Win it Wednesday: Meez Meals Giveaway

I love cooking, it's one of my favorite ways to spend an evening. When Meez Meals offered to provide me with a few meals to try, I was really excited. It's a local company that delivers all the ingredients to your home within 25 miles of Chicago ready for cooking once a week in a carton that can be reused the next week. The meals are meatless and the chefs will customize it for your dining preferences and restrictions, too.

When my kit arrived, I was impressed with the packaging and thoroughness of the recipes. A quick-start guide told me how long each of the week's meals would take me to prepare, how complicated it was and what I should do right away when I get home to move the process along. I also think it's really cool that they have a hotline - if you're whisking away and have a question, you can call the number between 5 and 8 p.m. to get the answer. The only thing that was missing from the ensemble was pictures. I do best cooking when I know what the end product should look like.

Another awesome aspect of this service is the meals are labeled clearly with both calories and Weight Watchers Points Plus values, along with suggestions to make the meals lighter. There are also suggestions if you want to make it vegan or go the other direction and add meats.

I tried three meals from Meez, and I was impressed that they really took the amount of time specified to complete. That never happens for me. Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals take me like an hour 10, so this was refreshing.

The first meal I made was udon noodles with glazed vegetables. I made this for Alyssa and I and still had leftovers. It was easily my favorite meal of the week! Very easy, quite fast and healthy to boot.

The second meal in my arsenal was grilled quesadilla taco with roasted zucchini slaw. This was a smaller meal and did only yield two servings, which was just fine by me. It was tasty and not something I would have made myself. The spicy black beans were really good, too.

The final meal I made was the fall pot pie with cherry alfredo sauce. This was the only meal that was less than stellar. I followed the directions, but burned the puff pastry topping and undercooked the veggies. Again, it made three servings (minus the puffed pastry), so when reheated the leftovers, I cooked them a bit longer and really enjoyed the meal. It was quite filling thanks to the assortment of root vegetables mixed in with giant northern beans.

Overall, I really loved these meals and would continue getting deliveries from this company. I appreciate that it's local, the materials are recyclable and the meals are created with both health and flavor in mind.

If you want to give it a try, I have two great offers for you. First, get 50 percent off your order by mentioning this post. Or, enter below to win three meals for two. This giveaway is random but limited to readers within Meez Meals' delivery area. A winner will be selected by RaffleCopter Oct. 9 and announced on this blog Oct. 10. a Rafflecopter giveaway