bowls

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bowls

Postby cluwal894 » Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:24 pm

Are there any vegetable bowls commercially available that are McDougall compliant?
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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:38 am

I just saw this (And your same post in the other forum)

To answer your question, No.

I didn't go through each one but from what I saw, I am not sure I would call Mama Sezz 100% compliant. Definitely not MWL. Some include seeds and others include dates or raisins or date syrup, which would not be MWL compliant.

From an earlier post of mine in the FB 12 Day Group...

Here’s the issue and my concerns.

While we don’t recommend portioning or counting calories, you still have to get enough food/calories. When you take their typical portions and calories and calculate what the average person needs, you end up needing quite a few of their recommended servings to hit both satiety and the needed calories at each meal. Then when you do the math on that amount of servings actually needed x the cost, they are very expensive.

I did the full analysis in here before and will look for it, but it was like over $40 a day and that was based on 2 meals. So you either have to buy less and still cook quite a bit or buy the bundle and spend a fortune for the week, or only buy a few to keep as backup. But if everyone only bought a few to keep as back up, then the company won’t make it.

Or you have 2 much better options...

1) you can batch cook 1-2x/week for an hour or so.

2) You can hire a local person to do the cooking 1x a week in your home (or theirs). They just have to follow our recipes.

Either way, with these 2 options, you will have *lots* of high satiety low calorie dense food available for about what 1-2 days worth of these other meal programs would cost.


Here’s my earlier reply with the math (when they gave cost per item)

The problem I see (and hear about) is as mentioned above. In addition, a serving of there's is a cup and around 175 calories, which is not much at all in regard to either calories, volume or weight. Based on their numbers, if I wanted to use this for just 2 meals a day (lunch and dinner), I would need 7-8 servings (2/3s of an 1800-2000 calorie diet). They average $5/serving so it would be $35 to $40/day for 2 meals and $50 - $60/dayfor 3 meals.

This is not feasible for most people, even many who come to the program. So,for it to work for most of ones meals, it is very expensive and you still have to do some cooking to fill in.

However, if one took an hour or so one day at week, and batch cooked, they could produce the same in their own kitchen for around $7-10/day (NOTE this was adjusted for the current inflation). In the cooking demo, we prepare ~14 meals (not servings) in 20 minutes. One would easily have that time available because they won't be sitting in Dr's waiting rooms anymore.

The worst part if you become dependent on them instead of yourself, which is our real message.

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Re: bowls

Postby Chumly » Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:53 am

I was watching a youtube video of Dr. Neil Barnard and he had a guest that delivers meals that are supposedly 100% compliant with Dr. Barnard's plan, which I think is the same as this plan. Ill see if I can find it tonight. If it is acceptable, it might be beneficial to some people.

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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:49 am

Chumly wrote:I was watching a youtube video of Dr. Neil Barnard and he had a guest that delivers meals that are supposedly 100% compliant with Dr. Barnard's plan, which I think is the same as this plan. Ill see if I can find it tonight. If it is acceptable, it might be beneficial to some people.

Michael


It's the same place.

My answer remains. :)

Thanks
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Re: bowls

Postby Chumly » Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:42 pm

Thank you! I thought it was named something else.

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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Mon Jul 25, 2022 5:54 am

I was asked about Plant Pure foods on FB. Here is my response


Here is an example from PlantPure Nation. I tried to pick the simplest one.

https://www.plantpurenation.com/.../pro ... eole-beans

There have been several incarnations of the PlantPure line over the years, including a version endorsed by the Campbell's that was in the frozen section of store. None of them did well and some were fairly high in fat and salt. Here is my review of what is at their website now....

1) From my perspective, most who are looking for these, are looking for a pre-made meal. These aren't. You still have to cook them and add in several ingredients, which often means, cutting and chopping. So, it seems to defeat this purpose. In addition, you seem to have to add in several of the main ingredients (ie, Potato, Canned Beans, Canned Tomatoes). So, as Marty pointed out, if you are already doing this, you can also add in the rice your self , which is the main component of what they are selling you. Rice is cheap and simple to make. There are many versions of quick cooking whole grain brown rice (frozen, Success, etc). You can easily you a salt free spice mix too and/or add it at the table. No need to pay someone to pre-salt your food.

