Anyone use Angel Food Ministries?

[PentecostalMom]

I am trying to reduce our food costs and was wondering if this is a truly economical way to do this. Also, is the food of good quality?

[Truscifi]

We did for a while a few years ago. It was very helpful at the time, but we got off of it as soon as we could afford to by more fresh foods. If we were facing a serious crunch I would use it again.

 

ETA: I just looked at their website, and they have WAY more fresh foods than they did when we used it before.

Edited May 1, 2011 by Truscifi

[DaffodilDreams]

We used it a few times. The fruit and veggie boxes were great. We had a couple of bad produce items once, and without us even saying anything, we received a call that replacement items were on the way.

 

The seafood box was the better meat value for my family. The other meat options weren't up to dh's standards (or portions).

 

The basic box was full of processed, high fat, unhealthy foods.

 

I would still use the fruit and veggie and seafood boxes, but dh just wanted to bow out of it completely. He wanted more control over food options even though we had a limited budget.

[SunD]

We used it for a while when DH was in school. I understand that they have more fresh produce and such now, which was really my only issue with it. If we needed it now I would certainly use it again.

 

I can really only speak on the quality of the boxed and frozen foods, since that's really all they had when we used it. It wasn't great quality. I would compare it with off-brand dollar store level of quality, kwim? There was very rarely anything we just wouldn't eat (aside from ground turkey and pork, but that's just personal preference), but it's definitely not what you'd get shopping name brands at a well-stocked grocery. It was still a decent value considering the quality.

[sheryl]

Yes, we've tried it. Our church offers Angel Food through the ministry. We only tried it a few times and that was maybe 4 years ago. Overall, it was good.

 

Quality was fine, but not super. Not bad though...don't want to give wrong impression here.

 

The biggest drawback is this. You have to buy a "package" that is comprised of many pre-selected food items. You don't choose the individual item, you choose the package. Well, we don't eat/like a couple of items in the package and it goes to waste. That's a waste of our money.

 

Now, if you like and will use all of the food choices, then it is a very fair deal.

 

HTH!

[Denise in Florida]

I use them and have fairly good experiences so far. :001_smile:

 

The basic box has a mix of frozen, boxed, canned type food. There have only been a few things we didn't eat.

 

We usually get the basic box and the fresh fruit and veggies box.

 

Pros:

 

Price and convenience.

They offer a gluten free box for my wheat intolerant dd

The holiday boxes have been better than the regular boxes IMO

 

Cons:

 

Not organic

End up planning some meals we do not usually eat (i.e., pork)

The meat has some type of additives so I do not feed it to my gf dd

Produce box had way too many orange/tangerines/grapefruits over the winter, much better now in spring

 

Tips:

Expect meat to be 'choice' not 'prime'. Marinate and cook low and slow. The last pork roast and roasting chicken I cooked were great (family loved them) but it wasn't just a out of package, chuck in oven, come back type recipe.

 

I supplement the 'angel' meals with veggies from the farmer's market, eggs from my own chickens and herbs from my garden. I also buy good quality cheese and bulk grains from whole foods (brown rice, quinoa).

 

I started eating the Angel Food Ministry foods because my church became a host site. I wanted to try as many boxes as possible so I could truthfully represent what was there when people asked me.

 

I still order it because it is a good price and the 'community action' of everyone combining their food dollar is important.

 

Balance the meals with fresh stuff, whole grains and beans and it can be part of a good diet. Again this is my opinion. :lol:

[dsmama]

I agree very much with previous posts, especially Denise, as we have a gluten-free family member.

 

It is inexpensive and decent quality. This isn't prime -- it's a box of food for 30 dollars. That said, if you are willing to plan meals around the options and be flexible, it can be a real help to the budget. I have considered the "senior" portions for an elderly family member, too.

[TXBeth]

Quality was average, and I figured out that it was not a good value, at least in our area. Maybe I could get pork chops or steak for cheaper than the grocery store, but if I shopped at the grocery store, I would get ground beef and chicken instead for a much better price. And if you shop sales, you can find better deals on your own.

[Photo Ninja]

I recommend Angel Food. I use it, and decide monthly whether the choices are worth it to us or not. Sometimes I don't order because that particular month the choices are not what we would eat or include too many items we wouldn't want. If you only eat organic foods, then you wouldn't like Angel Food. The prepared foods are typical prepared foods, with preservatives and salt, but not really any different from prepared foods you would buy at the store.

 

The ground beef (hamburger) has a higher fat content than what I buy at the store, but when we grill it the fat drips away anyway. Some of the prepared foods are just okay, not anything I would buy because I seldom buy prepared food, but we have not had anything we would not eat or thought was horrible. For example, the frozen lasagna was mostly noodles and sauce with very little meat or cheese, but it still tasted good. The frozen chicken alfredo tasted wonderful, but it had very little chicken. I added some leftover chicken and some broccoli, and it was a very tasty meal, something my family would like to have again. The hot dogs they include are all meat and we only eat all beef, and only eat those rarely, but I have friends who are happy to accept the all meat hot dogs we don't want.

