The back-to-school season often puts pressure on working families to find time to eat well-balanced meals together. In between school drop-offs and pick-ups, extracurricular activities, appointments, and demanding work schedules, finding time for a quality sit-down meal can be challenging. In a study conducted on work-life stress hindering healthy eating for a family, it was concluded that when both parents are employed full-time there were “reported fewer family meals, more frequent fast food for family meals, less frequent encouragement of their adolescents’ healthful eating, lower fruit and vegetable intake and less time spent on food preparation, compared to part-time and not-employed mothers.
Gobble grew it’s popularity for marketing itself as a the 15 minute meal kit.
Gobble has invested heavily in solving this problem for working families with meal kits designed specifically for busy parents who prefer to provide home-cooked meals for their families, and who also want to save time in the process. Taking care of the most redundant parts of the home cooking process like planning, shopping, and measuring, so that parents can enjoy the rewarding part of the process, cooking a warm, delicious meal for their family and sitting down together to enjoy it.
“With Gobble, all the best aspects of home cooking still apply: kids can still get involved in the preparation of the family meal – follow the recipe card instructions, learn basic cooking skills, build confidence in the kitchen, and develop an understanding of where dinner comes from, parents still get the satisfaction of providing a home-cooked meal for their family and everybody gets to experience new recipes without the time required to sift through Google search results or dig through cookbooks, only to end up at the grocery store to buy a bunch of new, costly ingredients,” said Dani Platz, Director of Marketing at Gobble.
Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rolls with Fougasse with Arugula Salad for Four.
Outside of the New Year season, back-to-school is the most popular time of year for new members to join Gobble, and for existing members to begin ordering at higher frequencies Platz also shared. Gobble has several meals tagged as “Family Friendly” and “Quick & Easy” to cater to families. “Not only does Gobble help relieve parents from grocery shopping and excessive ingredient prep for dinner, but it also helps families standardize their grocery bills. How often do people go to the grocery store and veer off their shopping list only to end up buying unnecessary snacks, baked goods, entertaining cheeses, and fun spices that were never part of the budget? Gobble helps eliminate those unfocused shopping trips and streamline people’s budgets to ensure their dinners are taken care of entirely, leaving snack-focused grocery trips to a minimum. In addition, Gobble helps reduce food waste. By packing only what you’ll need for each dinner, our customers no longer have to worry about paying for full-sized ingredients that may spoil in the fridge before they can get to them. It helps save time and money!” exclaimed Platz.
Roasted Chicken with Gruyere Mac N’ Cheese, Sautéed Carrots, Haricots Verts for Four.
Thomas Ricci, Vice President of Culinary Operations at Intelligent Foods and co-founder at Gobble, focuses on designing meals that kids will actually eat while providing beneficial nutrients. “The biggest question I ask myself is, ‘will the kids eat it?’ I always think about how to provide enough nutrients in that meal. I always try to include a vegetable, even if it’s slipping a vegetable into a meal under the radar (like in mac and cheese). There has to be a wow factor that can always elevate a meal for parents to stay entertained as well. There are layers to building a meal this way, similar to how family movies are designed to have some elements “for the parents.” It’s important to keep the whole family in mind and make sure there’s something for everyone. There has to be variety: kids should be introduced to new foods, even if it’s very incremental. Exposing kids to new ingredients and elements of a dish while keeping other elements familiar helps to expand their horizons and let them start being more adventurous in their eating,” he shared. Some of the more popular family meals include Roasted Chicken with Gruyere Mac n’ Cheese, Sautéed Carrots, & Haricots Verts, Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rolls with Fougasse & Arugula Salad, Butter Chicken Chili over Basmati Rice and Shrimp Scampi with Linguine in Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce.
Gobble is currently offering new members their first 6 meals for just $36, plus free shipping. Members have access to Gobble’s rotating weekly menu of dinner kits such as Classic Dinner, Lean & Clean, and Vegetarian, plus add-on categories like Premium Dinner Kits, Soups, Salads, Side Dishes, Breakfasts, and Desserts.