2) It is hard to analyze the final product as much of it will depend on the canned beans and tomatoes you add as some are high salt, sugar, etc. If you choose to use salt free canned beans and tomatoes and adding them yourself, well, just add in a bag of frozen veggies and some spice and you have made on of my Fast Food meals, make a double batch and freeze the extra..

3) These say 120 calories per serving and you get 6 servings. but most of the other meal services are providing 350-500 calories per meal. So, in reality, it is not 6 servings unless they are counting the food items you have to add.

I just don't see the value in these at all, and probably why they have not sold well.


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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Wed Jul 27, 2022 6:10 am

My cousin recently ordered the Mama Sezz No-SOS bundle to give it a try and so I did a cost analysis of it

The default auto-ship is every 2 weeks.

It comes with:
- Strong Heart Beets (4 servings)
- Moroccan Stew (3 servings)
- SOS-Free Millie’s Chili (3 servings)
- Quinoa Stack (3 servings)
- Marinara (SOS-Free version) (5 servings)
- Lentil Dhal Over Quinoa (2 servings)
- Breakfast Scramble (2 servings)
- Breakfast Protein Bowl (2 servings)

If you look at each individual item, you can find the calories per serving, which I am adding to the list.
- Strong Heart Beets (4 servings), 180 cal/serv
- Moroccan Stew (3 servings), 180 cal/serv
- SOS-Free Millie’s Chili (3 servings), 200 cal/serv
- Quinoa Stack (3 servings), 220 cal/serv
- Marinara (SOS-Free version) (5 servings), 60 cal/serv
- Lentil Dhal Over Quinoa (2 servings), 240 cal/serv
- Breakfast Scramble (2 servings), 170 cal/serv
- Breakfast Protein Bowl (2 servings), 230 cal/serv

I then multiplied the calories per serving by the amount of servings to get the total calories for each item in the bundle and total calories of the full bundle, which I am adding to the list.

- Strong Heart Beets (4 servings), 180 cal/serv, 720 total calories
- Moroccan Stew (3 servings), 180 cal/serv, 540 total calories
- SOS-Free Millie’s Chili (3 servings), 200 cal/serv, 600 total calories
- Quinoa Stack (3 servings), 220 cal/serv, 660 total calories
- Marinara (SOS-Free version) (5 servings), 60 cal/serv, 300 total calories
- Lentil Dhal Over Quinoa (2 servings), 240 cal/serv, 480 total calories
- Breakfast Scramble (2 servings), 170 cal/serv, 340 total calories
- Breakfast Protein Bowl (2 servings), 230 cal/serv, 460 total calories

Total calories in the NO-SOS bundle is 4,100 calories for $199.00

If I divide the total cost by the calories $199/4100, I get .0485 cents per calorie, which I will round off to .05 cents a calorie.

If the average person costumes about 2300 calories/day, 2300 x .05 = $115, the cost is $115 per day.

In addition, if this was all you ate, the calories provided by the bundle would last under 2 full days. While I get that these kind of meals may be more satiating per calorie, you still have to get in enough calories.

What if someone just used these for lunch and dinner and needed 1500 calories or only ate 1500 calories in a day. 1500 x.05 is $75 a day. The bundle would not last 3 days,

What if someone just used these for one meal a day, and only needed about 600- 700 calories. 600 x .05 = $30, 700 x .05 = $35. So, $30-35 for one meal. The bundle would last around 6 days

What if we just took the total calories (4100) and divided it by 14 days (for 2 weeks). 4100/14 = 293 calories. So, to last a week, you can only have 293 calories per day. Or to make it last one week, you could only have 585 calories per day.

They offer a Small Bundle that they say is great for 1-2 people and costs $149.00. While you can adjust it, the default auto ship is every 2 Weeks

Let's say the average price per calories holds over from the No-SOS to this bundle and we assume the same .05/calorie. If we divide the cost of the bundle by the cost per calories $149/.05 we can estimate how many calories it provides. So 149/.05 = ~2,980 calories.

It says it is great for 2 people. If 2 people shared, it would provide 1,490 calories per person and would barely last one day (if they used it for all their food).


For comparison, let's look at the cost per 2300 calories of some of our favorite starches. The pricing came from my local Target today

Potato - $5.25
Brown Rice - $1.07
Oats - $2.14
Pinto Beans - $3.52
WW Pasta - $1.42

SOS Bundle - $115

Remember if something is going to be a solution, it has to be a solution that works for all people, everywhere.

