He specialises in working with people that have busy lives and don't necessarily have time to exercise and cook complex nutritious meals. Having had a 9-5 desk-job, Joe understands the struggles of juggling a hectic life with trying to maintain a good physique.
Joe has helped over 100 professionals lose weight and feel better about themselves using simple, repeatable daily habits and an easy-to-use spreadsheet to track everything.
Joe has also been quoted on several respected sites including Nike, Live Science and Health.com.
While Joe mainly works online these days, he also offers 1-2-1 personal training sessions across Sussex and Surrey.
If you want to know more, check out the about page, or get in touch
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If like me, you find yourself eating the same meals over and over again, Gousto is a pretty cool concept. Cooking brand new meals from scratch can be frustrating because theyāll typically be 2-3 ingredients that you donāt have in your cupboard meaning you either omit those ingredients and end up with something tasting nothing as it should, or you go out and spend Ā£15 on ingredients for one meal that youāll likely never use again.
Enter Gousto; Gousto is a meal subscription service in the UK where you can pay a fixed amount each month for meal boxes tailored to recipes of your choice.
You pick the recipes online in advance (typically 1 week) and Gousto will send out a box containing all the ingredients you need – most of them already weighed out and chopped!
There are tons of recipes available to suit all tastes (low calorie, vegan, vegetarian etc) and most of them take between 10-40 minutes to make from start to finish.
With each individual meal, you get a recipe card with easy to follow instructions on how to make it and a nifty little folder you can keep them in.
HOW MUCH DOES GOUSTO COST?
This all depends on how many meals your order each time, the more you order, the cheaper each meal will be
The price also depends on the type of meals you go for, some have additional surcharges (like the Paella Fest for example).
The headline cost really depends on a few different factors; the first is whether you opt for a 2-person box (enough for 2 adults) or a family box (enough for 2 adults and 2 children). The second factor is the number of meals you want per week. So, if you want 3 recipes per week for 2 adults it’s Ā£29.99 per week. For a family box it’s Ā£42.75 per week for 3 meals.
You can choose to have either 2, 3 or 4 recipes per week and the cost will obviously increase with more recipes, but the price per recipe will come down.
Youāll typically end up paying between Ā£3-6 per meal though, which is more expensive than buying food from a supermarket, but a lot cheaper than a takeaway.
Goutso is currently doing 30% off for new customers which I think brings the price of the subscription to a decent level. Without the discount, I think the price is just a little too high for the quantity of food you get.
One thing to be wary of is when you sign up, you actively need to cancel your subscription if you don’t want the recipe boxes anymore. You’ll need to pick the recipes you want each week on the website, and if you don’t Gousto will just send you whatever!
IS EVERYTHING INCLUDED?
Not quite, basic store cupboard stuff like sugar, flour, salt and pepper aren’t included in the meal boxes, but who doesnāt have those things in their cupboard?!
All the other ingredients you need for the recipes and in most cases, are all pre-weighed and portioned out so you don’t need to do very much prep at all aside from chopping vegetables.
When you receive the boxes everything is refrigerated with ice packs so you don’t need to rush to keep everything cold. Some of the ingredients are loose, but the smaller items like herbs are all bagged up according to the recipe they belong to.
WHAT RECIPES ARE AVILABLE?
Gousto are changing the recipes all the time so you might never find the same recipe box on the site twice, and at any one time there will be 50+ recipe son the site so whether you’re picking 2, 3 or meals per week there’s always going to be something you’ll like.
There really is something to cater for all sorts of preferences, there are of course Vegan and Vegetarian options as well as Gluten-free and Dairy-free dishes, but you can also filter meals on the site so you find everything containing beef, chicken or fish for example.
There are also low-calorie meals and meals that you can make in 5 or 10 minutes for people in a rush. Sometimes they’ll be seasonal options, at the moment there’s a Christmas section with stiff like a Yorkshire Pudding Pizza and a Christmas Burrito.
IS GOUTSO HEALTHY?
Yes. Even the ‘regular’ recipes on Gousto don’t tend to contain more than 600-800 calories per portion which is low enough for most people trying to lose weight. If you want to go even lower there are ‘calorie controlled’ or ‘Joe Wicks lean in 15’ options which can be as low as 350 calories.
Most of the recipes are really well balanced and contain a balanced mix of carbs, protein and fats. Most also contain a decent amount of vegetables.
THE PROS AND CONS
Pros:
- Forces you to try cooking meals you wouldnāt have otherwise, or that you might not have even heard of before
- The cooking process is actually a bit of fun
- On the whole, most of the recipes taste really good
Cons:
- Itās not cheap
- The portions are pretty small, Iām an 80kg+ man and I could easily eat double the amount of a single portion
- Occasionally they miss out ingredients
WHAT ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT RECIPES?
