Rigatoni:

The sauce was delicious, though the vegetables came in a little beat up. In addition, some of the pasta came a little crushed. Overall the sauce was very easy to make even though I messed up the recipe a little bit by adding the water early. It wasn’t too creamy and paired with the vegetables nicely, although I’d say the proportions of vegetables and meat to the pasta was uneven.

Tacos:

Probably one of the more simple meals to cook, where most of it was cutting vegetables and breaking up the meat in the pan. There was less meat than the amount of taco shells, and the kit didn’t have any extra toppings other than sour cream. The sourcream was really a lifesaver here, lifting up the heaviness and greasiness of the filling. I would recommend adding some tomatoes and some other vegetables to balance out the strength of the meat.

Burger:

I personally had more trouble with this one, which scared my cousin who I hoped to impress with my 3 day old cooking skills. The instructions said to cook 2 patties 3-5 minutes on both sides. In the final minute the instructions require you put cheese on the top and steam the burger. Unfortunately I noticed my burger wasn’t completely cooked by then, resulting in myself making the novice mistake of flipping the burger on the cheese side and turning the pan into an absolute greaseball. I cooked the burgers for an additional 5-10 minutes at medium high heat and then served. They turned out alright and luckily the burnt cheese on top actually tasted quite nice. The gravy also saved the flavor, adding a bit of sweetness to hide the grease mess that I had created. If you’re my age I wouldn’t recommend this recipe, unless you’re willing to risk your moms anger at a messy kitchen. This almost got me kicked out of there for good. Also I burnt the potatoes :(.I ate a bit of the unburnt side and they were nice. The potatoes they sent were on the smaller side which didn’t match the photo but that’s a minor detail.

Chicken:

This one was one of my favorites. I would take it with a grain of salt when the instruction tells you to salt and pepper the chicken, as the chicken turned out a little too salty with both the garlic powder, salt and pepper. The timing on the cook on the chicken was spot on and it wasn’t very greasy thankfully. I was surprised that the small packet of garlic powder that comes with the box was enough for two full chicken servings as well as the garlic bread. The garlic bread recipe was quite simple, as all you have to do is drop your bread in a toaster, and coat it with a mix of butter and garlic powder. The butter absorbs into the bread nicely as it's warm. The salad was the low point however, it’s one of those prepackaged bags of shredded veggies, which you are to mix with the given dressing. In this case, there was much too little dressing for the salad and it ended up tasting a bit like plastic. All in all, the ‘perfect bite’ as they call it when you put all three elements in one bite, ended up coming together well. The two different textures of garlic, one softer with the chicken, and the buttery bread, was cleansed by the salad.

Bugoni Fried Rice (Flied Lice):

Probably my least favorite meal of the bunch. The instructions had you cook the rice in a pot, which a substantial amount ended up sticking to the bottom. For a beginner chef, which is what this recipe was marketed for, a detail on how to prevent that would’ve been nice. I ended up boiling some water afterwards to unstick a lot of it from the bottom. Lots of vegetable chopping, and another one of those pre-packaged vegetable mixes which you had to fry on the pan. The proportions of rice and vegetables, much like the rigatoni, were disappointing as you could barely taste the rice, and the bugoni sauce overpowered many of the vegetables. No one in my family liked the taste, even my russian mom (who enjoys that gelatin encased meat) but she liked it for the fact that it was ‘healthy’ which I guess is a pro.

Moo Shoo Pork Bowl:

My brother was salivating. One of my favorite meals of the bunch. Easy to make, well seasoned and refreshing. Not greasy at all, perfect combination of healthiness, flavor, and fulfillment.

Overall Recommendation:

I loved the experience as it was incredibly easy to make and most of the dishes were extremely delicious, encompassing a broad palate. After a few boxes I recommend finding the ingredients at your local grocery store as occasionally some boxes come with beaten vegetables or weird proportions of ingredients which offsets the balance of the meal.