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The Paleo diet makes sense. In a nutshell, it involves eating like our cavemen ancestors by only consuming what would have been available at hand. Nothing processed. It avoids grains, cereals, refined foods and sugar; and includes lean meat, fruit and nuts, vegetables, seeds and eggs. Research indicates it is our modern diet, full of processed foods, trans fats and sugar, that is at the root of degenerative diseases such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, infertility, Parkinson’s and even depression.
When you lead a busy lifestyle the Paleo diet might seem idealistic and as students we all know that processed foods are a lot cheaper and more convenient. However, I recently came across Paleo Ireland, a company that delivers a week’s worth of healthy ready made meals at a very reasonable price.
I opted for The Brain Box set which is perfect for hard-working students. Each meal provides a high amount of Omega 3 and a high amino acid profile which is essential for maintaining peak performance in the classroom or boardroom. It comprises of five lunches: chicken caesar salad, chicken pesto salad, chicken supergreen soup, chicken & sweet potato soup, roast pepper soup and five dinners: moroccan chicken and chickpea stew, chilli con carne, red thai curry, pork stir fry & cauliflower rice and chilli lime chicken & cauliflower rice. Each perfectly packaged, ready to be thrown in your bag in the morning and then heated up later when in college or at work.
I found it very hard to find fault with these meals. The red thai curry, chicken pesto salad and the chilli con carne were definitely my favorites. I didn’t even crave my friday night Chinese as the chilli lime chicken & cauliflower was like a “fakeaway”. If I had to criticize anything out of all ten meals, I would say that the caesar salad could have featured some more leafy greens – personally, I wouldn’t call it a salad. Other than that everything was delicious, hearty and filling. The range of soups were wholesome and the cauliflower ‘rice’, that featured in a few of the dishes, made for a perfect replacement for the ‘carby’ element of meals which we crave so often. It made a fabulous alternative to regular rice, so much so that I probably wouldn’t buy rice again. Courgetti (spaghetti made with courgettes) accompanied the chicken pesto salad. It was my first time trying it and it made the perfect pasta substitute. The fresh pesto with the salad was also superb.
The amazing thing is is that they don’t taste like your usual ready made meals, they taste like real home cooking and that’s what sets Paleo Ireland apart from the rest. Anthony Carey, the founder of the company, ensures that all of the soups and stews are made with homemade traditional chicken stock. This magical broth, with its endless health benefits, is prescribed for strengthening our immune systems. It’s rare to find companies in this industry making stock from scratch as it’s significantly more expensive to manufacture.
Paleo Ireland caters for every kind of customer. The Warrior Box and The High Protein box combined with their online macro tracker suits the health conscious gym goers perfectly. Starting at 55 euro I think it really is value for money. Even after a good food shop I still find myself eating out every day but having the paleo meals ready to go meant that I didn’t need to buy lunch and my food budget stayed well intact for the week. I couldn’t recommend The Brain Box enough, which I believe would be especially helpful during exams in order to ensure you’re eating properly when you don’t have time to cook.
