Veestro
Veestro Reviews - Prepared Meal Delivery Reviews
Traditionally, vegan prepared meal delivery services have struggled to maintain a foothold in the prepared meal marketplace. We have seen more than twenty come and go over the years, not lasting very long at all. We believe the challenge these companies face stem from the market share of vegans who would regularly have meals delivered is small, and the company fails to create meals non-vegans would find compelling to order.
Our reviews are based on value, just like you do when you go to a restaurant. If you have a good meal at a fair price, you would be likely to go back and reorder that meal. We do the same thing, which also gives us the flexibility to say a meal was good but, in our opinion, not worth the price we paid for it.
Out of respect to Vegans and Vegetarians, we wish to state upfront we qualify as neither. Nicole DiLayne is our closest food blogger to the lifestyle. She enjoys vegan and vegetarian food but eats meat too.
We invite Vegans and Vegetarians to share their own reviews.
A La Carte
We love that this meal service offers a la carte shopping. Vegans and vegetarians may flock to their service, but outside the box diners will appreciate the option of making a test order without being locked into automatic deliveries from subscription requirements.
Packaging and Tray Seals
Overall, we found the packaging to be acceptable. Heating instructions, nutritional labels, and ingredients were all easy to read. One of our meals arrived with a broken seal, which we consider a food safety issue. You would eat anything you purchased from your local with broken seals; you shouldn't with prepared meals either. A few of our meals came with excess water in the trays, although only one meal was ruined by water damage. It seems to us the meal delivery services all start out with the cheap white cardboard trays that don't seal well, and eventually improve their service by upgrading to a tray that stays sealed.
Inconvenient and Uneven Reheating
Most people think of a prepared meal delivery service as providing meals that easily and conveniently reheat in the microwave. Veestro recommends you use your oven or stovetop to achieve "best results." The heating instructions on some meals say to allow the meal to defrost in the refrigerator overnight. We followed the very vague microwave directions, like "microwave 3-5 minutes until hot throughout," and found most meals did not cook evenly and took more time than what the directions instruct consumers to do. Inconvenient reheating eliminated the convenience of using the microwave.
Meals with sauces come in their own sauce packet that you reheat by soaking in hot water. If you remember the sauces from the original Home Bistro, it is the same concept, except you could put the original Home Bistro Sauces on dirt and it would taste amazing. These sauces are far from amazing, and in our opinion, not worth the effort.
In conclusion, we feel seniors, and the elderly, those with busy schedules, and anyone who doesn't want to babysit reheating their meal are likely to find this process an annoyance, and especially so if someone is reheating multiple meals.
No 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
The company does not provide consumers the assurance their order will be met with their satisfaction. They do say on their FAQ page they will issue a replacement credit for any food item or meal that was damaged, spoiled, or impaired as a direct result of shipping or delivery. That is not a credit to your charge account. You must place another order (and pay for shipping) to get your credit. In our opinion, that leaves a bad taste in our mouths, no pun intended.
Gluten-Free or Not?
The company promotes themselves as having "many Gluten-Free meal options," however the food is processed in a plant that does not protect against cross-contamination. We feel the company needs to understand some people can have severe and painful reactions gluten exposure. A carrot does not have gluten. A carrot processed in a manufacturing plant that is NOT protected from gluten cross-contamination exposes consumers to gluten. We feel the website is misleading, especially when a sentence on the FAQ page (who goes there?) says: "We do NOT recommend our products for people with celiac disease or similarly severe allergies."
Why do you put gluten-free on the website and your product packaging?
Organic or Not?
We found this on the FAQ page: "All our meals are made with organic ingredients. Over 96% of the ingredients we use are organic." Wouldn't that mean all of the meals are NOT made with organic ingredients?
Our Veestro Review of their Vegetarian Prepared Meal Delivery Service
Veestro Vegan Prepared Meals We Would Reorder
Veestro Vegan Prepared Meals We Would Not Reorder
Quinoa Bake - $10.49
This meal is labeled as gluten-free but was not processed in a plant that protects consumers from gluten cross-contamination.
