The food falls into the broad category of “better than expected.” Maybe Diet-to-Go’s jambalaya would not have been recognizable to Paul Prudhomme as his home cuisine. But it was tasty enough nonetheless: meaty and stewy with tomatoes, earthily spicy without too much bite except from a peppery andouille. The plentiful shrimp did not carry the rubberiness one fears from reheated foods. The hydration and texture of the rice were also as good as I could expect from any meal that arrived in microwave-safe, recyclable CPET plastic.
The plans vary, but in general, you’re looking at anywhere from $130 a week for a 10-meal plan to $225 for a full complement of all 21 meals you’ll eat in a week—a lot for home cooking or freezer fare, but far less than DoorDash.
Have Plan, Will Follow
Diet-to-Go’s “Balance” option, its most popular plan, remains stolidly traditional on the weight-loss front, offering old-fashioned calorie-restricted meal planning that has fallen somewhat out of fashion in this modern era of fad diets and hedonistic anti-glutenism. Men get 1,600 calories a day. Women get 1,200. Each of these calorie counts falls significantly below metabolic needs to maintain homeostasis for adults, which is the whole point: It’s a diet.
The site touts the usual array of success stories from people who’ve lost 53 or 60 or 85 pounds. There’s also an Atkins-style keto option, and Diet-to-Go is one of few plans to design insulin-gentle meals specifically for diabetics or pre-diabetics. The Mediterranean plan I tried isn’t specifically listed as calorie-restricted, but meals still hovered mostly below 500 calories. In general, if you follow the service’s meal plan for every meal and don’t supplement with your own food, you’ll be hungry. It’s how diets used to work, or not work, depending on your experience.
Nutritionwise, meal after meal, everything hovered within USDA guidelines. Calories from fat hovered south of 30 percent for each meal. Sodium, added up over three meals, did not breach the lid. In broad strokes, it’s healthy food, as long as it’s all you eat.
But in practice, you’ll probably also eat or snack on other stuff even if you’re using the meal program to regulate your weight. Or at least, I certainly did. The meals are a perfectly hearty lunch but a small dinner. You’ll be tempted to eat trash late at night if you, like me, are a trashmonster.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Good Meats, Soggy Carrots
When judged as healthy microwaved meals, Diet-to-Go’s meals fared very well versus any supermarket competition. But, of course, they can’t stack up to fresh-cooked food.
Meals I tried from Diet-to-Go tended to follow a very specific pattern. The meats often held better than expected. Starches fared best, especially a diced-apple pancake roll-up breakfast that needed no extra syrupy sweetness; a hearty chicken-and-almond stuffed “Italian potato” served with couscous; or a hammy, cheesy Monte Cristo laden with jam and served with quite pleasant plantains.
