When it comes to busy weekdays, there’s nothing like a pre-packaged delivery meal kit to lend a helping hand. But what if the meal came completely cooked, and all you had to do was heat it up? Say hello to Factor, a service from HelloFresh that promises to deliver freshly-made, dietician-approved meals straight to your door every week. All you have to do is heat the meal up in the microwave for three minutes and voila: a healthy meal that’s ready to eat. It sounds almost too good to be true, so naturally, I had to put it to the test. I ate Factor meals for two weeks — here’s my honest review.
Related: We Tested 4 Popular Canadian Meal Delivery Kits. Here’s How They Compared
Factor
Where is Factor available?
Currently, Factor is available in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. However, they’re planning on expanding to Western Canada soon.
How much does Factor cost?
Meals start at $15 each for six servings, but they’re on a sliding scale, so the more you order, the less they cost. For example, if you order 18 meals, the price goes down to $12 per serving. Shipping is a flat rate of $10 per order. On average, a Factor subscription will set you back about $150 weekly, depending on the plan you choose. There’s no locking in to subscriptions and you can easily pause or skip weeks.
Price is by far the biggest barrier to entry on this service. $15 per meal plus shipping will run you about $100 weekly for six meals, which doesn’t cover any of your other grocery essentials for the week.
How are Factor meals prepared?
Every meal is dietician-approved and prepared by a chef using fresh, natural ingredients. It’s also worth noting that every meal arrives fresh and not frozen. All of their proteins are raised without antibiotics, and every meal is free from refined sugar and oils. Each meal stays fresh for about a week after delivery.
Related: How to Choose the Healthiest Type of Salt for Cooking
How my Factor meals arrived.
What packaging do Factor meals come in?
Nearly all of Factor’s packaging is recyclable and made with recycled content. My factor delivery arrived in a well-insulated cardboard box with 2 heavy-duty ice packs. Each meal comes on a TV-dinner style tray with a cardboard sleeve that indicates the meal inside, ingredients, and heating instructions. Truthfully, seeing all of the meals lined up in my fridge felt a bit like living in a Jetsons-style future, which was neat.
What kinds of meals does Factor offer?
In addition to their standard meals, Factor offers keto, calorie smart, vegan and vegetarian meal options. Plus, you can add on extras like cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, keto desserts and extra protein to your weekly order. I tried their cold-pressed juices and they were really delicious — definitely on par with your local trendy juice shop.
How many different meals does Factor offer?
Just recently, Factor upped their weekly offerings from 10 meals to 20 meals, which is a real game changer. Eating the same meals over and over again can quickly become tiring, but with 20 different meal options that change week to week, this likely isn’t a problem you’ll come across.
What else comes with a Factor subscription?
Factor as a team of dietitians that are available to talk about nutrition and meal options. If you have questions about nutrition or want to talk through what meals fit your lifestyle best, you can book a free 20-minute session with one of their dietitians any time.
Related: Healthy Weeknight Dinner Recipes
How my Factor Meals looked fresh out of the microwave.
What I liked most about Factor
Convenience
The convenience of Factor is hands-down its most incredible feature. Not only do you not have to cook, but it unburdens you from the mental load of needing to decide what to eat, buy ingredients, or make time to prep meals. It’s a true luxury, and on busy work days or evenings when I needed to eat something fast and run out the door, Factor meals were an absolute life saver. Plus, because you can eat the meal right out of the tray it’s in, there are no dishes to do. Yes, please!
Dietician-approved
When I first looked at a lot of the meals, I thought “there’s no way that I’ll be full after eating this”. Based on volume alone, the meals I typically cook at home are just generally bigger. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was I full after eating a Factor meal, I felt fuller for longer because these dietician-approved meals had been carefully planned to give my body the exact nutrients it needs. I didn’t end up having a late night snack as I usually might, which was an added bonus.
New flavours
I genuinely enjoyed many of the meals and appreciated that they featured flavour combinations that I might not typically cook for myself. In particular, the Middle Eastern Spiced Beef with Cauliflower Rice and Tahini Yogurt was a standout. The tahini sauce was a tasty and cool contrast to the spiced beef, and it gave extra oomph to the cauliflower rice. I also particularly loved the Pesto Salmon with Caramelized Spinach and Tomato Butter Green Beans. I never would have expected that a microwave fish dinner would become my favourite meal, but I was genuinely excited to eat it again in my second week. The cook on the salmon was perfect, and the pesto was fresh and vibrant green.
Final verdict
If you’re the type of person who frequently gets takeout out of necessity because you don’t have the time or energy to cook, Factor could be the game-changing service you desperately need. Not only will it save you the time and energy of needing to pick up dinner, it’s a significantly healthier option than most takeout you’ll find. My experience was overwhelmingly positive: I loved how it simplified my life and easily unlocked hours of time from my week. Instead of figuring out what to make for dinner and rushing to cook after work, I could just unwind with a fresh meal in minutes. That said, $15 per serving is steep, especially considering that it’s also currently the minimum hourly wage across Canada. Like so many other wonderful services, Factor is undeniably a luxury. But, if it’s one you can afford, it’s definitely worth trying to see if it’s right for you.
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