The Perfect Meal Delivery to Order Now for When You’re Waiting Out the Coronavirus at Home

I rarely cook, especially not on the weekdays.

I simply cannot find the time in the day to prepare a meal in my kitchen. I wake up, commute to work, run around the city, and ride the train home so exhausted; I tend to eat anything in sight, even if it's a bag of pretzels. It's sad to admit, but I rely on the snack cabinet at the office when I'm hungry. Working at a plant-based company, we receive a lot of samples like granola bars, protein shakes, and caloric snacks--which I know are not the healthiest meal replacement option. I need to eat whole foods.

Yesterday, instead of reaching for snacks in the cabinet, I noticed there were Mosaic boxes on the table. I heated up the peanut tofu bowl, which looked most delicious and filling and devoured it seconds later.

The only plant-based meal delivery I've tried before Mosaic was Sakara Life, so my standards of quality food were high and my wallet was tight. The best things about Mosaic are the fact they use real foods, it's convenient, and the prices are affordable.

One thing to keep in mind:

Mosaic Foods are plant-based. Meaning they don't use any meat but some of their bowls contain dairy and egg. The bowls that are vegan are noted and all the others are vegetarian.

The ingredients are not mashed together, soupy or laden in sauce, with just a couple of veggies like some plant-based meal delivery services. Instead, Mosaic's array of healthy and delicious bowls are full of actual foods you recognize, arranged in artful and appetizing ways in the bowl. The vegetables are arranged on the opposite side of the starches, and the wet ingredients like the peanut sauce were in a packaged container completely separate from the box. Each meal looked like a buffet-style to-go platter of nutritious plant-based food.

The other plus side of Mosaic is the price and the fact that you don't need to commit to a long-term subscription. I went on the website to see if the ordering system was as seamless as preparing and eating the tofu bowl, and it was even easier.

The website has a beautiful layout of each bowl with a complete list of ingredients and the nutritional count listed below. After selecting which bowls you want, you "build your box" by adding 8 different plant-based power bowls that include a base of noodles, risotto, and grains, topped with vegetables.  Once your 8-day box is full, Mosaic will ship it your home, office, Air Bnb, anywhere you want for $79.99, and you get $15 off your first purchase so my total order came out to $64.92 before taxes. The average price per meal is about $8.50, which was the price of the medium-sized green juice I drank before work.

The only things I needed to have were a microwave, porcelain bowl, and fork. You simply remove the plastic, transfer the ingredients into a regular bowl, heat it up, and enjoy. If your time is money, this meal will save you some cash. Store them in your freezer and take them to go. They're perfect lunch options to bring to work.

This bowl was a full lunch meal but the rice, tofu, and veggies tasted a bit plain and bland, you may like to add salt, pepper, or any other seasoning to give it a little bit more flavor. On the other hand, the ingredients were crisp and whole, meaning the tofu blocks were normal sized and the veggies were sliced and crunchy.

At first, I was a little turned off to see that the typical bowl has 460 - 540 calories, but then I recognized that it was an entire meal and if you're taking in around 1,500 calories a day that seems right on target.  To my pleasant surprise, the peanut tofu bowl contained 24 grams of plant-based protein and 6 grams of fiber. So the nutrition facts are impressive.

There is a common worry that many frozen or packaged foods are high in sodium. Although the sodium in most of the bowls hovers at around 400 mg, when I tried the Beet Bourgunion while it was delicious, the label says it has 821 mg of sodium. That's a lot even for someone training for a half marathon, This bowl has 450 Calories, 14 grams of protein and  60 grams of Carbs. Its 11 grams of fiber make it a winner, but its sodium still feels like an unnecessary number for a healthy dish.

According to Health.org, the "ideal limit" of sodium per day is "1,500 mg for most adults" so the average 540 mg of sodium in a Mosaic box is roughly one-third of the daily adult recommendation. However, if you're trying to lose weight you may want to pay attention to your salt intake.

Health.org also recommends that the daily intake of sugar for women is 25 grams, and for men 36 grams. The Beet Bourgunion bowl had 12 grams of sugar. In one bowl, there is almost more sugar than half of what a woman should eat in one day. Therefore, if you're sugar conscious, for weight or other health reasons, you may want to be careful.

Everyone is scared of carbs, and though the Mosaic lineup ranges from 50 grams of carbs to a high of  87 grams per serving, the sources are grains, whole fruits and vegetables, and the occasional potatoes, these carbs and not the offensive kind that builds up and create the kind of fat that sticks.

According to Mayo Clinic, "The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that carbohydrates make up 45 to 65 percent of your total daily calories. So, if you get 2,000 calories a day, between 900 and 1,300 calories should be from carbohydrates. That translates to between 225 and 325 grams of carbohydrates a day." So, 60 grams of carbohydrates for the Beet Bourgunion bowl is fairly moderate.

Mosaic is a great option to have around when you need something healthy, plant-based and delicious is a hurry. The meal is ready in less than 5 minutes, I squeeze fresh lemon juice to bring it back alive after sitting in the freezer. I called my brother who enjoys working out, and lives in a dorm room with a microwave and recommended that he place his first  Mosaic box order. It's quick and convenient for anyone who's looking for a plant-based meal and wants plenty of protein. And guys will love it too!