Remember the Jetsons? They would come home from a long day in their flying cars and push a button on the foodarackacycle and have an instantaneous, hot, and delicious gourmet meal. That show was one of my favorites growing up. Their fun and futuristic life was something that my brothers and I would talk about and hope one day we would have also. And while it still seems like flying cars may take awhile, we actually are a lot closer to the instant gourmet meal options. And that is something that makes me pretty darn happy.
So, what are these instant futuristic gourmet meals I am talking about? OK, well I fudged the truth a little bit, they aren’t necessarily instant…but they take only two minutes. Two minutes and you can have anything in front of you from a juicy steak to a delicious salmon. Factor sends you chef-prepared gourmet meals that you can heat up in your microwave in two minutes flat. Now, I know most people’s first reaction is to scoff at microwaveable meals, but these aren’t your grandparents' microwaveable dinners or the ones that basically taste like flavored cardboard. These are fresh ingredients, cooked perfectly beforehand, and then shipped to your doorstep for your futuristic eating pleasure.
A Few More Details About Factor
So, this all sounds great but I know a lot of people are on specific diets and it’s always hard to find food when your personal eating style is a little more strict. Thankfully, Factor offers keto, vegan, vegetarian, and calorie smart meals in addition to all of the other options. Each week you can pick up to six chef-prepared meals from their weekly menu with 2-3 of their options changing on a weekly basis. This gives you the opportunity to re-order meals you loved and try new ones as they come out!
Factor delivers to all 48 lower contiguous states and your meals will arrive in a chilled box and packaged in recyclable materials. You do not need to be home to receive your box as your meals should stay cold in their insulated box for quite awhile. In fact, our delivery guy never knocked and I didn’t even notice mine outside until later in the day. But all six of my meals were still incredibly cold! And while they do arrive still chilled, they are never frozen, so you can be rest assured that you are receiving the freshest meals possible.
Currently, they only offer single meals but are looking to add family-style meals soon. However, I found that these were also perfect for lunch (and check out their breakfast add-ons!) as well as quick dinners for myself after running the kids around all evening to their practices. There is only so much leftover mac-n-cheese this momma can eat!
Did I have a favorite?
Oh, absolutely! I tried six dinners over the course of a week and while each one was actually incredibly flavorful, my two favorites were the Chimichurri Filet Mignon and the Keto Chorizo Chili. My husband’s favorite, however, was the Sage Chicken and Butternut Squash Macaroni. But let’s go over them all!
Chimichurri Filet Mignon
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Ok, so this meal was mind-blowing good. I usually only eat my steak bloody, but it was cooked really well and had a little pinkish/reddish color to the meat on the inside. I despise when steaks are cooked well-done and was really worried that a “microwaveable steak” was going to end up as a chewy briquette. Much to my delight and surprise it was not and was cooked to a nice medium doneness. The chimichurri sauce was also delicious and had a small kick to it. It was fantastic spread over the steak (which I also usually don’t do!) and paired really well with the potatoes. The zucchini and roasted peppers were also cooked perfectly and still had a great texture.
Vegetarian Tamale Bowl
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While this one didn’t make my favorite’s list, it still was incredibly tasty and I would have no problem ordering it again. It was decently spicy and the sweet potatoes had a great firmness to them. I also thought the mashed corn tamale in the bowl was an ingenious way to serve it, as it guaranteed it came out fresh and there was still a bit of texture to it. The bowl also included black beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans which went perfect with the sweet potatoes. This is actually one of those dishes that I might try to recreate at home!
Smoky BBQ Chicken Breast
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The chicken was thoroughly cooked but still tender and juicy (no idea how they do this!). It had a strong bbq flavor, however the bbq sauce itself was a bit different than others I’d had before. This made it very pleasant to eat as it wasn’t the “same old, same old.” The creamed corn went great next to the chicken as well! A little southern comfort food is what this tired mom needed that night! The green beans weren’t my favorite, but in all transparency, I’m not really a green beans fan, so it’s hard for me to be bipartisan about them. I will say they had a nice seasoning, however!
Baja Salmon
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I actually saved trying this one for last because I didn’t think there was any way salmon could come out of the microwave cooked properly and tasting fresh. Boy, was I wrong! This was actually my third favorite and while I would have preferred it a bit more rare, it also wasn’t overcooked and was incredibly tender. The jalapeno lime crema was phenomenal and I would have eaten it by the spoonful…if I didn’t think I would have silently judged myself. But seriously, it probably made the entire dish. It was even good on the cauliflower rice as well as the broccoli and really allowed all the flavors of the dish to meld together.
Keto Chorizo Chili
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This tied with the filet as my favorite Factor meal. The flavors were top notch and had just the right amount of everything without any of it being overwhelming. There was a slight cinnamon and cardamom flavor as well, but only enough to get hints of it and add another dimension to the dish. This chili isn’t as “soupy” as other chilis I have had, in fact it actually reminded me more of a Cuban Picadillo dish (without the olives). It had both ground beef and ground pork and was spiced almost identically to what I remember eating when we lived in Miami. I would highly recommend ordering this one!
Sage Chicken and Butternut Squash Macaroni
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While my husband usually enjoys the red meat dishes more, he actually thought this was the tastiest out of all of them. The chicken was (again) cooked perfectly and had a great seasoning. The macaroni had a nice buttery, cream sauce which also went well with the squash. Unlike myself, my husband likes green beans and thought these were seasoned well and a great pairing with the macaroni and chicken. He also enjoyed the apple cranberry crumble and said it was a great way to end the meal!
Should you try Factor?
I'm of the mindset that you should try everything at least once (except maybe base jumping and eating blowfish), so my immediate and short answer is, yes! But the longer and more detailed answer is, if you are looking for delicious chef-prepared meals that are literally as easy as pressing a button on a foodarackacycle, then give Factor a go. We all lead busy lives and in my opinion, having something that takes the stress out of cooking dinner is one of the best self-care gifts you can give to yourself.
Now if we could only get those flying cars, we really would be living in a Jetsons' world!
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