I was excited to try Icon Meals and change up my usual meal delivery service. As someone who works full time, I appreciate meal delivery services. My favorite meal delivery services are precooked so you just have to pop them in the microwave or oven and cook. I was excited to try ICON Meals and see how they compared to other meal delivery services.
Before trying ICON Meals, I had a couple of questions:
- Are ICON Meals healthy? Yes. They provide healthy alternatives to ordering takeout after long days of work.
- Are ICON Meals expensive? I think they are slightly more expensive than other brands.
About ICON Meals:
Icon Meals was founded out of a necessity for meals to support the demanding lifestyle of fitness enthusiasts, particularly those involved in bodybuilding. The company recognized the challenge of balancing meal prepping, work, and personal life. Initially targeting fitness athletes with a combination of nutritional needs and culinary excellence, Icon Meals was surprised to find a broader customer base. Now, the majority of their clientele turned out to be busy individuals from various walks of life, including parents, teachers, business owners, police officers, and students.
Finding that their customers were from all walks of life steered Icon Meals towards its core mission: eliminating the need for individuals to sacrifice health, quality, variety, specificity, or time for their daily meals. By offering a convenient solution to meal preparation and consumption, Icon Meals aims to give back time to its customers, encouraging them to invest it in what truly enriches their lives.
What Makes ICON Meals Different?
- Specializes in chef-inspired, ready-to-eat meals delivered to customers, focusing on freshness and cleanliness using USDA inspected ingredients.
- USDA certified kitchen for the highest safety standards.
- Utilizes vacuum seal technology to package meals in 100% recyclable, microwave-safe containers, ensuring freshness and reducing environmental impact.
- Offers a variety of meal choices: weekly menus, custom meals, bulk items, and snacks including protein-packed popcorn and wagyu beef strips.
- Provides both pre-made and customizable meal plans aimed at diverse health and dietary goals.
- Local pickup options in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
- Prioritizes sourcing high-quality ingredients from reputable food purveyors and local farms, with meals prepared from scratch daily.
- Maintains a USDA and HACCP compliant facility, subject to regular audits, ensuring top food safety standards with trained staff and specialized equipment to minimize cross-contamination.
- Demonstrates a commitment to environmental sustainability through recyclable packaging and efforts to minimize the carbon footprint.
- Allows customization of meals and your own options of meats, protein pancakes, sides. They even include nutrition facts.
Meal Arrival and Packaging:
The ICON Meals arrived with no issues and over dry ice. I appreciate that they were tightly packed and the box wasn’t huge like some of the other meal delivery services I’ve tried. I am not a huge fan of the ICON Meals packaging. It is designed to puff up when heated to vent, but I really struggle to get the actual packaging off the meal. It’s like an actual workout.
ICON Meals:
I tried 9 different meals. I will start with the one I was most surprised with, the Sweet Potato Salad. I saw online the meal had 220 calories and I thought it was a small side salad. Now, do I think 220 calories is a meal? No, but I am always curious about it. When it arrived, I realized it was a sweet potato casserole type of thing. I was super curious about how it “only had 220 calories,” then quickly realized it had 4 portions. Not a big deal, but I want a meal I can eat at work. Not something I need to divide up or have Tupperware for later. The rest of my meals were single portions which I was thankful for.
Speaking of calories, most of the ICON Meals range from 380-500 calories (at least the week I tried it). They make great mini meals if you are an endurance athlete. Since it was something I could eat 5-6 times a day, the size was fine. If I was thinking this was my only meal at night, I would still be hungry.
Most of the rest of the ICON Meals were really bland. I felt like I needed salt, pepper, BBQ sauce, ketchup, really anything to get through them. Even though the meals were small, ranging in calories from 300-500, I found myself not wanting to finish the vegetables because there was just no flavor to them. For me, I like these meal delivery services because I want things that I couldn’t cook. With ICON Meals, I can make this food and add no seasoning myself. So in all, they were okay but not something I would likely try again.
I did enjoy the Chipotle pizza and thought that one was really good. Another meal I liked was the chicken tamales, although two tamales are definitely not enough. Other meals weren’t terrible, but they almost tasted like cafeteria food or something I could easily make myself. The addition of flavoring like salt and pepper would go a long way.
Finally, I’ve heard ICON Meal breakfasts are good and I am actually intrigued to try their protein pancakes. They allow a unique option of customizing your breakfasts including protein and choice of meats.
Cost:
ICON Meals are just as expensive as other meals, if not a little more. My 9 meals came out to $140, which is slightly more than other brands I’ve tried for less flavor.
ICON Meals Conclusion:
ICON Meals is fine. I would eat it, but I think their meal flavors could use a big update. For the cost and taste, there are other meal delivery services that provide more for the same cost. Is it convenient? Yes, and I do appreciate that.
Who should buy ICON Meals? If you are looking for a meal delivery service that you can quickly heat up and that is higher in protein.
Who should not buy ICON Meals? If you are looking for bigger meals or meals with more flavor, there are better options.
Other Meal Delivery Services I’ve Tried:
- Factor Meals Review (Update for 2023)
- Trifecta Meal Service
- Metabolic Meals
- HelloFresh
- CookUnity Review: Probably my favorite due to flavor and meal choices.
You can try ICON Meals here and see all food reviews here.
Questions for you:
Have you tried ICON Meals?
What is your favorite meal delivery service?