Revolution Foods Meal Kits

A while ago, I had the opportunity to sample snack boxes from Revolution Foods.  These are packaged little snacks, aimed at throwing into a child's lunch box, attempting to be more healthy than other options on the market.

They focus on real foods, no artificial flavors, colors, preservatives.  But at the core, they are pretty similar to what I remember from growing up, Lunchables.

I had the chance to try three of their "jet packs", little meal/snacks that included a fruit snack for dessert.  I know I'm not the target audience for these, but Ojan and I packed them to bring on a flight.  Adults on a flight isn't much different from kids at lunch ... right?

I wasn't particularly impressed, particularly with the extensive, unappealing packaging, but the pizza kit at least was interesting.  But again, I'm clearly not the target market for these.

Turkey & Cheddar Meal Kit.

The box contained 4 separate packages, unlike a Lunchable where they are stored all in one tray.  I'll break my review down by component. The packaging however just wasn't appealing.  Slices of turkey in a vacuumed packed plastic bag just ... don't look good.

Sliced Turkey: "Mini Slices of nitrite/nitrate-free oven-roasted turkey raised with no antibiotics."
I didn't try the turkey, but Ojan said it was slimy.

Cheddar Cheese: "Real bite-size cheddar cheese slices, made with rBST-free milk."
The package contained a few little squares of very yellow cheddar.  It wasn't very good, not smoky, not aged, not distinguishable from any other cheese.  But, this kit wasn't designed for a cheese snob adult, it was for a child.  I'm sure it was inoffensive to a child.

Crackers: "Crispy honey wheat crackers."
These were slightly sweet, with a good salt level.  But they really were just wheat crackers, not something I seek out.

So far, perhaps it was better for me than a Lunchable, but, it certainly didn't taste any better, and Lunchables actually win on presentation.

Ham & Cheddar Meal Kit.

Next, we tried the Ham & cheddar kit.  It had the same cheddar slices and crackers.

The turkey from the previous kit was swapped out for "mini Slices of nitrite/nitrate-free* honey ham raised with no antibiotics".  Again slimy, and Ojan wasn't really into it.

The final item was the "dessert", a fruit bar.
"Wildberry fruit stripes, a 100% fruit snack"

This I tried.  It had a really good wildberry flavor, and actually tasted like real fruit.  It had a nice chew to it, but it also had seeds, and I didn't like the seeds.

So again, the cheese, crackers, and meat weren't great, but, the fruit snack was decent enough.

Cheese Pizza Meal Kit.

"Build your own ready-to-eat pizza.  Warming optional."

Now we moved on to the fun one.  Pizza!

The pack contained whole grain pizza crust, "natural" pizza sauce, and shredded mozzarella.  Oh, and a little spreader to spread the sauce on the pizza.

The most fun part of this was making the pizza, although there were a lot of small packages to open.  I think a young child might struggle with the dexterity required to open them.  The amount of crust to sauce to cheese was just right.

After assembling a pizza, Ojan and I tried it at room temperature.  The crust was rather cardboard-y, the cheese unremarkable.  I did like the tang to the pizza sauce.  Ojan wasn't impressed.

I needed to get creative, so, I turned on the toaster oven.  The instructions told us to microwave it for 30 seconds, but, um, microwaves are not my style.  Toast oven it was.

After a few minutes in the toaster oven, the crust softened up, the cheese melted nicely.  It was transformed.  It really wasn't bad.  I still thought the sauce was pretty tasty.  Ojan still wasn't impressed.

I think I mostly liked it because it reminded me of Ellios pizzas, which I used to love.  There was something very similar to the taste of the crust (although this was whole grain, I'm sure Ellios was not), and to the sauce.

I wouldn't actually get this again, but, it was far better than I expected.