My dinner-cooking repertoire consists of two dishes: Tacos and pork chops. Luckily, I am married to a wonderful cook, and I leave most of the cooking to him, so I get a bit more variety in my diet.
When I heard Martha Stewart teamed up with meal delivery service Marley Spoon for a $179 Thanksgiving dinner that would entail all of the ingredients and instructions delivered to my door, I was curious to try it out, but also completely intimidated. A 10-person meal, complete with homemade pie, sides and a 14-pound turkey? Plus recipes created by Martha, the queen of the complicated and fancy? Very scary.
But this boxed set promised to come with pre-measured ingredients along with recipes boiled down to six steps each. The streamlined instructions won me over, so I signed up for a test trial, excited to wow some friends in my neighborhood and unleash my inner Martha:
Thursday, October 20, 10 a.m.
The free-range turkey arrived frozen and boxed on my doorstep about a week before my intended cook date. There were clear instructions telling me to keep it in the freezer until 2-3 days before cooking.
Thursday, October 27, 9:35 a.m.
The day before the big meal, another box arrived. This one contained all the other ingredients I'd need for the sides and dessert, like a bag of apples, an adorable miniature bottle of apple cider vinegar, a single container of milk and little baggies of sugar and flour. There were also large recipe cards with six steps or fewer for each dish — as promised.
Friday, October 28, 8:30 a.m.
I start strategizing how I'm going to tackle all of these recipes in one day with a single oven. I eventually notice a list of tips for how to plan ahead — things like like peeling the potatoes and making the pie crust a day early. Oops, too late for that.
9 a.m.
The cooking begins. I start with the pie because it'll need to cool for at least four hours. I'm also feeling very intimidated by making my own pie crust and want to get that part over with as soon as possible.
The pre-measured granulated sugar, light brown sugar and flour make things easy. Each step includes details about what the consistency should be like, so I know I'm on the right track once I start mixing. After refrigerating the dough, I peel and cut up the bag of green apples. The only items that didn't come in the box were an egg, for brushing the crust, and some salt, as well as the tools, like the pie plate and pastry brush, which luckily I have. While I wait for the dough to cool in the fridge I get to work peeling what seems like a bottomless bag of spuds for the mashed potatoes later.
12:50 a.m.
While the pie cooks, I get started on the stuffing, so it'll be ready to go in the bird. This dish was a breeze — just cut up the package of white bread, toast, and mix with cooked onion, celery, chopped herbs (I had to do the chopping) and dried cherries.
When that's all done, I take the pie out of the oven—and it looks straight out of a Martha Stewart Living magazine. I take a photo to send to everyone I know, and then, with a new burst of confidence, I take the turkey out of the fridge, ready to tackle the big bird.
2 p.m.
When I see little flecks of ice all over the turkey, I panic. Is it still frozen? Running it under hot water for a few minutes takes care of it — there was just a little frost on top, but the turkey is good to go. I enlist my husband to remove the innards, then stuff the bird, cover it with a butter-soaked cheesecloth and pop it in the oven.
3:15 p.m.
Next up: The cream cheese mashed potatoes. With the potatoes peeled earlier, this dish is easy. Boil the potatoes, mash them, mix with butter, stir in a package of Philadelphia cream cheese, and add into the oven with the turkey once I reduce the heat to 350 and, bam, I'm multi-tasking. This is the first dish I get to taste test and it is incredible: Perfectly creamy and full-flavored.
4:40 p.m.
Then I start on the roasted Brussels sprouts by chopping up the veggies and mixing together the cider vinaigrette with the premeasured packages of apple juice, vinegar and mustard. I have to wait until the turkey is done before roasting the sprouts because they need to cook at a higher temp. So far, the juggling of oven time is the most confusing part of this process: An "Idiot's Guide" sheet which spells out the ideal timing would be helpful.
5:15 p.m.
Finally, I take on the gravy, which entails making a giblet stock by boiling the innards. When the timer goes off, letting me know the sauce is done, I'm in the middle of admiring my beautifully cooked turkey, throwing the Brussels sprouts into the oven to roast, cleaning up and getting dressed for my guests to arrive, so I accidently toss the broth and save the giblets: My first mistake of the day. I end up using the chicken stock we have in the fridge to finish up the gravy.
7 p.m.
Finally — yes, 10 hours after I started cooking — everything is done, warmed up a bit in the oven, and looks almost as good as it does on the recipe cards.
7:30 p.m.
As soon as they arrive, my six guests ooh and ahh over all of the dishes. They have lots of questions about when and how the ingredients arrived, the size of the boxes, and how long it took to cook everything.
As soon as we begin eating, there are even more questions.
"Wow, how'd you get the mashed potatoes so creamy?"
"Did the potatoes come peeled or did you do that all yourself?"
"Is this turkey free range? There's so much flavor!"
"They sent the crust pre-made right? What? You made it yourself?"
While it would've been nice to have a pre-made crust and pre-peeled potatoes, it was nice to brag about doing it all on my own. And I must say, I even impressed myself with how delicious everything tasted. The turkey's skin was perfectly crispy while the inside was wonderfully moist; The pomegranates in the Brussels sprout dish were an easy, refreshing twist; the stuffing and potatoes were incredibly tasty; and the pie's crust was flaky while the apples were sweet and tart.
The final word
The cost of the meal and delivery service is $179 and serves 8 to 10 people. According to the Farm Bureau, a traditional Thanksgiving spread for 10 with all the trimmings and dessert cost an average of $50.11 in 2015. Their list includes bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, butter, peas, cranberries, carrots and celery for a relish tray, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, coffee, milk and a 16-pound turkey. The Martha meal is certainly a step up from that spread and the free-range turkey is a nice but pricey addition. So you're definitely not going to order up this package as a cost-saving measure. It does, however, save the time of having to fight those dreaded pre-holiday grocery store crowds and the "Ugh, did I forget the sage? Can someone figure out a store that's open right now?" moment on Thanksgiving morning. Plus the ingredients are high-quality, and the recipes are easy to follow.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend the service to anyone who wants to wow guests with some Martha magic this Thanksgiving.
You can order the Martha Thanksgiving dinner at MarthaThanksgiving.com before Nov. 14.
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