This was my first meal from Veestro, and I have to say I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. I sincerely thought I was eating a very large portioned Frittata, with real eggs, and enjoyed it very much. It took me a few tries to reheat this to where it was evenly reheated, but I could see myself starting my day with this meal once or twice a week, enjoying healthy dining.
-Morris Pelphner
Baked Mac & Cheez Dinner - $10.99
I would imagine this would be a top seller from the non-vegans making an experimental purchase. It is probably a best seller among Vegans too. I would also venture to say it doesn't reorder as well because it is just not that good.
This is not Thomas Jefferson's Mac and Cheese, nor is a good vegan substitute. Granted, it is a challenge to make a deliciously creamy Mac and Cheese without cream or cheese. I didn't eat more than a third of it. The Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower were good, but the portion was small, especially with the cauliflower. 30 people on the website gave this meal a 5-star review. I found that suspicious. I wouldn't order this meal again at $11, or even half that price.
-Nicole DiLayne
Pasta Bolognese - $11.49
Bolognese Sauce is a personal specialty of mine, and I tend to review all the meals that claim to make one. Of course, in this country, a red sauce with ground meat is called a Bolognese, which is an ignorant insult to the traditional recipe. When the owner told me I would reviewing Pasta Bolognese today, he didn't tell me it was going to be vegan.
Vegan? Really? C'mon! Those were immediate reactions. Now, I am going to shock my loyal readers. This is the best American Pasta Bolognese I have ever had! The noodles were homemade and outstanding in texture and flavor. I wish there were more of it. I didn't close my eyes and had visions of my Grandma's Bolognese sauce, but this is outstanding, and all vegetables too! I was quite surprised, and tip my hat to the chef.
-Chef Aldo Piquanti
Mushroom Stroganoff - $11.49
As you can see in the picture, this prepared meal was ruined from exposure to excessive water. Something went very wrong here as the Stroganoff sauce was more like soup. I could appreciate the effort of the homemade noodles but whatever flavor once existed in this meal was washed away.
The company does offer a credit for products damaged in shipping. I'm not sure this would qualify, but getting a credit on my next order, plus shipping, doesn't make me feel like a valued customer.
-Morris Pelphner
Omelet Primavera - $10.69
This meal is labeled as gluten-free but was not processed in a plant that protects consumers from gluten cross-contamination.
So far, I am 0-2. There might be one large red potatoes diced and sauteed here and an "omelet" that was okay at best. I thought the portion size was small for $10.69. And once again, I found the customer reviews suspiciously amazingly good and far from the same dining experience I had. I did reheat the sauce, which is the most inconvenient process I ever have seen from a meal delivery service, and found it to be nothing more than a watery tomato puree. I would rather have a protein bar for breakfast.
-Nicole DiLayne
Veggie Lasagna - $11.29
Once again, I have to tip my hat to the chef and his creative culinary skill for creating a lasagna made out vegetables. I would have preferred noodles over thinly sliced zucchini as the noodles, but I cannot deny the outstanding culinary effort to recreate this dish without meat, cheese, and noodles.
I don't believe for a second that the same chef who made the lasagna made the sauce. Perhaps the dishwasher was forced into duty that day. While I respect the effort, and I could have this meal again, it is the cost that was an issue for me. $11.29 seemed too expensive for me. $8 or maybe $9 I might reorder.
-Chef Aldo Piquanti
Shepherdless Pie - $11.29
This is my third meal, and I was able to eat about half of this one. First of all, I would call it something else because consumers are expecting a Shepherd Pie (lamb) or Cottage Pie (beef) experience will be disappointed. Greatly disappointed.
As for the vegetarian in me, I found I could eat and enjoy this. I think it would be a great power lunch at the office. I was disappointed with the price. Although I could eat it regularly, I thought the price was too much for what it is and what you get. To me, it's more like a very good side dish that I would pay around $6 to have again.