 

Sometimes the portion sizes are small with the prepared foods, which may work out well if you have young children, but is not as good if you have teen boys. You just need to take that into consideration. I need adult sized portions in my home. So when I estimate then number of meals I will get out of the Angel Food box, I know that the envelope of pancake mix won't make enough pancakes for my family, but that's okay. It makes enough for my dc to make a quick meal of pancakes for themselves if they get up late. I just don't factor that into the number of meals when I am analyzing the box. It is more of an extra.

 

The way I decide whether or not to order is to look at what is included in the box and figure out how many meals I will get out of it for my family, then divide that by the cost. Most times it is still a great deal to order even if there is a prepared food that we might not eat. I have a price range goal for how much I spend per person on dinners, and Angel Food fits into that price range. I can usually estimate what it would cost me to buy the same products, and Angel Food is almost always less expensive. Honestly, when I figure out the cost, I usually don't include in my estimate the foods I wouldn't usually buy, so those are a bonus from Angel Food. So for the cost of food in my area, Angel Food is a good value.

 

I have been happy with the quality of the meat, fruit and veggies we have received. Everything has been ripe and tasty, and the meat has never been freezer-burned. My dc have really liked some of the foods, especially the bacon-wrapped turkey cutlets we had a couple months. They were delicious, and something I would never buy from the store. The boneless pork chops we have received taste great, but were thinner than I expected. They still made a good meal and that would not make me skip ordering.

 

One thing to think about, if you are considering ordering the fruit and veggie box, is the number of each item you will receive. Sometimes the number of the pieces of fruit makes it not worth it. For ex., if you have 6 in your family and you receive 4 apples, is it worth it? Sometimes there are far more onions than we would ever eat, and not enough of the other items for each person to have one. It really depends on your needs and eating habits. The quality is fine, but the quantities may not work for your family.

 

But overall, I am happy with Angel Food.

[Joyofsixreboot]

We use it. It delights my kids because it has all the " good stuff" I won't normally buy. I use it to stretch our budget. A processed meat with my home canned veg, fruit and bread evens out I figure. The special boxes have been a hit here. It works for us but someone dedicated to organic, etc. would probably find it doesn't fit their needs.

[Katiebug_1976]

We used it for a while several years ago. The "extra" boxes that you could buy were good, but the monthly box that you had to buy before you could get the "extras" just didn't work well for our family. They were set up for a smaller family than ours and also full of boxed/hevily processed food that we do not eat. If you had to choose between Angel Food & hunger, I'd definately do it again, but if you're going for healthy, then not so much.

[Truscifi]

We used it for a while several years ago. The "extra" boxes that you could buy were good, but the monthly box that you had to buy before you could get the "extras" just didn't work well for our family. They were set up for a smaller family than ours and also full of boxed/hevily processed food that we do not eat. If you had to choose between Angel Food & hunger, I'd definately do it again, but if you're going for healthy, then not so much.

 

I found this to be the case when we used it a few years ago as well, but from what I saw on their website they have changed that policy. They have a lot more box options, and it looks like you can now order any of the boxes without having to order the basic box. I showed it to dh and although we won't get it this month (because we are pretty well stocked and are eating out of the pantry mostly) we are going to look at it again next month.

[KRG]

I started using it last month and I'm pretty happy with it. There are a few things I wouldn't normally buy pre-packaged(meat loaf, meat balls, chicken nuggets) but we still ate them. My grocery bill is astronomical and if it will cut it even buy a third it will be worth it to me.

[....]

We were unemployed for 7 months (a couple of years ago) and this was the only way we could afford groceries. The Angel Food was awesome. The quality was fine, but I didn't even care about the quality at the time.

 

We always bought the fruit box - it was great. Some of the meat boxes were really good, too. During holidays, they have special holiday boxes and those were usually really good, too.

 

Make sure you have plenty of freezer room!

[Baseball mom]

I have been considering this especially since I found out that the church up the road from me is a host site.

 

I know a lady that tried it a couple years ago. She said she liked it and there was only a couple things they didn't eat. She donated those to her local food bank.

[prairiewindmomma]

I priced it out a year or so ago (so before the BIG price jump). Food was cheaper shopping at Aldi, or sale shopping.

[Carrie12345]

I just took a look. If you take out the things we wouldn't need in our house (cookies, stuffing mix, shelf-stable milk, etc.), I could make my money stretch farther at the grocery store, and with more options. If I didn't know how or wasn't interested/able in strategic shopping, the boxes would probably be a decent financial choice.

[Baseball mom]

I priced it out a year or so ago (so before the BIG price jump). Food was cheaper shopping at Aldi, or sale shopping.

 

I did the same thing a couple years ago and yep it was cheaper at the stores. I did it again and now it is cheaper to buy the box.