Magic Kitchen Review 2023: Are Frozen Meals Worth It?

Overview

For seniors and those living with medical conditions, preparing meals can become overwhelming. Spending time in the kitchen can be both exhausting and risky. To help you manage mealtime and improve your quality of life, Magic Kitchen offers frozen prepared meals and a la carte items. If you’re finding cooking challenging, Magic Kitchen can help you maintain independence at home.

Magic Kitchen provides specialized meals for various dietary needs, including diabetic, renal, dialysis, and portion-controlled. You get meals that taste good and are nutritionally balanced to meet your dietary requirements.

I was impressed with Magic Kitchen’s flexibility, meal options, and prices. Its frozen, heat-and-eat meals and a la carte entrees cover almost any diet, and there’s no commitment or subscription required to start ordering meals. Read on to learn more!

What’s on the Magic Kitchen Menu

Magic Kitchen’s meals are largely American and Italian favorites. The meals are tasty and filling but not adventurous. If you’re looking for a specialized diet plan that offers a wider selection of cuisines, I recommend you check out the prepared flash-frozen meals at BistroMD.  

Because Magic Kitchen doesn’t have a rotating menu, you’ll be ordering from the same selection repeatedly. Items you like may not always be available, so you may want to stock up on your favorites. But with over 200 items in their catalog, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be able to find meals you like.

Meal Options 

Magic Kitchen’s Complete Meals menu has main dishes and sides packaged together.  These plans are geared toward specific, structured diets. If you’re living with diabetes, heart disease, or kidney issues, Magic Kitchen can provide breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that meet your medical requirements. A La Carte buyers can choose Main Courses, Sides, Soups, and Desserts.

You can also order multi-item bundles of meals and entrees. If you want to keep a stock of meals on hand, you can stock your freezer with Magic Kitchen meals.

Customization

Magic Kitchen offers the following menus:

• Portion Controlled

• Senior Meals

• Low Sodium

• Low Fat

• Low Carbohydrate

• Dairy Free

• Gluten Free

• Renal Diet (CKD 3 and 4)

• Diabetic Friendly

• Dialysis Friendly

• Vegetarian

Magic Kitchen’s gluten-free meals are prepared in kitchens with meals containing wheat products. If you have a serious gluten intolerance, you should check out the services on our list of the best gluten-free meal delivery services. 

I was especially impressed by the selection of renal meals. It offers meals suited for every stage of chronic kidney disease, up to and including patients on dialysis. There aren’t many meal delivery services offering those options, so if you’re living with kidney failure, you should definitely check out Magic Kitchen.

Magic Kitchen’s filters make it easy to find meals that are suited to your medical needs. Simply click on the menu you want, and Magic Kitchen provides you with a list of meals. You can order your meals and entrees to create a menu you like.

A La Carte buyers can choose Main Courses, Sides, Soups, and Desserts. You can also order multi-item bundles. While you can’t filter for particular diets on the A La Carte menu, each item has an icon marking the diets it’s suited for. 

Unboxing

Your Magic Kitchen order arrives in a white, styrofoam box with a detachable lid. To get the best out of your Magic Kitchen delivery, open it as soon as it arrives and put the meals straight into the freezer. All Magic Kitchen coolers and boxes are recyclable, and Magic Kitchen provides recycling instructions on its website.

Magic Kitchen packs its meals in dry ice to keep them frozen in transit. While Magic Kitchen meals can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months, the company recommends you eat them within 30-45 days for the best flavor.

Every order comes with a list of Magic Kitchen’s available meals, as well as detailed storage and prep instructions for the meals. Some entrees, like the sous vide meats, come in a plastic bag. Others are packaged in a box. The meals in a bag can be heated on the stove, while those in a box need to be heated in a microwave or oven.

Cooking with Magic Kitchen

Most of Magic Kitchen’s frozen meals and entrees arrive prepared and microwave-ready. While some items require stovetop or oven heating, they’re clearly marked and require little or no preparation. Instructions are included with your meals and on Magic Kitchen’s website.

For the most part, Magic Kitchen meals require no more than 7-8 minutes of microwave time. Items that must be cooked in the oven will typically be ready in 30 minutes, while stovetop meals take no more than 10-15 minutes.

Shortlist of My Favorite Meals

Best A La Carte Item: Beef Wellington

Magic Kitchen’s Beef Wellington is a worthy take on the British classic, with puff pastry, duxelles, and tenderloin beef. Magic Kitchen suggests defrosting the Beef Wellington in the fridge for 2 hours before cooking. Preparing it requires an oven and a meat thermometer. It’s suitable for weight loss and low-sodium diets, with just 440 calories per serving and only 380 mg of sodium.

Best Meal: Chicken Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole

This Magic Kitchen meal combines diced chicken, broccoli, and a creamy sauce over a mix of white and wild rice. It’s diabetic-friendly, has just 340 calories, and is low in sodium (305 mg). If you want a tasty, filling meal but have to watch your salt, blood sugar, or waistline, this Chicken Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole might be just what you’re looking for.

Best Breakfast: Frittata with Roasted Red Peppers

This cheesy frittata provides a healthy veggie helping of spinach and green and red bell peppers, with a side order of crispy rosemary-seasoned red potatoes. You can cook this one in a microwave or a conventional oven, but Magic Kitchen recommends against using toaster ovens and suggests you thaw the meal first. This breakfast is vegetarian, gluten free, low in carbohydrates, and has just 350 calories.