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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Fri Aug 05, 2022 6:03 am

I priced out an affordable simple alternative that is available to most everyone, everywhere using highly convenient foods with little to any prep needed. It uses local frozen vegetables, frozen rice and canned beans.

- Publix Frozen Rice 4 bags at a 1.97/bag = 5.88 and 1,400 calories
- Target 1 Can (1.5 cups) low sodium beans, @1.29/can = 1.29 and 330 calories
- Target 3 bags frozen California mix at .99 bags = 2.97 and 300 calories
- Target 1 bags frozen stir-fry blend at 1.39/bag = 1.39 and 160 calories

Total $9.55 and 2190.00 calories or .004 per calorie. This is 1/10th the cost of Mama Sezz. And, this can be delivered to your home through a service like instacart,~99/yr, which would be $3.80 every 2 weeks)

Prep is just opening the packages, putting them into a container and microwaving about 5-7 minutes

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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Fri Dec 15, 2023 6:28 pm

Mama Sezz is closed

Not surprised
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Re: bowls

Postby VeggieSue » Tue Dec 19, 2023 3:38 pm

JeffN wrote:Mama Sezz is closed


Although I've never used it, I had to see for myself, because the url is still getting shared as a source of healthy meals for the busy holiday shopper.

No more meals, only cookies!

Wanna bet they make more money just selling cookies than they did with the healthy meal kits? ;-) That's what the public wants - CRAP food!
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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Mon Jan 29, 2024 8:56 am

Update coming soon,

There was an error in some of my math :)

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Re: bowls

Postby JeffN » Sun Feb 18, 2024 8:24 am

And another one opened, First Seed.

It is not much different than Mama Sezz, it just costs more.

This is a link to their SOS box. The regular items are higher in sodium and some higher in fat too.

https://firstseedfoods.com/collections/frontpage/products/new-customer-no-salt-discovery-box-sos-free?selling_plan=1133183170

For $150 dollars you get..... (I added in the serving size and the calories per container and the calories per box)

10 ox, 260 calories. _ _ x3 (780) No-Salt Chana Masala — Organic Chickpeas
10 oz, 180 Calories. _ _ x3 (540) No-Salt Dal Tadka — Organic Yellow Lentils
10 oz 180 calories. _ _ x2 (360) No-Salt Vegetable Pulao — Non GMO Rice and Organic Vegetables
10 oz, 140 calories _ _ x2 (280) No-Salt Aloo Palak — Organic Potatoes and Spinach
10 oz, 150. calories _ _ x2 (300) No-Salt Vegetable Korma — Organic Vegetables in Cashew Cream

Total calories; 2,260 calories which comes to .066 cents a calorie

The average person consumes around 2300 calories, so this could technically meet the calories needs of one person for one day, but for $150.

For one week, it would be $1,050.

For one month, $4,500.

I know, no one is going to use these for all of their meals. I get it. However, no matter how many meals they plan to use it for, the average price would be about $50/meal. 1 meal a day would be about $50/day, 2 meals a day, about $100/day

But what if you only use it as backup or occasionally?

If so, you have 2 issues, 1) the average cost per calorie remains the same so the average meal would still cost about $50 which is still very high. 2) The company is not going to survive if their customers only use it for an occasional back up meal. This is why there has been no longterm healthy Plant Exclusive, lower fat and no/low SOS that meets our guidelines (or comes close) and has lasted

Of course, you can make more food yourself at home to go with it to dilute out the cost per meal. However, if you are doing that, you could have just made the whole meal yourself. :)

They only ship once a month so you either need some really good storage space in your freezer to store a few boxes, or again, limit the amount you can buy and have around, which limits the potential success of the company.

A few years ago, Forbes did a study/survey and found that the average price per serving of home cooked meals is $4.31 while the average cost of eating out is $20.37. Not perfect numbers but if we use the average figure of $50 per meal from First Seed, then each of their average meals is over 10x the average home cooked meal and almost 2.5x the cost of the average restaurant meal.

The numbers for the regular menu boxes are the same, you just get more sodium. :)

There are much better solutions. Just read this whole thread and you will find my suggestions for just .004 per calorie.

To your good (and affordable) health.

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