My CFO and the sales guys from our spinoff company have all been eating this stuff called “Factor” at work for a couple years now, and it looks and smells pretty good – so I checked on it a year or so ago…
Basically Factor is “HelloFresh” (literally), but it’s already prepared and you just chuck it in the microwave for two minutes. So, it’s pretty healthy stuff made with actual food instead of fillers and chemistry, and each meal is relatively balanced – meat, veggies, diary, etc.
The down side is that without fillers, extenders, and chemicals food is pretty expensive – and each Factor meal works out to about $12 to $15 – or $150-ish a week for two meals a day during the work week – and that was too rich for my blood… I mean, I actually compare weight to cost on my boxed mac to get the best deal…
But, here we are in 2024 and a singular sack of groceries (a week’s worth of frozen burritos, tv-dinners, hotdogs, canned soup, etc) is right at a hundred bucks – so I decided to give Factor a try.
Today my first box arrived; 10 meals, and for dinner I had this:
Which was made with this:
Ground Beef, Zucchini, Onions, Sour Cream (Cultured Cream), Mushrooms, Sliced Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto (Color)), Water, Olive Pomace Oil, Garlic, Cream Cheese (Pasteurized Milk And Cream, Salt, Cheese Culture, Stabilizers (Xanthan Gum, Carob Bean Gum, Guar Gum)), Nitrite/Nitrate-Free Uncured Bacon (Pork, Water, Salt, Celery Powder, Cherry Baste Aid), Granulated Onion, Granulated Garlic, Green Onions, Buttermilk Powder, Sea Salt, Reduced Brown Stock ((Veal Bones, Water), Beef Stock, Mirepoix Stock (Made Of Carrot, Celery And Onion Stocks), Red Wine, Tomato Paste, Gelatin, Salt, Carrot Stock, Celery Stock)), Mirepoix Concentrate (Water, Sea Salt, Vegetable Stock (Carrot, Celery And Onion Stocks), Carrot Stock, Tapioca Starch, Cabbage Juice Concentrate, Celery Stock, Onion Stock, Natural Flavors, Mushroom Stock, Tomato Paste), Smoked Black Pepper (Pepper, Smoke Flavor), Bacon Fat (Nitrite/Nitrate-Free Uncured Bacon (Pork, Water, Salt, Celery Powder, Cherry Baste Aid)), Black Pepper, Monkfruit Sweetener (Erythritol, Monk Fruit Extract), Dried Dill, Dried Chives, Thyme, Dried Parsley
Overall it was really good. Meals made with actual food turn out to be pretty tasty – who would have guessed.
The elephant in the room is the cost, and I need to try and justify the extra $50-ish dollars a week… So far I’m going with “I’m 55 years old and should probably stop living off of frozen burritos”. But we’ll see if that pans out when I’m rummaging in the console of the car for loose change to buy gas.
Listening to "Left Behind" by Absinth3, Zak Love