Prices

Magic Kitchen ships at cost through FedEx, and because it uses insulated packaging with dry ice, shipping costs can be pricey, starting at $19.95. However, it does offer free or discounted shipping for regular customers. Free shipping is offered on your first order over $100, and on subsequent orders over $150.

If you’re ordering a la carte, then you’ll find most main meals to be in the region of $11 to $15 per serving. Soups and pasta are around $7 per serving and breakfasts are $5-$6 per serving.

Seniors or disabled persons may be eligible for Medicaid home food delivery. Speak with your case manager if you’re currently receiving Medicaid or Medicare. If you’re eligible, your case manager can send Magic Kitchen authorization on your behalf.

Shipping & Delivery

Magic Kitchen delivers to 99.7% of the continental US, as well as major cities in Alaska and Hawaii. Orders are shipped out from the Magic Kitchen warehouse in Kansas City, KS. If you order before 2 pm CT, it’s likely that your order will be shipped the same day.

The average shipping time is 2-4 days, depending on your zip code. Unlike many other meal delivery services, Magic Kitchen doesn’t just ship at weekly intervals. You can place your orders and track shipping on Magic Kitchen’s phone app, which is available on Android Google Play and Apple’s App Store. 

How Magic Kitchen Works

You don’t have to sign up for a subscription with Magic Kitchen. But while Magic Kitchen welcomes one-time orders, you’ll save money and time if you sign up for regular auto-shipments. 

Magic Kitchen offers weekly, biweekly, or monthly auto-shipments, but you have to set up a schedule with them over the phone.

How to Sign Up

1. Choose Your Items

Choose the meals, entrees, or bundles you want. 

2. Check Out

At this stage, you should click the Want Free Shipping? button to get different codes that will let you avoid Magic Kitchen’s hefty shipping fees. When you have done that, click the orange Checkout button or, if you remembered something you forgot, click Continue Shopping. 

3. Provide Your Billing and Shipping Addresses

Enter the billing information on your card, and the address to which you want your Magic Kitchen box shipped. 

4. Enter Your Payment Information

Magic Kitchen accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and UnionPay. It also takes PayPal and gift certificates which you can purchase on the site for a friend or relative. 

5. Call Magic Kitchen

If you want to set up recurring deliveries, you have to schedule a phone call with Magic Kitchen’s customer service team. If you’re receiving meals through Medicare or your insurance plan, they’ll handle this.

Managing Your Subscription

If you want to cancel your Magic Kitchen autoshipments, give them a call at 877-516-2442. 

Customer Service

Customer support from Magic Kitchen can be accessed in 3 ways: mail, phone, and email. The fastest way to get in touch with the customer support team is by phone at 877-516-2442, but you can also reach them at info@magickitchen.com.

Business hours are 7 am-9 pm Monday-Friday, 7:30 am-3 pm Saturdays, and 8 am-3 pm Sundays. Since the Magic Kitchen warehouse is located in Kansas, all these times are Central Time.

It's also easy to cancel a meal plan, and since you don't have to subscribe, there won't be any extra charges. If you don't like a meal, you can contact customer service and get credit for your next order.

Frankly, I’d like to see a live chat option. I’m not a telephone person and I’d much rather handle things online without having to make a call or schedule a callback. Magic Kitchen gets good reviews for its current customer support, but it would be nice to have more online options.

How Magic Kitchen Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

• Magic Kitchen vs Factor: Magic Kitchen has more menus tailored to specialized diets, but Factor has a more interesting and flavorful selection of single-serving prepared meals that arrive fresh, not frozen.

• Magic Kitchen vs Fresh and Easy: Magic Kitchen sends fully prepared meals, but Fresh and Easy sends easy meal kits that require minimal preparation, cooking, and cleanup time.

• Magic Kitchen vs BistroMD: Both offer frozen prepared meals for specialized medical diets, but BistroMD is more geared toward weight loss and offers lower prices.

The Bottom Line: Is Magic Kitchen Worth It?

Magic Kitchen is a great meal delivery service for anyone looking for a hassle-free alternative to meal prep and cooking. It works especially well for seniors who struggle to get all their nutrients as well as diabetics and others with specific dietary needs and restrictions.

If you don’t require a specialized diet and just want convenient prepared meals, I recommend Factor as a better alternative. Factor also offers healthy, nutritionally balanced meals at a comparable price, but it has a wider selection of cuisines to choose from.

If you enjoy cooking your own meals, you should check out our list of the best meal delivery services, where we provide you with information about the 10 best meal delivery services available today.

FAQ

How long does Magic Kitchen food last in the freezer?

Your meals can be kept in the freezer for as long as 6 months. However, the best time to eat them is within 30-45 days of the day of delivery.

Which Magic Kitchen meals are best?

Magic Kitchen has a large range of a la carte meals, including the Baked Tilapia With Brown Rice and Minted Carrots, and the Beef Short Ribs. One of the best meals, according to Magic Kitchen customers, is the Beef Lasagna with Peas and Carrots.

Where does Magic Kitchen deliver?

Magic Kitchen delivery normally takes 2-4 days in mainland USA. Delivery to major cities in Alaska and Hawaii is available, but limited.