We tried out Meal Time Box, the newest meal-subscription service on the market — and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of its food

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Anyone who works long hours knows the importance of eating well and how difficult it can be to find the time to prepare a decent meal. Arriving home exhausted, it’s much easier to order in a pizza or snag some Thai takeout than it is to throw together some steak and vegetables, or whatever other dream meal you’d make, if only you had the spare hours.

Meal Time Box is a company attempting to tackle this issue, making it easier for people to get some comfort food in their stomachs. Founder and CEO Justin Hwa told us that he created the company in order to address a problem that he saw growing in American culture. “I believe we, as a nation, have gone very off course in terms of what we're supposed to eat. Time, the amount of work, and money are factors, but there are cost-effective, easy solutions already out there.”

Hwa’s easy and cost-effective to this problem was creating Meal Time Box, a meal-subscription service that makes homestyle meals ranging from Baked Penne to Meatloaf to Jambalaya, freezes them in vacuum-sealed bags, and delivers them straight to the door of customers looking to enjoy a hot meal made from real ingredients. Customers place their orders online, select whichever meals they’d like to try, and have them delivered in an insulated box to ensure freshness. After about four minutes in the microwave, each meal is ready to eat.

In terms of nutritional value, most meals come with a protein, vegetable, and starch that together usually amount to under 500 calories. But Hwa stresses that the company is not a diet or weight loss plan. It is simply interested in making good food. "Our philosophy on our food is we simply create meals straight-up, homestyle, and that taste homemade, like how your mom or grandma would make them. That's the most important thing to us. For our ingredients, we get the freshest, best-looking meats and veggies, and we get high quality, authentic spices. In terms of being healthy, we believe we can help our customers tremendously by getting more real food into their everyday diet. But we don't go by any diet plan or trend."

While there are some stalwarts on the menu that are almost always available, Meal Time Box takes pride in its rotating menu. As Hwa told us, "When we first started, we rotated the menu frequently and consistently, because we figured customers liked to be surprised and wanted variety. But once in a while we'll hit a home run with a dish and customers want more of it. What we learned is people like familiarity (and familiarity is also perceived quality) and that's how people enjoy home-cooked meals."

The Insider Picks team got to try out a few of the offerings from the Meal Time Box menu, and overall, our reviews were positive; I believe the service exceeded expectations on most fronts. For those with little time to prep a good meal, or those still learning their way around the kitchen, Meal Time Box provides a way to ensure that you're getting a quality meal with little hassle.

You can try out the service with a 5-meal sampler package for $50, and if you like it can extend your subscription to have meals delivered on a regular basis. Below, we've collected some more detailed thoughts about the meals we got to try. If you think it sounds appetizing, and it's convenient for your lifestyle, give Meal Time Box a try.

Meal Time Box's 5-Meal Sampler Box goes for $50, while its 10-Meal Single Order Box and 10-Meal Subscription Box go for $95 and $85, respectively.

Three Cup Chicken

Easy enough to cut a small hole in the bag and microwave. The packaging says four minutes, but I stopped at three, and it was fine. It was fairly easy to cut along the seal and slide the food from the bag over to the plate. Presentation wise, it's about on par with leftovers from home, so it's not what I'd call a beautiful plate of food.

That said, for something microwaved, it was pretty good. The chicken and rice were a touch dry, but it wasn't bland at all. I could taste a nice mixture of spices on the chicken, and the flavor was pretty good. What surprised me the most was that the vegetable stayed crunchy and wasn't at all soggy. Overall, for something that quick and easy, it was a pretty satisfying lunch. It was the right amount of food too, I feel full without being stuffed and didn't feel like I had to nap right after I ate it — Breton Fischetti, senior director, commerce

For a frozen meal, this wasn't bad. Though the rice didn't reheat so well for my taste, the chicken was well-flavored and the vegetable was much better than you'd expect for something reheated in a microwave. The dish could benefit from a little more sauce and a little less rice, but I'd have no problem eating this again. — Ellen Hoffman, commerce editor

See more details about this meal here.

Baked Penne

Scallop Pasta

Pretty good for microwaved pasta. It was about on par with leftovers I'd bring from home. The asparagus was a little tough, not as well done as the vegetable from the Three Cup Chicken. — Breton Fischetti, senior director, commerce

See more details about this meal here.