An Expert Review of MACROS Ready-to-eat Meals

With plans to suit singles, families, those looking to lose weight or achieve fitness goals, ready-to-eat meal service MACROS offers fresh meals delivered to your door weekly. Their menu is designed to provide you with all the micronutrients and macronutrients you need to feel your best. I put MACROS to the test, to see if they really do offer nutritionally balanced meals.

The Good:	The Not So Good:
Great value for money	Additives & preservatives
Excellent protein options
Tasty meals

How does MACROS work?

MARCOS work with their team of dieticians and chefs to bring you nutritionally balanced meals to suit your lifestyle. Their plans are subscription based, so you can pause or cancel at any time. You can compare a wide range of MACROS subscriptions on WellHub here.

MACROS offer ‘Everyday Plans’ and ‘Fitness Plans’. Within the ‘Everyday Plans’ you can select from ‘Balanced’, ‘Family’, ‘Weight Loss’ and ‘Plant-based’. The key differences between each plan are that ‘Balanced’ plan offers 350g meals for one, meals on the ‘Family’ plan are 700g servings for two and the ‘Weight Loss’ meals are 300g portions, under 350 calories. The ‘Fitness Plans’ cater to those looking to sculpt, perform or gain. This menu plan is a great offering for those who have specific health and fitness goals. Ready-to-eat meal service Garden of Vegan also offer fitness plans, however, these are at a very high price point, making MACROS far more accessible. 

MACROS meals come down to as little as $9.40 across their plans, with meals on the ‘Family’ plan coming in at $15.60 per meal on the 24-meal plan. I chose the ‘Balanced’ 15-meal plan, which equates to $10.75 per meal. This is great value and is comparable to Youfodz and My Muscle Chef, making MACROS one of the more affordable ready-to-eat meal services on the market. There were about 40 menu items to choose from and whilst this is less than what is offered by My Muscle and Youfoodz, the selection was fantastic! The meals looked delicious and there was an excellent range of different protein options such as fish, legumes, chicken, tofu and beef. 

There were 14 plant-based meals available to choose from and a number of fish options. If you are a pescatarian like myself, this menu selection was one of the best I have seen and is superior to ready-to-eat meal services Youfoodz and My Muscle Chef. You can filter the menu by ‘plant-based’, ‘paleo’, ‘dairy-free’, ‘no added nuts’ and ‘no added wheat’. You can also exclude ingredients on the menu such as ‘tree nuts’, ‘sesame’, ‘soy’, ‘seafood’, ‘alcohol’, ‘gluten’, ‘peanut’ ‘chilli’, ‘garlic’ and ‘onion’. These filter options are excellent and very similar to what is offered by plant-based ready-to-eat service Soulara. Each menu item had the total calories, protein and carbohydrates listed, which was very helpful to see when selecting meals. The protein content of the meals was a standout from the outset, with most meals containing over 25g.

My MACROS Experience

The 15 meals I chose included:

• Champion Chickpea Curry
• Southwest Chipotle Salad
• Tex Mex Hash
• Veggie Char Siu
• Fettuccine with Garlic Chilli Prawns
• Ginger & Shallot Basa with Noodles
• Tom Kha Tofu
• Cauliflower & Chickpea Masala 
• Baked Fish & Summer Salsa 
• Chermoula Fish with Beetroot Hummus
• Bean & Eggplant Moussaka
• Japanese Miso Salmon 
• Black Bean Chilli
• Velvety Black Dahl 
• Protein-Packed Pesto

The meals arrived well-packaged on a Thursday morning – I was super excited to try them! Each meal was easy to identify, with the ‘Balanced’ menu items printed on the front of the sleeve. The ingredients list however was in small print and not very clear to read. The allergens and best-before dates were clear – the meals containing fish had the shortest best-before date, with all other meals needing to be consumed within 10 days from the day of delivery. Given the fresh ingredients and use of seafood, the best before dates were reasonable. MACROS use Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) to naturally preserve their meals as opposed to freezing or vacuum sealing. This method is also used by Youfoodz and Soulara.  

The box, meal containers and ice pack are all recyclable, however, the plastic film is not. The meal containers do not leach BPA when heated in the microwave which is a notable feature when compared to Youfoodz as they appear to use BPA meal trays. MACROS have clearly considered the sustainability of its packaging; however, they are not the most sustainable option on the market. Ready-to-eat meal services Dineamic and Garden of Vegan are more sustainable as nearly all of their packaging can either be recycled or composted. 

The meals were very easy to heat in the microwave and tasted great! The use of herbs and spices with flavourful sauces made each meal delightful to eat. I preferred the taste of these meals more than Youfoodz. My favourite meals were the Chermoula Fish with Beetroot Hummus, Ginger & Shallot Basa with Noodles and Protein-Packed Pesto. The portion sizes were adequate, and I found I was very satisfied after each meal thanks to the great protein and carbohydrate content. 

MACROS Nutritionist Review

MACROS prioritises using fresh, locally sourced, natural ingredients and clean proteins. They do not use any genetically modified (GMO) soy products which is great to see as some ready-to-eat meal services may cut corners and use cheaper, GMO ingredients so they can pass on a low cost to the consumer. It was obvious to me that MACROS really do use fresh ingredients as every fish dish I had was exceptional – it tasted as if the fish has been caught that day!

The protein content of the meals was a standout feature. Most of the meals over 25g of protein, with the least amount of protein in the Bean & Eggplant Moussaka and Champion Chickpea Curry at 16g and 17g of protein. By including adequate protein in our meals, we stay fuller for longer, decrease our need to snack and therefore sustain a healthy weight.¹ 

The majority of carbohydrates included in the meals were complex sources such as brown rice, potatoes (with the skin on), quinoa and pumpkin. These sources of carbohydrates have a slow release of energy and are higher in fibre compared to white, refined sources. Only a few of the meals contained sources of simple carbohydrates such as the Protein-Packed Pesto and Fettuccine with Garlic Chilli Prawns.  

There was an excellent quantity and variety of vegetables in the meals such as peas, corn, broccoli, green beans and cauliflower, with most meals containing approximately one serve of vegetables. Having a variety of vegetables in our diet is crucial for our gut health as it feeds our healthy gut bacteria. Similar ready-to-eat meal service Youfoodz had considerably fewer vegetables in their meals. 

Most of the meals were under 600 calories, with most averaging around 350. This combined with the fact that nearly all meals had adequate protein and a balanced amount of carbohydrates, means MACROS meals are suitable for most individuals and can easily be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle. 

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Overall, the ingredients in MARCOS meals are primarily whole foods, and include plenty of herbs and spices. However, some of the meals, particularly the plant-based options did contain preservatives and additives such as the Tex Mex Hash, Veggie Char Siu and Tom Kha Tofu. These preservatives and additives were present in secondary ingredients such as the BBQ seitan and coconut cream and whilst consuming these ingredients in small amounts is okay, as a Nutritionist, I would not recommend consuming foods containing preservatives and additives every day. As MACROS prioritises natural ingredients, it would be great to see them source some preservative free ingredients to enhance the quality of their meals. 

Click here to compare a wide range of MACROS subscriptions on WellHub.

Final thoughts

MACROS ready-to-eat meals are a great price and well suited to a variety of lifestyles including those looking to lose weight or achieve specific fitness goals. They cater to a wide range of dietary preferences and have the best selection of fish options I have seen. The quality of ingredients is similar to Soulara, yet superior to Youfoodz, and the overall protein content is excellent. 

References

Pesta D. H., Samuel V. T. (2014). A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats. Nutr Metab (Lond). 11(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-11-53.