Before you read this review – I want to preface things by saying that I tried Simmer in October of 2024 – almost 2 entire years before posting this. I wrote the review at the time, and have had it sat in my drafts since.
While I’m aware that Simmer has grown significantly as a brand since 2024, please note that any changes to pricing, policy, or recipes since then are not being taken into account for this review. Regardless of how things are done now, my experience remains the same and the review itself is largely unchanged from when I first wrote it. My opinions have not changed. Enjoy.
So… I was scrolling on Instagram (I know, I should be banned) and saw an advert for SimmerEats – a meal preparation and delivery service who are big on health and quality. Immediately, my interest was piqued. The fresh, chef-made food looked fantastic – and it would be a perfect option for me: someone who never knows what I want to have for lunch at work, has very little free time, and realistically, needs to eat a bit healthier. So, I decided then and there that I was going to give them a try.
Firstly, it took 3 days for me to place my first order. Their website was totally broken for me, but luckily, I was able to find a support email (more on that later.)
This meant that I missed their Tuesday deadline. They always deliver on Sundays, so that you are all set for the following week. Because of this, you need to get on to the website, choose what you want, and order it before Wednesday so that you can get it in time for the following week.
By the time my meals had arrived, I was very excited to dig in. I went for the smallest possible meal plan to start with – choosing 6 different meals to try. To be honest, I was immediately a bit taken aback and underwhelmed by the appearance of the food – but then, I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting.
It came packaged nicely, in a large cardboard box with 2 ice packets to keep everything cool and fresh. As I said before, the food is made fresh, and only has a one week date on it – so maintaining that freshness in transit is paramount.
My first box cost just £31.46, which works out at £5.24 per meal. I thought this was very reasonable, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Firstly, I was given a first order discount, as well as delivery for my first order. The price per meal does work out cheaper if you order more at a time, too – but the meal plan I selected was the smallest one available.
The first of the six meals I tried was the cauliflower chicken korma. I was quite excited to start my “journey” with simmer, and this seemed like a great place to start. Thankfully, the korma did not disappoint. The flavours were good, the chicken was nice and tender, and overall it was an enjoyable and filling meal. The two “discs” of spinach on top of the currry were absolutely horrid, but I think that’s likely just down to my general dislike of spinach. Aside from that, the curry was a little dry, and the cauliflower wasn’t nearly as tender as I would’ve liked. But hey, it was ready in three minutes in the microwave and was pretty tasty, so no real complaints from me so far.
That night, I decided to have the butter chicken for dinner. In my humble opinion, you can’t go wrong with butter chicken. Simmer’s version of butter chicken comes with rice, green beans, pickled red onions, and chicken thigh. Much like the cauliflower chicken korma, I found it to be a bit dry. The main thing though, is that the flavours were most certainly not lacking. The green beans were a little bland and sad-looking, but the pickled red onions were nice – although I’m not sure if they really belong by the side of butter chicken.
One thing that’s for sure though – which will become a recurring theme throughout Simmer’s meals, is that the chicken thigh wasn’t very nice. I found it to be a bit fatty, chewy, and generally unappealing. Totally opposite to the breast meat that was used in the korma.
The next day, I went for the Korean bbq chicken mac and cheese. This one was the one that had me most excited. I love all of these things! After three minutes in the microwave though, things weren’t looking very good at all. It looked okay on the surface, but in the bottom of the tray was a layer of weird, watery liquid. Once again, the chicken used in this dish was thigh, and the same issues persisted.
The flavours were a bit off with this one, too. It didn’t taste overly cheesy, nor did it taste much like Korean BBQ. It certainly had an oriental sort of taste to it, which to be fair, was actually quite pleasant; just not what I was initially expecting or hoping for.
Overall, despite it’s shortcomings, this was probably one of the more enjoyable meals.
Above: The Korean BBQ Mac and Cheese. Left: How mine looked. Right: How it is advertised on simmereats.com
The “OG” jerk chicken was absolutely horrific. However, please bare in mind that this is totally on me. In truth, I had absolutely no idea what was actually in jerk chicken before I chose this meal. I had never tried it before, had no knowledge of the flavour profile, and was curious to try. As I soon found out, the spices that are used in jerk chicken are very similar to the ones used in hot cross buns. I’m not a fan of those at all, and this tasted overwhelmingly like them.
Apart from that, this meal was just generally unappealing. The chicken thigh issue persisted, the three slices of plantain that it came with were glued together and hard, and the overall look of the dish just wasn’t great.
I didn’t have time to try the other two meals before they expired – and to be honest, nor did I want to.
To clarify, all of these meals were cooked for roughly three minutes each in a microwave, exactly how the packaging specified to. I certainly wasn’t expecting perfection, or for the food to look as good as it does on their website. But still, I certainly felt let down.
I’m sure they would likely be much better if they were cooked in the oven instead, but considering the brand’s emphasis on convenience, quickness and goodness, I don’t think that is all too relevant.
Overall, the experience wasn’t all that bad. It just came down to my preference. What happened next, though, is what really made me want to put this together.
After this week of meals, I had decided that I wasn’t going to order again. I was out of the house until Tuesday that week anyway, which means I wouldn’t have had time to try them all and make my order in time for the weekend.
