'I Tried Factor Meals For A Week, And These Are My Honest Thoughts'
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As a dietitian, I try to prioritize filling and nutrient-dense meals, but sometimes there are only enough hours in a day, and preparing my healthy dinner recipes just falls to the wayside. This is where Factor Meals (aka Factor or Factor75) saved me. I've seen ads for Factor meals on Instagram, and I wanted to see first-hand whether they were as mouth-watering as they looked.
During a busy week, I gave this fresh, never-frozen meal delivery service a try. I was happy to find that in addition to actual meals, the service also allows you to order extras like smoothies, and of course, dessert. They also cater to different eating styles, so there's truly something for everyone whether you're a vegetarian, vegan, or on the keto diet. After trying several meals and sides, I evaluated the service based on meal choice, prep time, delivery, and taste. Keep reading for the good, the not-so-great, and my personal favorite features of Factor Meals.
Meal Delivery Service
Factor
What is Factor?
Factor is a weekly meal delivery service that delivers freshly made and packaged meals to your door. You can select from Keto, Calorie Smart, Flexitarian, Protein Plus, Veggie, and Vegan meal plans or the Chef’s Choice plan, which includes a variety of balanced meals. In addition to the complete meals, Factor also offers plenty of add-on food items and free access to a registered dietitian via a complementary 20-minute coaching call to help you set nutrition goals.
How does it work?
Once you choose your desired plan and finish the sign-up process, you can select the number of meals you want each week. You can choose 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 18 meals and a number of additional items like smoothies, breakfasts, wellness shots, extra protein, or desserts each week. Depending on your zip code, your meals will be delivered on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
Once you have your initial order in, you’ll be set up to receive an order each week on your designated day. You can make adjustments before the cut-off date, which is about a week before your scheduled delivery, to change, cancel, pause, or modify your order.
For my experience, Factor allowed me to select six meals and add-ons to test out and review. Here's what I chose:
Meals:
Add-ons:
What was my first impression?
My box arrived via FedEx, and everything was securely packaged in an insulated box with plenty of ice packs to keep things cold and fresh.
I always feel wasteful when I receive orders with so much packaging and waste, but the majority went into my recycling bin, with only a few pieces that needed to be tossed in the trash. Plus, I saved the reusable ice packs in my freezer, which will be useful during travels this spring and summer. Obviously, those will only be saved for the first few orders, and after that, I’ll follow their directions for draining and disposing of them or donating them.
After unpacking the meals and looking over the ingredients and nutrition labels, I was increasingly excited to try them since they all sounded a lot more exciting than the grilled cheese sandwiches and veggies I had cooked the night before.
What are some of Factor’s pros and cons?
After a week of eating Factor Meals, here are some of the perks and a few considerations I noticed.
Meal choice
I love the variety of meals to choose from and that all of them had a good amount of protein–a nutrient I sometimes struggle to eat enough of. I have varied tastes, so I appreciated being able to select a tofu enchilada bowl and a filet mignon with mushroom risotto in the same order.
Even if you choose a meal plan track like Keto, you can still view and choose any of the 35 menu options available that week. I also love that you can choose add-ons that include breakfast, snacks, and lighter lunch options to really customize your order to your needs for the following week.
The only thing I feel could be improved in the meal selection is a way to filter out the higher or lower sodium choices. Some meals have well over 1,000 milligrams of sodium, which can be much too high for many people on their health journey. Sodium is one of the most underestimated nutrients, and 90 percent of Americans eat too much of it. Since too much sodium has negative impacts on the heart, kidneys, and brain, I’d love to see a way for people to choose the options that are lower in this nutrient more easily.
Prep
It takes approximately three minutes to pull the package out of the fridge, heat it in the microwave, and take that first bite. All the meals I had needed just two to two and a half minutes of microwave time and a minute to sit afterward to be fully heated and ready to eat.
While most of the meals seemed to heat at the same time, I did notice that in a couple of meals, some parts could have cooked a little longer. For example, the chicken and corn esquites in my Cilantro Chicken with Brown Rice, Black Beans & Spicy Corn Esquites was perfect, but the rice was still a bit hard.
Delivery
Personally, the delivery arrived on time, the day it was supposed to, in a well-packed and insulated box. I had absolutely no issues with my delivery. However, I can see the set delivery days being an issue for some people. If, for example, you’re out of town or not home on your set delivery day, you might have to skip the entire week since the day is determined by zip code with little wiggle room for personal schedules.
Taste
I was most impressed with the taste and texture of almost every meal I tried. The steak was tender, the chicken was juicy, and even the sides, like green beans, were perfectly seasoned and tender – almost better than I could make at home in my own kitchen. None of it tasted like it had been heated in the microwave.
While the meals left me more than impressed, full, and satisfied, the sides I chose weren’t as big of a hit. I went with a protein shake variety pack, and hadn’t realized that it was plant-based protein. While this isn’t usually a deal breaker, I felt like the texture of the shakes was a bit gritty and not as creamy as I would have liked. I also tried the cinnamon roll fat bombs that came with an icing. The icing was delicious, but the fat bombs just didn’t have a lot of flavor to them.
Who should use factor?
As a single mom of two young kids, I feel anyone who is busy, interested in eating balanced overall healthful meals, and only responsible for feeding one adult would see huge benefits from using Factor. While spending $11 to $13.50 per serving may seem like a lot, I would spend a lot more buying the ingredients to make each of these meals for just myself. Not to mention that some weeks I just don’t have the time or energy to plan, shop, and make a week’s worth of healthy meals.
If you’re trying to stick to specific health goals, like managing carbohydrates, weight loss or management, or hitting protein goals, Factor takes a lot of guesswork out of your meal planning, making it easier and more convenient to see results.
If you’re feeding two adults or older kids as well as yourself, meal delivery services like Factor may not make as much sense unless you’re enjoying them for lunch at work or other times when the whole family isn’t enjoying a meal together.
Is Factor healthy?
There’s a lot to love about the nutrition and health of Factor meals, and just a few things I’d like to see changed.
For the most part, each meal has a good balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates (unless you choose from the Keto meal plan) and includes a serving of vegetables. Some meals are high in saturated fat, like the Garlic Herb Salmon, which contains 100 percent of the recommended daily value.
Many of the meals also lack fiber, with four out of six of my meals having just five grams of fiber for the entire meal. Also, some meals are high in sodium, although most of the choices I received had around 30 to 35 percent of the recommended daily limit, which is appropriate for a meal.
Overall, the meals are balanced and healthy, but if you have specific nutrition needs, you may want to check the sodium, saturated fat, and fiber of the meals before placing your order.
Bottom line
Factor is a meal delivery service that makes it easy and convenient to eat healthy meals to stay on track with your nutrition goals. After trying six meals throughout the week, I was impressed with how filling and flavorful they were and surprised that the texture of the meat and vegetables was on point, even after being microwaved. While most meals are generally healthy and include a balance of nutrients, you’ll want to look at each individual meal if you have specific diet restrictions like low-sodium or low-saturated fat. As a busy, single adult with two small kids, I can see myself ordering Factor again, especially on weeks I know I’ll be stretched for time.
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