Elderly and Senior Meal Delivery Solutions from the Experiences of Family Caretakers for New Family Caretakers
Babeth's Feast
Babeth's Feast Review of their Senior Meals and Prepared Meal Delivery Service
About Babeth's Feast Prepared Meals
Founded in 2014 by Elisabeth de Kergorlay in Manhattan, New York, Babeth's Feast concept was born in Paris where she previously resided. Ms. Kergorlay had found Paris’s high-quality frozen foods as a great way to avoid the hassle of cooking when on a strict schedule or when entertaining guests. But upon arriving in New York, she couldn’t find any frozen food store that operated on that level. Babeth's Feast was thus born with the purpose of distributing gourmet frozen food from both local and international producers with a distinct French emphasis.
Each meal is flash frozen. Flash freezing is the process by which food is quickly frozen by exposing it to very cold temperatures well below the freezing point of water. This causes the water molecules inside the food to freeze very quickly without forming large crystals.
This efficiently avoids damaging the structure of the food. This is very convenient because all you have to do is pop the meal into the microwave or oven and it is ready before you know it. Some Babeth's Feast Reviews have recommended that instead of ordering Chinese takeout or pizza, you can order and have something that is made out of high-quality ingredients, is healthy, and doesn’t require a lot of time to prepare.
Babeth's Feast offers a wide range of products and services. They cater for all types of dietary preferences and special diets. When shopping online, filter your product search on their website in terms of your diet preference or access the lactose-free, vegetarian, and gluten-free sections directly. When in their stores, ask for assistance from a representative.
The ingredients that are used to make their foods are sourced from the finest purveyors in each food section locally, nationwide and even abroad. They also develop their own recipes. Among the services this service offers is that they even help you plan for occasions such as events and parties. Additionally, once you sign up to their loyalty program, they will regularly send you great deals. Large orders are also discounted.
They offer a flat rate ground shipping cost of $15 for orders above $50 nationwide. For orders below $50, a $35 fee is charged. They normally ship your order via UPS Ground or FedEx and it will arrive tightly packed and frozen in an insulated parcel with dry ice. You are advised to unpack it and place it in a freezer before the day ends.
- There is no Satisfaction Guarantee
Our Babeth's Feast Reviews
Updated from Our Previous Review
We have seen some substantial upgrades in this senior meal delivery service since our last review. The results have been so impressive we have promoted Babeth's into the Top 5 of our most favorite senior meal services.
- The improved Mix and Match Menu - meaning you can now pick your entree, side, and vegetable and make your own meal. Anyone familiar with the old DineWise Mix and Match (like us) will love this. And it goes a step beyond too. Current Mix and Match menus require you to buy sides and vegetables. Babeth's does not, allowing you to save money per meal by providing your owns vegetables.
- More Selections - One of our critical issues in the past was how difficult it was to meal plan matching up meal components to serving size. The new individual sized selections make this much more manageable. And now there are a lot more to choose from.
- Better Pricing - With numerous sale items, it is hard not to want to load up. We purchased 20 Chicken Marsala's that was 20% off plus a buy one get one free.
- More Green Vegetables - The one area we would like to see expanded is a more extensive selection of sous-vide green vegetables without heavy sauces, cream, or fat. This would greatly help seniors and family caretakers who are doing nutritional meal planning.
- All Sous-vide and Microwave Options - There are still some "conventional oven" reheating products that are not clearly labeled requiring a buyer to have to look up the heating instructions for every product. We would say either add an oven icon to the picture or repackage these products for microwave and sous-vide reheating.
- 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
- The food here is delicious and should not have an issue providing customers a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
Senior Prepared Meals and Meal Components We Would Reorder
Please check your order carefully. Every time we order from this company our orders have been missing items. The company will give you your choice of a refund or have the missing shipped to you, but you have to be aware if anything is missing. We have also received extra items and items we didn't order, but there seems to be picking issues the company is still working out while it grows.
Chicken Marsala with Brown Rice and Bell Peppers and Sous-Vide Green Beans with Garlic - $8.49
If you click on the picture and see the enlarged view, you can clearly see just how much food is on this plate. Most seniors and elderly will easily be able to get two generous portion sizes, cutting the cost of this meal in half. The Marsala Sauce just may be the best from any meal delivery service, and they use real mushrooms, which is always a bonus. The rice was a bit on the dry side, but the string beans reheated perfectly and still had a farm-fresh crunch to them, although we didn't get much garlic flavor. A highly recommended dish for quality and value.
Fish Curry with Lentil Salad with Cauliflower Rice and Kale - $12
The fish was good, but the curry sauce came out a little on the thin side. The flavors were all there though; you knew you had curry. The lemon vinaigrette was a bit sharp for our tastes in the salad, but that was just us. It was properly prepared. The lentils were tender and not mushy, and the cauliflower and rice rounded out a balanced meal.
Coq au Vin with Fingerling Potatoes and Broccoli with Onions - $14
Just delicious marinated dark meat chicken with mushrooms, pearl onions, bacon and a hint of thyme in a red wine sauce you'll want to have some buttered bread standing by for dipping. Served with perfectly seasoned Fingerling Potatoes and Broccoli, which we thought was overcooked and a little mushy. Even so, for $14 this is another huge portion that might work out as a lunch for the next day.
Chicken Cutlet with White and Wild Rice and Green Beans - $8
This is one of the largest chicken cutlets you will ever receive from a meal delivery service, and that is not its best feature. The crispy fried crust on the outside is not something you would expect from a microwave chicken breast. The White and Wild Rice was good, and on this dish, we used our own string beans. There is another chicken breast for tomorrow, and Mom is all excited to have it.