So… Imagine my shock when I got a text on Sunday morning, informing me that my simmer package would be arriving between 11 and 12.
I shot straight to their website to figure out what was going on, at which point I realise that I have been charged for and sent another 6 meals – none of which I chose, of course. This time, I was charged £37.45. They selected 6 meals on my behalf, which included whatever remained on the menu from what I chose the previous week, and a totally random selection for the rest. They do state on their website that if you don’t choose, what you receive is based on your preferences and order history – but the random meals certainly were not.
As you can imagine, I was absolutely not happy about this and attempted to cancel my subscription right away. The only option on the website however is to “skip weeks”, which you can only do for 4 weeks in advance. This means I would have to remember to go on to the website to skip the next four weeks every month or so; and if I was too busy or forgot, I’d end up paying for 6 random meals that I do not want.
There was no support email listed on the website once I had created my account. As I said at the start of the review, when I tried to make my first order, their website was completely broken- and I had to scour google to find a support email. Thankfully, I still had the emails in my inbox from then.
I wrote up an email explaining the situation – requesting that my subscription be permanently cancelled immediately.
What followed was a series of emails. One acknowledging my message; one with a link to cancel my subscription- with MANDATORY feedback boxes to fill out; and finally, one where they frantically tried to defend themselves.
After that, another email confirming my cancellation, shortly followed by ANOTHER email offering me 25% off of my next 4 orders.
As it turns out, you don’t need to go onto their website and order by Tuesday. Once you’ve bought from them for the first time, you’re in it for the long haul. They will just keep sending you meals every week, and if you don’t log onto the website (if it’s working) and choose what you want by Tuesday, then that’s on you. They are sending you the amount of meals that was on your first plan, and charging you no matter what.
Now, this is technically on me. I have learned since that this is how a lot of services like this function. However, I was sent 19 emails from the 1st of October, up until the 20th – when I cancelled the plan. None of these emails were the “reminder” that they supposedly send out every week – prompting you to choose your dishes or skip the week before the deadline.
They also claim that all of the relevant information is given to you at the relevant times. It is simply not. So despite it technically being my fault, it was not made clear at any stage throughout the entire process that this is how they work – which I think is a massive oversight – and also explains the defensive email I received.
With that being said: I still paid for 6 more meals, and of course, didn’t want them to go to waste. I decided to try a couple of the new ones that I was sent that looked okay.
I started with the chicken shawarma burrito. It sounded good, and when I looked on the website, it looked good, too.
It was an absolute mess. Again, I feel the need to emphasise that Simmer pride themselves on convenience – these meals are intended to be heated through in the microwave for just three minutes.
The burrito was almost impossible to eat. It was mushy, floppy, and soggy. Nothing like a burrito should be. I know that you sacrifice a lot of quality when you microwave something like a burrito, but I figured that they wouldn’t have it on the menu at all unless that was taken into account and ironed out.
The filling of the burrito didn’t really taste of anything – and the little taste that was there wasn’t great. Most importantly, though, the chicken inside was absolutely NOT shawarma.
To clarify, shawarma is a middle-eastern dish that mainly consists of meat that is cut into thin slices and slow roasted – much like a doner kebab, for example.
So, I was quite confused when instead of thinly sliced pieces of tender, roasted chicken, I just saw a couple of pieces of long, thick chicken – that, by the way, weren’t tender at all. And when I say only a couple, I really do mean only a couple.
The burrito also came with an odd “sauce” that just sort of congealed wherever it sat around the tray. I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that this didn’t help with the structural integrity of the burrito, either.
So yes, this one really frustrated me. It was one that I didn’t want, but it looked and sounded good, so I was willing to give it a chance. In the end though it proved frustrating to eat, not very tasty and a textural nightmare. Nothing like you’d expect a burrito to be.
Finally, I tried the turkey sausage ragu. This one was my last straw. Out of the six new meals I was sent, this and the burrito were the only two that really piqued my interest. The others were either ones that I had tried the previous week, or something that I never would have chosen. (They do claim that they choose the meals based off of your previous orders and preferences – but I never wanted any sort of fish dish!)
So, for the final time, I heated up my meal – and for some reason, a vague hope lingered within me that this one would maybe be different.
It was not different.
As you can tell by the picture, the pasta itself was incredibly dry, and really quite bland. The turkey sausage still haunts me now. I’m not really sure what exactly was done to it, but it was extremely peculiar. It had a gritty, almost sand-like texture, which was extremely off-putting. It was not helped by the flavour, either, which was just… Odd.
To be brutally honest, I barely ate any of it. At this point, I had had enough. The little patience that I had left had completely ran out, and I just wanted it to be all over. In fact, on this particular day, I actually brought an emergency backup pasty with me to work.
So, to conclude: the meals are very touch and go – but mostly go. The support system they have in place is convoluted, and, quite frankly, poor. Their wording and explanation of how their own system works is lacking. And no matter what you do, do NOT trust the pictures of the meals that they have on their website.
I’m sure it won’t take you by surprise when I say I do not recommend them at all.
At the end of the day though, Simmer are a growing company with a huge base of regular, satisfied customers. Simply put, I had a bad experience with them, and the meals weren’t for me. I can be quite a picky eater at times, in their defence.
If you were to ask me, though: I would avoid simmer eats like the plague.
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