoy eating a flower, but I didn’t have the opportunity to find out like I should have. My chive blossom was just a bud. I cut it open hoping there might be a few petals inside, but no.
I think that maybe this recipe was a little too ambitious of Gobble. I’m sure estimating when a bud will open and have petals is extremely difficult to do.
Grass Fed Sirloin Steak with Fingerling Potatoes and Bearnaise Sauce
I chose this last recipe because even though it contains potatoes, similar meals from other meal kit subscriptions have estimated the carbs to be somewhat reasonable. I assume this is because the potatoes are the only real carb-filled ingredient.
There were only 4 ingredients for this recipe because the sauce came pre-made. Including the time it took my oven to preheat, this recipe took me around 20 minutes to make.
First, the potatoes were delicious. I also enjoyed the snap peas and the Bearnaise Sauce. My fiancé, who eats pretty much anything, did not care for the peas.
Now, for the steak.
I typically find that even though the steaks are small in these meal kits (because they are the suggested serving size that very few American’s actually eat), they are still high quality. Again, this was not the case with Gobble.
Usually the steaks that come in meal kits are estimated to be 6 ounces each. Gobble sent 10 ounces total, so about 5 ounces for each steak, but they were definitely not evenly sized steaks.
Before cooking the steaks, I cut off some of the excess fat, but there was quite a bit. One of the steaks was very thin (as seen in the photo) and the other was thicker, making them impossible to cook evenly together.
After cutting around the fat, I ate about half my steak before I just gave up.
My meat-loving fiancĂ©, started cutting into his and said that is was a terrible cut of steak and really tough. He’s never complained about any other steaks we’ve gotten from these meal kits, but actually got up and threw his away along with his snap peas.
Complimentary Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gobble offers several add-ons including drink mixes and cookie dough. They sent 2 complimentary chocolate chip cookies. I’m not sure if this is something they do with every order, or just the first one as a way for you to try the cookies…and who doesn’t love freshly baked, warm cookies?
My son loved them, and I thought they were good, but not so amazing I would want to order them again.
Conclusion
I am usually very forgiving when it comes to these kinds of things because taste is always a matter of opinion.
With the skillet recipe, it was definitely just a matter of personal taste. Had I liked the greens, that recipe would have been great.
However, that’s not the case with very fishy tasting salmon, an ingredient that couldn’t be used as intended, and poor quality steaks.
Thankfully, due to a huge discount on my first (and only) order, this box only cost me $21.00 instead of $71.00, but I still felt like it was a waste. I really don’t like to waste food.
The content in this February Gobble review is of my own experience and opinions. I have seen plenty of other reviews of this service and some people really enjoy it, while others have commented that they feel the same way about Gobble as I do. It does seem as if there has been some improvement, so if you’d still like to give Gobble a try, go for it!
I’d love to hear your feedback.
Meal Kit Recommendations (updated 1/8/2021)
I have had nothing but positive experiences and would highly recommend any of the following meal kit subscriptions:
- Sun Basket – mostly organic, very flavorful recipes that cater to a lot of different diets as well – I LOVE it! By using this link, you will get $35 off of your first box plus 4 free gifts.
- Home Chef – Home Chef offers $90 off of your first 4 boxes ($30 off of the first and second box, then $15 off of the third and forth boxes). I’ve never had any issues with this company at all. The food is really good and more basic.
- Blue Apron – Blue Apron is currently offering $60 off of your first 3 boxes ($20 per box). Again, the food is very good with a good combination of creative recipes and basic recipes. The vegetarian portion sizes are often very large too!
- Martha & Marley Spoon – Martha and Marley Spoon is currently offering $20 off of each of your first 4 boxes. The recipes are very creative and flavorful.
- Green Chef – Green Chef offers $20 off of each of your first 3 boxes.
- Hello Fresh – Hello Fresh is currently offering $70 off of your first 5 boxes ($30 off of the first box, $20 off of the second, $10 off of the third and forth).
All of the above links will give you a significant discount if you are a new customer. If you’d like to see a break down of the top 10 meal kits available, plus all the recent first time subscriber discounts, be sure to check out my Ultimate Meal Kit Guide.