Beef Bourguignon with Simple Potato Purée and String Beans - $12
This classic French dish is done to perfection. Cooked sous-vide, the beef is ridiculously tender, and the red wine sauce is delicious. The mushrooms, carrots, and onions round out the perfect meal, just bring your own bread and butter!
We almost didn't buy the Potato Puree because of its name, but they are just mashed potatoes, which are very good and go great dipping them into the wine sauce. The string beans are from our own can.
Chicken Parmesan with Fresh Pasta and Sauce and Asparagus Cuts - $14
The Chicken Parmesan is flawless and worthy of significant freezer space for upcoming meals. We had enough sauce leftover to cover our own fresh pasta. The Asparagus Cuts are excellent, not mushy, and tender. More Asparagus tips would be appreciated, but the cost vs. the portion size is a great value.
Grilled Pork Chops with Sauteed Mushrooms, Mashed Potatoes and Asparagus Cuts - $12
This plate is showing two pork chops, but they are large enough to be one per serving. We also have three sides which make the price go up a bit, but Mom loves her Sauteed Mushrooms. It is hard not to like this meal. The Pork Chops are tender from sous-vide cooking, the mashed potatoes are spot on, and the Asparagus Cuts prepared perfectly too. It's another big plate of food you might be able to get two meal from. Given the portion sizes and the prices, this meal is a great value.
Lemon Chicken with Artichokes Over Pasta, with Spinach with Cream and Shallots and Maple Sriracha Glazed Brussels Sprouts - $15
The first time we had this meal, the Chicken and Artichokes was on the soupy side, and we felt the flavor was washed out. This time everything came out perfectly, including the Spinach and Cream and the Glazed Brussels Sprouts. Don't let "Sriracha" scare you off; it is more flavored than hot.
Grilled Salmon with Cauliflower Au Gratin and Sous-Vide Spinach - $13
We are showing two pieces of grilled salmon here, but the portion sizes are large enough to make two meals out of this plate. The salmon is good, pretty much what you get everywhere, just a larger piece. The Cauliflower Au Gratin stole the show for this meal. Oh my, it would be hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this, and it compliments the salmon much better than you might think. The sous-vide spinach is also delicious. Not too watery, which can make plating messy, and full of flavor. Again, the portion sizes and the prices make this senior meal a great value.
Beef Meatballs in Tomato Sauce - $4
A serving size is considered one meatball and they cost $2 each, so you can create the portion size you like. We added our own fresh pasta. The meatballs are delicious, as is the sauce. Given the volume and the low price, these make a great addition to the family menu, and at an economical price too.
Roasted Beef Brisket with Yukon Gold Potatoes with Herbes de Provence and Maple Sriracha Glazed Brussels Sprouts - $13
Oh boy, that is what we have to say about this meal. Beef Brisket at this price is a no-brainer. The portion size is tremendous for a protein that requires so much culinary attention to have it come out perfectly, and this one does. It's not smoked mind you, but it is excellent! The bag to our potatoes leaked when we reheated it, stove top, sous-vous method. The only bag to leak in our order. They lost a little flavor but were okay. The Brussels Sprouts were a hit too. This time we tasted a bit more heat from the Sriracha after we tasted the sweet from the Maple.
Senior Prepared Meals and Meal Components We Would Not Reorder
Lentil Chili with Brown Rice with Scallions and Bell Pepper and Sous-Vide Broccoli with Onions - $15
The chili was okay. The lentils were prepared perfectly, but we thought the chili was a little watery. Had it had some more tomato paste we probably would have passed it because the spice was there, even though it was mild. The rice was just okay too, and the broccoli was much better this time than the last time we had it.
We thought the chili would have had to of been perfect to recommend it at $15 a serving.
Any of the Frozen Pizza's - $7
These are not anything special and something you can't find in the freezer section of your local supermarket.
Bolognese Sauce - $8
No one loves a Beef Bolognese Sauce more than one of the reviewers on our staff. In fact, he is the only one to review them. Most of the time his first observation is that the sauce is not traditional, just the American version meaning ground beef in sauce. This one is traditional, as advertised. The problem is that sauce came out very watery. An issue that occurred every time we ordered it. It's not a lot of money, and if you are willing to add some tomato puree to thicken it up, you might have something here, but we couldn't recommend it as is, although we would be delighted to pay $8 for a proper Bolognese Sauce.
Our Summary
There are lots to like about Babeth's Feast starting with the expanded Mix and Match Menu, and no limitations as to how many meal components you would like to add to your order. If you are a senior, elderly person, or family caretaker, there would be no reason not to keep Chicken Marsala, Chicken Parmesan, and Chicken Cutlets in your freezer inventory. You will get two of each per package, they are inexpensive, and they taste great. From there you can add sides or vegetables as your taste buds or budget allow. The pork chops and salmon are good choices too.
The portion sizes are always better than what you will get from other meal delivery services, and some of them are so big you can get two meals out of them. The quality and value repeat over and over again. We hope you try them and come back to share your opinion with others.
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Your Babeth's Feast Review
Our reviews are written only
from the viewpoint of a family caretaker who has the responsibility of feeding one or two senior or elderly loved ones. We take into consideration shipping, packaging, storage, reheating, food quality, and price per meal to determine if the meal delivery service is a good value, convenience, and an option to support their family caretaking responsibilities. Advertisers do not influence our reviews.
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