Raise your hand if you currently have cooking fatigue.
If you’re like me, the answer is yes.
As most of us wrap week four of cooking our own food as we maintain proper social distancing by spending more time at home, we’ve also likely hit peak exhaustion with having to cook three meals a day for ourselves and our households.
Between a busy workload, having to homeschool our children and generally maintain peace of mind while navigating within a global pandemic, sometimes the last thing we want to do is worry about what we’re going to eat — and that’s OK.
Meal kits like Sun Basket and HelloFresh make it easy to experiment with new recipes and save you trips to the store, but there’s one key problem: you still need to actually cook the food for yourself. Thankfully, there’s a way to lighten your existing load. And it comes in the form of prepared meal delivery services or oven-ready meal kits, delivered right to your door.
Here are a few of the best options on the market.
01
Freshly
Freshly is just that — fresh. This prepared meal service delivers precooked meals fresh to your door (and don’t worry, they’re never frozen). The service, which offers a range of healthy meals, and comfort food options (for the occasional cheat day, with options such as buffalo Chicken with loaded cauliflower, cauliflower shell bolognese, sausage baked penne, and turkey mushroom meatballs.
02
Fresh N Lean
Fresh N Lean is the holy grail of prepared meal delivery services. The company offers something for every type of foodie — whether you’re keto, paleo, plant based, low carb, have a gluten allergy or more. They deliver an organic, fresh (never frozen), ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch and dinner directly to your home making it easy to keep up with your diet while you’re stuck indoors.
03
Sakara
If you’re ready to leave quarantine as your best, most healthy self, Sakara Life will do just the trick. Offering fresh and organic, ready-to-eat meals filled with superfoods to help you power through your day, you won’t just feel good, but you’ll look good after these meals too. And it’s no surprise. Sakara was co-founded by a certified yoga instructor and a holistic health coach, so of course the service also includes herbal detox teas and beauty water concentrates too.
04
Home Bistro
If you’re looking to bring restaurant quality meals right to your doorstep, then Home Bistro is the service for you. Though definitely the most pricy meal delivery service of all the options, you’ll get back what you pay for in the quality of its meals. Sign up for a weekly service or also order a la carte if you’re just looking for something good for a special occasion. Dishes include Chianti-braised short ribs and ratatouille, roasted Harissa shrimp with gratin and Romano pork medallions and Zaatar fries.
05
Hungryroot
Hungryroot places emphasis on one thing: ease. They do all the work for you in providing ingredients that are fresh, all natural and easy to assemble. The veggies come pre-chopped, sauces are pre-prepared, and meals take about 10 minutes to assemble. Enjoy plant-centric, nutrient-dense, clean-ingredient food, tailored exactly to your needs (i.e. gluten-free, vegan, dairy/nut/soy-free), that’s easy to pair with meals already in your fridge. Each serving costs about $8 to $10 and meals are delivered weekly (though you can pause at any time).
06
Sun Basket
Sun Basket now offers three great ways to enjoy their food: Classic cooking, pre-prepped and oven-ready (our fave!). These complete, restaurant-quality meals can go straight into the oven or microwave – no additional prep required! Recipes include Pappardelle with wilted spinach, sweet peas, and fresh ricotta and Tex-Mex black bean and quinoa bowls with guacamole.
07
Deep Indian Kitchen
Don’t want to spend delivery money again? Though not a meal delivery service, Deep Indian Kitchen offers delicious, made-from-scratch, frozen Indian entrees like Chicken Tikka Masala, Spinach Paneer straight to your own so you can eat some now, and store the rest for later when those Indian food cravings come on. Buy them in your frozen foods sections and store them for later. The meals are so good you’ll never know the difference!
08
Alpha Foods
If you’re looking specifically for vegan/vegetarian options, Alpha Foods offers better-for-you, frozen plant-based comfort foods like pizzas, chik’n nuggets, burritos, tamales, and more to save you time in having to throw together a meal night after night. Pick them up in the frozen food section for those days you don’t feel like cooking your favorite plant-based meal. Have them as a meal, a snack or whenever you’re in need of a plant based pick me up!
If you’ve ever been to ESSENCE Hollywood House, you know it’s more than just a series of panels—it’s a gathering of visionaries. A space where Black creatives and leaders come together to share stories, strategies, and solutions. This year’s conversation, Let’s Talk About LA: Preserving Our City, presented by AT&T, was no different.
The discussion brought together three voices, each deeply invested in shaping LA’s future: D. Smoke, the Grammy-nominated rapper and educator; Olympia Auset, founder of SÜPRMRKT, a grocery service tackling food apartheid in LA; and DJ HED, a radio personality and advocate for independent artists. Though their paths differed, their mission was the same—creating opportunities, protecting culture, and ensuring Black spaces in LA don’t just survive but thrive.
For Olympia Ausset, the work she’s doing with SÜPRMRKT goes far beyond providing fresh groceries—it’s about laying the foundation for a stronger, healthier community. “The LA we love, the cultural beacon it’s known as today, was built by people who worked hard to create their own spaces,” she shared. “The reason I do what I do is because it’s essential. We can’t achieve any of the changes I want for my community without being in good health and having access to affordable, organic food. Without places where we can gather, heal, and support each other, none of the other goals will be possible. It starts with taking care of ourselves and building those spaces together.”
From Olympia’s focus on wellness and accessibility to DJ HED’s belief in the power of self-worth, the discussion explored what it means to dream beyond individual success and invest in collective progress. “I see a lot of people who aren’t proud of where they come from, what they look like, or where they’re at in life,” he said. “I had to learn to give myself grace, to grow. I grew up in Inglewood, raised by a single mom. We lived in a car, we were on welfare, but I knew I wanted to be bigger than my circumstances. That’s what dreaming in Black is—believing in something greater and nurturing it until it grows.”
DJ Smoke also touched on this, emphasizing the importance of intention and fulfillment. “You don’t want to climb that ladder and realize you went real high in the wrong direction,” he warned. “A lot of people in LA are ambitious, but if you don’t understand your ‘why,’ you can get to the top and still feel empty. The goal isn’t just to make it—it’s to make it mean something.
Sometimes, as Black creatives, we only dream as far as the next gig or the next check, but dreaming in Black means going beyond that. “It means thinking bigger than what’s right in front of you,” said host Donye Taylor.
This conversation was a call to action – a reminder that preserving LA’s Black culture means investing in community, honoring our history, and building a legacy that lasts.