Jody says
WARNING: They will charge your credit card BEFORE you even click to place the order. The selection is not good at all. There wasn’t one meal I wanted. So I closed my account, without placing an order. They still charged my credit card. Then they harassed me over and over, with emails. Stay away from them
Karlie says
Very unhappy. So many mistakes with ordering. The food was great but if you miss an order date they’ll choose for you. And they chose double the order and even sent shrimp when I’d indicated a shellfish allergy. On top of that, I’d asked for lean items and received high fat. Cancelled but a MONTH later received an order and could not get a refund. Such a bummer cuz food was good but just too many issues.
Jamie Sewell says
I decided to try Gobble due to a coupon offer I received, it said $90 off your first 3 or 4 meals. So I made my order and set it to come about 2 1/2 weeks out on a Thursday. Well when the order arrived it was already after 4pm so o the first meal would have to wait until the next evening. However when unpacking it I found that there was only one meal in the box that I had chosen and the others were what was recommended for that week, So I was already bummed before even giving them a try, and I called them to tell them I did not get what I ordered and they apologized and that was it. the next day when I went to make a meal and laid out the ingredients on the counter and looked at the recipe card I was dumbstruck, there were only two ingredients that were included for the recipe. I called and told them what i found and they apologized and said they would credit me for the meal, so I really had to improvise to make that meal since the protein was missing as well. We looked through the rest of the meal kits and found that another one was missing the chicken and other major ingredients were missing also, so therefore another phone call was made. They again gave a credit, the next day I went online to place my order and made my selections , hit submit but when that order arrived there was no meal selection that I made. So there therefore another call was made, after hanging up I noticed that the deadline to place that 2nd order was the day I received my first order! Now that is unacceptable practice, especially when I had not even had a chance to taste their food, Nothing was done when I again made another call.
I found that their meals took me a” non experienced from scratch cook” roughly 30 to 450 minutes to prepare and I noticed that the recipe cards do not give a cooking & prep time unless you count that counting all of Gobbles cooking times for each step (except the prep time. One of recipe cards totaled 42 minutes which I added 1 minute for each prep step that included heating the oven, chopping or dicing, etc.
So unless you are ready to improvise or want to taking the additional time I give them 2 stars.
Lauren Vavala says
So sorry to hear that your recent experience wasn’t good at all. I did have a good experience with my second Gobble order more recently, but have been unable to order again (we are currently not able to use our kitchen – ahhhh), but was planning to try them at least once or twice more. It’s hard to recommend a company with such mixed reviews! I do HIGHLY recommend SunBasket and Home Chef (Home Chef is great for beginners, whereas SunBasket meals are little more “unique”), and have also had great experiences with Marley Spoon, Green Chef and Hello Fresh.
Hopefully you find a meal kit company that you love!
Jen says
Hmmm I just got Gobble for the first time. My 3 meals I just cooked as meal prep for my work week. The meals definitely did take longer than the claimed 15 minutes and 1 pan per recipe but the results were all yummy and sparked ideas for future options without using a meal kit and incorporating new ingredients to try. The cookies were SOOO Good 🤌🏻Very interesting seeing other perspectives especially on recipes I didn’t try yet. Thanks for sharing!!
Lauren Vavala says
Hi Jen! This review is a few years old, so I decided to try Gobble again. I actually just finished making the meals today and had a much better experience except for one item that was bad (likely crushed in shipping). Ill have an updated review up soon, but definitely stand by this one as well, as this was my first experience with the company.
– Lauren
Jamie says
I think I’m in the minority of food subscribers. Gobble is my favorite (I just do subscriptions every now and then, but especially now due to Coronavirus). I’m a single person and I’ve either gotten 2 large meals out of each it, or 3 smaller meals so for me it’s great. I’ve liked most dishes, as well as how easy it is to make them compared to Blue Apron and Home Chef. The only real negative for me has been that the customer service is awful, and I find that their website is difficult to navigate. I’m with you on how they arrange the meals. It looks like they have a ton of offerings each week, but many that are shown are the premium entrees so extra $$$.
Lauren Vavala says
It’s been awhile since I have tried Gobble, but I have continued to hear not-so-great reviews, unfortunately, and have decided to continue holding off trying them again for now. It’s like most of these subs though, some people love one, others hate it. I’m glad it’s working out for you. Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
Jennifer kuler says
I was so glad to see someone else mirroring my opinion of gobble (as well as meal services in general). I am a member of 6 other services that i pick and choose from, ive had predominately great experiences with them.
