Please note: our order with Love Yourself was received free of charge, but this in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the brand did not see this review before it was put up on the site.
Sometimes, meal planning, shopping and cooking every single night can seem like hard work – especially after extensive lockdowns giving us periods where we’ve been unable to go out and enjoy a meal at a restaurant or pub. With much of the nation gaining weight or losing fitness during COVID-19, maintaining a healthy lifestyle has been equally challenging.
That’s why Love Yourself – recently launched in Bristol – was started. It’s a company that delivers “gourmet, healthy and calorie-controlled meals, freshly prepared and delivered daily hassle-free to your home or workplace”. There’s no cooking required – just reheating – and with nutritionist input, each meal has been designed as a part of a structured daily plan, free from processed foods, additives and preservatives.
There are various different plans available: low carb, vegetarian, vegan, keto, halal, performance and more, and you can sign up for anything from one day to eight weeks. Prices start from £25 for one day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks), and £460 for a Monday-Friday four week plan. There’s even a one-day trial box available if you want to give it a go.
Essentially, it’s an easy way to keep track of your nutritional and calorie goals (each meal can be scanned into MyFitnessPal to make it even easier), without needing to plan, shop, prep and cook. I was invited to try a day’s worth of meals to see what I thought, and went for the Balanced Diet choice (you can choose from four different calorie count options), delivered by emission-free couriers XeroE. Here’s what I thought…
Love Yourself meal delivery: My verdict
I was emailed on the morning of my delivery to give me an estimated delivery time, and it was bang on time, arriving in a recyclable paper bag. The plan I received was the 2000 calorie Balanced Diet plan – the average amount a woman my age needs per day to maintain her current weight. I was impressed with the labelling, which featured the calories, allergy information, macros, use by date and storage instructions for each dish – as well as a MyFitnessPal barcode and a QR code to scan for more information. While the packaging gave heating instructions, it wasn’t particularly clear which temperature the dishes should be heated at, or whether they could be microwaved in the packaging they came in – so I decanted them all into separate containers before heating, just to be on the safe side.
The day began with two big slabs of a spinach and sweet potato tortilla, in which I could see grated sweet potato, shreds of spinach and chunks of red onion, with Cheddar cheese glistening throughout. It was accompanied by a side salad, which felt like an unusual choice for breakfast, but I ate it nevertheless!
The flavour was pretty sweet, thanks to the sweet potato and coconut oil, and the seams of melted Cheddar imparted a strong flavour throughout. Moist, filling and delicious, it set me up for the day – I could have quite happily eaten it without the salad leaves, walnuts and cucumber rings that came with it. but I loved the sweetness of the dressing that came from the agave syrup that was drizzled over it.
Lunch was sweet and sour chicken with rice noodles – a generous portion, which was just as well as the toddler was pretty keen to share… While there wasn’t an enormous amount of sauce, it had a lovely fruity zing, and there was plenty of tender chicken and well-cooked peppers and onions. The whole thing was sprinkled with sesame seeds and spring onions for a bit of extra flavour and texture and the whole thing was hearty and delicious – like I say, it could have just done with a little more sauce.
I’m not used to eating my main meal for lunch and a lighter meal in the evening, but I actually quite liked having a less heavy, carby meal before bed. Described as a “crunchy raw vegetable and quinoa salad with a tarragon dressing”, it didn’t look like a great deal of food but was surprisingly filling, thanks to the quinoa and the walnuts and plump raisins sprinkled on top. Mixed leaves, crunchy red cabbage and grated carrot made up the rest of the salad, which came with a small pot of a deliciously herby and tangy tarragon dressing. The only thing that seemed odd was the random slice of orange – especially with two massive pips inside – which didn’t really do much for me.
The Love Yourself delivery also included dessert in the form of a cheesecake with a mixed berry jam. Somewhat resembling a Muller Corner, the tart berry jam was less sweet and syrupy than expected (no bad thing), with some whole berries and others broken up in the liquid. It was a generous slab of cheesecake, too – no biscuity base, as I was expecting, just a very dense slice sweetened with agave syrup, with a creaminess that was perfect with the jam. I wasn’t a massive fan of the texture – it was a little grainy – but it tasted good.
I ended the day feeling comfortably full – so full, in fact, that I hadn’t found space for the “Italian-style soup” that had been included as my morning snack. Instead, I had it for lunch the following day: a hearty, herby soup with big chunks of courgette, onion, cauliflower and carrot alongside protein-packed butter beans, and a nice, rich flavour thanks to the addition of coconut oil and Cheddar cheese.
The day’s meals were hearty and filling, as promised – and show just how much food you can eat in a single day when you don’t use your calories on junk! With so many positive TrustPilot reviews, Love Yourself meal deliveries are clearly popular – and it’s easy to see why. Part of the struggle with eating healthier, for many people, is not knowing where to start – or feeling that making that initial step is a struggle – and this is a good way to take the hard work out of it. Personally, I’m not sure I could justify spending over £100 a week on meals just for me – but for those who can, I can totally see the appeal. Find out more on their website.