CHICKEN BIRIYANI
Biryani is one of my favourite curries, so when I saw that on the Gousto site I added to cart straight away – curries have so much flavour, but most takeaway curries pack so many calories, and letsā be honest – who can avoid adding all the extras
(Onion Bajis anyone)?
A Biriyani is tomato-based and less āsaucyā than most other curries, while still being very tasty.
This recipe was really easy, the thing that took the most time was cooking and chopping the chicken; everything else (curry powder, tomato paste onion, green beans) took seconds (ok, minutes) to prep and add to the mixture.
My favorite thing about this recipe was that the rice didnāt need cooking separately – you just throw it in with everything else once the chicken is cooked and some water, then wait about 15 minutes.
This honestly has all the flavour of a restaurant curry without all the stodge – the green beans and sultanas give it a nice bit of texture too.
8/10
BBQ CHICKEN AND SWEETCORN FRITTERS
Luckily I wasnāt hugely hungry before rustling this one up, which was just as well as this recipe contains very carbs (itās a Joe Wicks collab recipe).
This involved coating chicken in Chipotle sauce (it was meant to be chicken thighs but they gave us breast instead) and putting it under the grill for 20 minutes.
The real star of the dish was the sweetcorn fritters which were a mix of sweetcorn (obvioulsy), flour, corn flour, egg, feta cheese and chilli flakes – these took about 5 minutes to fry in a pan.
This also came with a ton of salad – baby gem lettuce and a massive tomato.
The chicken was disappointing; because it wasnāt fried before going under the grill it didnāt have that crispy, crunchy char on the outside which I love. The fritters were different though, although I wouldnāt say they were particularly flavourful.
Not massively impressed.
5/10
CHICKEN TERIYAKI
I love Asian food so I was pretty buzzed about trying this one – Teriyaki contains what I think are some the best ingredients going – ginger, chilli and lime.
This recipe comes with more components than most of the others, but despite that, it doesnāt take too much longer to rustle up. The bulk of the comes in chopping the ginger and zesting the lime but it doesnāt feel like too much of a chore.
The sauce tastes great – although I could have done with a bit more to make sure all the chicken was thickly coated.
The addition of sesame seeds and spring onion as garnish also makes this one look appealing and (vaguely) professional once itās done.
7/10
LAMD KEEMA SAAG
Another curry dish – this time one made with Lamb mince which is something I rarely have in a curry so this was an intriguing dish for me.
This dish has a LOT of ingredients including
- Garam Masala
- Chicken stock
- Nigella seeds
- Chill flakes
- Tomato paste
So I was expecting to pack a lot of flavour as most dishes with multiple spices do. Sadly it was a letdown in this respect, it was tasty but just not like a curry you get in a good restaurant. This is probably because most curries cook for hours which tends to intensify the flavours.
The fact that it has a lot of ingredients means it takes a bit longer to cook than most other dishes – it took us a good 45 minutes.
I have the same old complaint about the size of the dish as well. 250g of mince is not a lot between two people, and although this dish is bulked out with spinach and tomato it wasnāt filling enough for me.
6/10
CHICKEN PAD THAI
I love Pad Thai and stir fry dishes in general so I guess this one didnāt need to do much to impress me, but even ignoring my bias, this was a really impressive dish.
Despite having loads of ingredients, most of which go towards making the Pad Thai sauce, itās one of the quickest Gousto meals to make. The recipe card says 10 minutes – Iād say it was more like 15 but thatās still amazing for something so much flavour.
The Pad Thai sauce includes Soy sauce, Tamarind paste, Garlic paste and lime amongst other stuff so you can imagine it packs a real punch in the taste department.
The noodles are good quality and the amount of veg is generous and it was very fresh and crunchy, my only complaint is the amount of chicken.
Iād say this was on a par with some of the Pad Thais Iāve had in restaurants before. Very very good.
9/10
BBQ PULLED PORK, CHEESY POTATOS AND SLAW
At 40 minutes prep time, this is one of the recipes which takes longer than most, however, the effort levels are pretty low since 30 minutes of that is just cooking the pork and potatoes in the oven.
The flavour combination here is very good – the sweet, tender pork contrasts really well against the white wine vinaigrette in the slaw and the rich salty cheese on the potatoes.
Again I think the quantities here were pretty poor, not just for the meat but also the potatoes. I really canāt fault the quality and taste though.
8/10
LAMB TABOULEH
Iāve never actually had this dish before (maybe close variations from Turkish restaurants but this specific dish) and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised.
This is pretty much made up of minced lamb, bulgar wheat, lemon and parsley and the flavour and texture combinations were fantastic.
The freshness of the parsley and lemon provided a fresh contrast to the fatty richness of the lamb and the bulgar wheat made a welcome change from rice.