I really WANTED to like gobbled, i even ordered from them a second time to be surei didn’t just pick a bad batch. I cancelled after that second order, and i wouldn’t recommend them to anyone either.
They are also one of the most expensive options and i really felt like the quality wasnt there. At least i know im not alone lol.
Lauren says
Ahh glad to hear you ordered a second time and still decided to cancel. I go back and forth on whether or not to try them again, but I just don’t want to waste my time and money again. Thanks so much for leaving a comment with your experience – Lauren 🙂
Kenneth Peterson says
I have been using Gobble for almost a year now. I have tried many other food services, but am pleased with Gobble for a number of reasons. First, I believe their recipes have a higher imagination and really taste like a good restaurant quality. I also find them quicker to make than any other companies because of some of their ready made ingredients like mashed potatoes in a heat up bag and ready made sauces. Also, their produce is very fresh, which leads me to some of the cons. I usually order three meals a week. When the meals arrive the produce if very fresh. However, once it sits in the sealed plastic for a day or two it wilts and becomes slimy very quickly. This has happened to me with their salads, mushrooms and fresh herbs. Also, deliver is a bit dodgy. More than once they have delivered the box a day late. While they have no control over delivery, they only enclosed two frozen bags of water to cool everything in the box which had thawed and barely cool upon arrival. I complained to them and they immediately refunded my full expense for the box. While I recognize their cons, I try to order and prepare the meals that I feel will go bad first. At this time I don’t feel any meal service provides the quality and diversity of recipes that Gobble provides, so I will stick with them… for now.
Natalie says
I tried Gobble and was happy enough with my first box. I fell for their offer to send 3 free meals to anyone I liked. I told my mother-in-law (aged 93) that she would get a “free box” of food and they asked for her credit card number. She gave it to them (too naively) and then she got a big charge and a new box of food. Her box was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, March 13 but because of the weather it did not arrive until Thursday, Feb. 14th. She ate the salmon and got violently ill with food poisoning.
Gobble must tell people that the “free meal” offering is NOT that at all. I feel mortified that I fell for their nonsense.
Lauren says
That’s so unfortunate. A lot of these companies have similar offers. I’m not sure how each company words it, but from my understanding they take your credit card number, send you the “free” box and sign you up for a subscription. I’ve heard that people are often charged before they even get the first free box. I hope she’s better now and has canceled the service <3
Cyndi says
Thank you everyone. This candid review is very much appreciated!
Ally J says
Besides the steak I think you picked recipes that you normally wouldn’t eat. I would suggest giving them another try with recipes that are more appealing for you and your partner. Who would order baked eggs skillet and salmon cakes-yuck ?
Lauren says
Hi Ally! Part of the issue I had was how misleading it was BEFORE I signed up. It looked as if there were 30+ recipes to choose from (similar to Chef’d before they shut down). After I signed up and entered my credit card info and was locked into the first week, I was only able to choose from a handful of recipes, most of which were not super appealing. I actually like salmon cakes (I have a recipe on my blog for them) and have been interested in shakshuka (baked egg in tomato skillets) for quite some time. They have since changed the website to reflect what recipes are actually available, so that’s an improvement, but based upon some other feedback, I’m still not willing to pay to try them again at this time. I do keep checking back to see how they are doing though – maybe someday.
Melanie McElvany says
Worked my way through my first Gobble delivery this week. Agree wholeheartedly about the meat. This is the chewiest meat I have ever chewed! Even the tenderloin worked my jaw to exhaustion. While I liked having a little more of the chop/prep work completed, as opposed to Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, the results just don’t taste better.
I canceled Hello Fresh after many months because the quality of the produce was continually running downhill. Blue Apron was my first try and I found not enough low carb options.
I copied your list above and will try those you suggest that I’ve not. Great article. Look forward to the newsletter.
Lauren says
Hi Melanie! Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t stellar either. My top three are definitely Sun Basket, Martha and Marley Spoon (which we just ate tonight!) and Home Chef which along with Sun Basket notes lower carb options. Happy to hear you joined the email list! I just send an recipe and post round up but plenty of low carb options coming! Thank you!!
Helen McAllister says
Thank you for your review of gobble.com. I was considering trying it, but now I won’t.
Lauren says
Yes, unfortunately our experience was not that great. I’ve been considering trying it again to see if it’s changed, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I’m loving Sun Basket at the moment 🙂 Glad the review was helpful!