-Nicole DiLayne
Country Fried Chick'n - $11.99
We were torn on this meal. All of our taste testers, including myself, felt the use of soy protein to make what looks like a giant fried chicken nugget was nothing short of brilliant. If they produced this in-house, again your culinary skill is impressive. If you purchased this premade, we still salute your ability to source an entree as impressive as this one is. Had we not known it was vegan, we all thought we were eating chicken.
The debate among the staff was the cost of the meal, and probably the easiest thing to make. The portion sizes of the sides. The roasted vegetables are real roasted vegetables, and they are great. But look at the picture and see how many you get. The mashed potatoes are also good, but the serving size fits on a spoon. We found the watery sauce took away from this meal. For $12 an adult can eat two of these meals, but we gave it a thumbs up for the amazing transformation of turning plants into chicken.
-Morris Pelphner
Southwest BBQ Chick'n - $11.99
It's funny to see the men pick and nibble that their vegan meals. No surprise a chicken dish that tasted like chicken made them do touchdown celebrations. We sincerely hope to get some vegans to help us review these meals from a vegan POV.
You could expect to pay between $8 and $12 for a chicken cutlet prepared meal from any national meal delivery service, so this one comes in on the high end. I agree with everyone else on staff that the water sauce wouldn't make this meal better. I did think the "Chicken Patty" was good, but I especially liked the quality and portion size of the sides. All too often Fingerling Potatoes come mushy, as do diced zucchini. These were perfect. I found value in this beyond the chicken patty!
-Nicole DiLayne
Chick'n Quesadilla - $10.99
This came with directions we hate to see on any meal delivery product we buy: "Preheat oven to 400 degrees..."
Consumers expect prepared meals to be microwave ready and people don't look at heating instructions online. When a vendor requires oven cooking, is the meal really prepared? So, long story short, Chef Piquenti looked at this in the bag and said you can microwave it.
He cut the bag in half and left the Quesadilla on the cardboard base it gets shipped on. He microwaved it for four minutes, took it out and cut it as you see in the picture, and plated it. It was the most delicious Quesadilla I ever had. In fact, everyone shared in devouring it like piranha eat fish. I highly recommend this. I should say "these" as you will want to buy many more than one.
-Nicole DiLayne
Veestro Reviews from Consumers
Very Nice Job
Overall: Silver Medal
- Website Ease of Ordering: Excellent
- Reheating:
Excellent
- Customer Service: Excellent
- Shipping: Excellent
- Taste and Food Quality: Good
- Value: Good
I wanted to compliment your efforts at reviewing vegan meals without being vegans. I think you did a very nice job and represented the company fairly. Most vegan would probably find the meal here very vanilla. We have already committed to our lifestyle and don't need to be reminded of the food we left behind with meals that look or taste like something else.
Instead of making meals that look or taste like non-vegan meals, try making meals for the vegan lifestyle. For example, I could say the food I have tried lacks substantial spices.
-Jenna H
Seattle
I Will Never Order from Them Again
Overall: No Medal
- Website Ease of Ordering: Poor
- Reheating: Good
- Customer Service: Poor
- Shipping: Good
- Taste and Food Quality: Good
- Value: Fair
Veestro has the worst customer service out of any company I have ever dealt with. I unknowingly placed 2 orders. When I realized this I contacted them immediately. They said they would attempt to pull one of the orders, they didn't. when I received the orders, one order was completely wrong. I called them but they wouldn't work with me in any way, not even offering a small discount to my next order. I have seriously never known a company to have such awful customer service. If they would have just offered something I would have most likely stayed on as a customer, but now I will never order from them again and would never recommend them.
-Nancy
Share Your Meal Delivery Experiences
Morris Pelphner
Founder and Director
Prepared Meal Delivery Reviews
Chef Aldo Piquanti,
Video Food Blogger
Formerly of Gourmet-Reviews.com
Nicole DiLayne
Food Blogger
Formerly of Prepared-Meals.com
Copyright 2009 Prepared Meal Delivery Reviews. Art Commercially Licensed by Shutterstock. Contact. Companies No Longer in Business DineWise, EasyLife Meals.