The only improvement Iād make to this dish would be to use pulled lamb instead of mince but regardless it was one of my Gousto faves.
9/10
KOREAN YANG NYUM FRIED CHICKEN
This was actually a pretty messy dish because it requires about 4 different bowls for mixing up ingredients.
Overall Iād say it was worth it though, the coating on the chicken was very good texture-wise, although it could have done with a BIT more sweetness and stickiness (I donāt think there was quite enough sauce).
The carrot we got with this also went off pretty quickly so we couldn’t use that in the salad.
The rice was also pretty bland – it coold have done with some soy.
It sounds like Iām slating this one but I did actually really enjoy it, I just feel it could be even better with a few small tweaks.
8/10
SALT AND PEPPER CHICKEN
Hands down my favourite Gousto meal.
REALLY flavourful chicken with a cool fried texture (thanks to the cornflour) and fried rice that was bursting flavour from the chillies and had a really interesting texture with added peas and fried egg.
I canāt say too much more about this one with that it was delicious.
10/10
BEEF UDON NOODLES
Iām torn on this dish.
Iām a big lover of Pho and Ramen so I was pretty excited about making this one and it was actually a lot of fun to make but I feel it was a little bit of a case of style over substance.
Although the broth had lots of ingredients it didnāt quite pack that flavour punch you get with a good bowl of Pho. The other issue was I think think it really worked with mince beef – this kind of needs Brisket.
The noodles were very good though and when itās finished it looks like a work of art – verging on restaurant-level presentation. Iād probably get it again but itās not a top for me.
6/10
PAELLA FEAST
Sometimes on Gousto, you can pay a bit extra for a meal thatās slightly more substantial or has more components. The Paella Feast is one of them. This dish consists of
- Paella rice with chicken
- Garlic prawns
- Olives
- Patatas Bravas
- Paprika chicken strips
Probably not strictly a Paella if you ask a Spaniard but itās close enough.
Despite the variety, I actually found this dish a little bland, but I am more of a fan of Asian type dishes with very bold, spicy flavours.
My favourite part of this was the Paella rice which was really zingy with the added Saffron and Lemon. The garlic prawns were pretty good too, the potatoes could have done with something else (donāt ask me what) and the Paprika chicken was way over-seasoned.
Overall not a bad dish, but āfeastā is pushing it a bit.
7/10
NASI GORENG
Nasi Goreng is one of my all-time favourite meals, I didnāt really know it existed until I went to Bali in 2019 and had it every day, and while no version of it in the UK has ever compared (including anything Iāve made myself) – I think this is mainly because there are so many ingredients that go into it and every recipe you look up is very different.
I was trusting Gousto to have nailed the recipe through trail and error, and it seems like theyāve really thought through the ingredients with this one, but sadly it just lacked the flavour punch that the genuine version of this dish has.
I think this could be because I accidentally picked the vegetarian version, which meant it didn;t include fish sauce, which is an ingredient that most recipes have.
The other thing I wasnāt keen on was the fact that Kale played a big role in this dish. I actually like Kale but I donāt think it worked here.
Disappointing because Nasi Goreng is good when you get right!
5/10
CHICKEN PATATAS BRAVAS
I wasnāt expecting big things from this one but it surprised me, itās pretty simple consisting of just chicken and potatoes as well as a few onions and peppers. But the seasoning and extra garnish really set it off.
The chicken is seasoned with Paprika and some other good stuff, and the cubed potatoes are cooked in a chopped tomato mix. Thereās a garlic mayo which goes with the potatoes and some parsley for the veg.
It sounds boring as hell but it all works together really well.
8/10
SUYA CHICKEN SKEWERS WITH YOGHURT
This recipe wasnāt bad as such, it just felt a bit disjointed, and like it was trying to use the fact that the chicken was on skewers as a gimmick to distract from the lack of flavouring in the seasoning.
The seasoning used a good mix of spices and crushed peanuts but it just wasnāt that flavourful. The chicken thigh instead of the usual breasts made a nice change in terms of texture but there was nothing that really bought this dish alive or gelled all the components together.
The yoghurt made a nice garnish but it was a bit bland, and the rice which was just flavoured with chicken stock and curry powder felt like an afterthought.
Just ok.
6/10
IS GOUSTO WORTH IT?
If you have a bit of extra cash to spend on dinner, I would highly recommend at least trying Gousto for a couple of weeks. The ingredients are high quality, most of the meals are really tasty and don’t take that long to make. If you have a big appetite however you might run into problems; the portions aren’t huge so you may either need to upgrade to the larger family-sized boxes, or bulk up the meals with extra meat and/or veg.
Even if you only do Gousto for a couple of weeks and decide to stop I’d say it was still worth as you’ll have a ton of new recipe cards you can keep and just make your favourite recipes on your own from scratch.
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