Lifestyle
Now the world is back in full swing post-pandemic, schedules are becoming busier than ever.
This is why many seem to be opting for weekly meal plans for convenience, health and wellbeing.
With a whole host of options for meal plans in the UAE, we decided to put one to the test.
The Plan
Honest Badger, founded by Yasmin Hadi in 2020, has four different meal plans UAE residents can choose from: vegan; active vegan; protein and active protein, with meals starting from Dhs115 per day. I opted for the protein plan with a total calorie count of 1500 per day. The plan includes lean meats, vegetables, legumes and pulses.
A bag of your breakfast, lunch and dinner is delivered daily to your door early in the morning, five days a week. It includes your three meals, as well as a morning juice, two snacks and a dessert.
The Pros
The main pro of this meal plan (and I’m sure any meal plan) is the convenience. I live a very busy lifestyle, as many do in Dubai, and not having to think about what I’m going to have to eat each day was a huge time saver. Also, admittedly, I’m not a cook and using a meal really helped kickstart my eating habits and staying away from Deliveroo and other meal delivery apps.
Generally, the meals were tasty and suited my appetite. The portion sizes were decent and I wasn’t left feeling hungry.
The Cons
While I did like what the menus offered, there isn’t really much option to customise it. The team are able to cater to different dietary needs, but you’re not given a choice on what you’d like to have. This is, however, understandable given that it’s a small business, it’s just something worth noting.
In addition, I found that while it was super convenient not to have to think about my daily meals, my job often takes me out and about during the week and I found sometimes I wouldn’t be eating all of the meals given to me. I tried to save some of them for other days, but given changing of schedules last-minute sometimes (too late to postpone days), it was difficult to decipher when I’d be able to eat the missed meals, which meant some of them went to waste.
The Verdict
For me, what Honest Badger had to offer wasn’t quite the right fit long-term. However, overall I have to say I would recommend meal plans to kickstart your health journey. It takes the headache out of meal planning for yourself, especially if you’re always on the go, which most people in Dubai are!
