I tried the futuristic SquareEat food cubes - here's how it went

There are so many food subscription services on the market these days.

Whether that’s HelloFresh, Blue Apron, and more, the list is endless.

But with time and technological advancements comes interesting and innovative developments in many things, including the food subscription service industry.

This is where SquarEat comes in.

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The Florida-based company, which first started to make steam in 2021, makes pre-cooked and individually wrapped pieces of food in the shape of squares.

Each of the squares are roughly 1.6 ounces of food, making it portion controlled. It can also last up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

The company also has vegan, plant-based, meat, and fish-based meal boxes, so there is a range for all types of diets.

Additionally, the food can be warmed up in the microwave, air fryer, stove, or conventional oven, to name some.

Some people across social media shared their interest in trying the food, not wanting to try it or have actually tried it.

Intrigued by all of this, I decided it was time to get my hands on the cubes of food to give it a try. I reached out to the company to send me a box of items that best reflects the variety they have.

And I was in for a surprise.

With a little help from the food gods up above and some recipe ideas from SquarEat’s platforms, read on to see my review of six out of the seven meal boxes below.

Plant BBQ Meal Box

Method of cooking: stove top

Rating:4.5/10 stars

The box contains vegan burger, sweet potato, and broccoli and spinach squares.

When it comes to preparation, I decided to create a rendition of SquarEat’s vegan bowl recipe. The only difference is that I didn’t have vegan cheese squares for fresh parsley.

Thankfully, the box comes with a sauce pack, so I decided to use a dash of that.

After opening each square, I realized they had a good smell, and the texture was a bit firm.

And then diced each square into nine equal parts, as the recipe calls for. Everything cut perfectly fine besides the vegan Patty squares. It started to crumble.

Credit: Breanna Robinson

Soon after, I placed the squares in a pan with some olive oil to fry them. I also used garlic and basil powder to spread on the squares.

Once that was added, I began to toss the squares for 3 to 5 minutes until slightly browned and crisped.

I then put it in a bowl and topped it with vegan BBQ sauce.

The vegan patty tasted similar to most vegan meats, such as impossible. However, the bbq sauce was a bit watery but had a smoked hickory flavour.

The sweet potato tasted crisp and reminded me of sweet potato fries. When cooked on the stove, the broccoli and spinach also had more of a broccoli flavour.

The American Meal Box

Method of cooking: boiled

Rating: 3/10 stars

This meal box consists of beef, broccoli and spinach, and sweet potato squares.

For preparation, I decided to keep things simple and put on a pot of boiling water.

Once the water was good and hot, I took the squares out of their packaging and put them into the hot water just as they were for three minutes.

Credit: Breanna Robinson

After that, I placed the squares on the plate, added a dash of black pepper, and drizzled vegan barbecue sauce to the beef squares to emulate a barbecue steak or meatloaf.

Credit: Breanna Robinson

Since this meal was boiled, the texture is soft. But as for the flavour, I have some questions.

When it was prepared, the beef tasted like meatballs you find in premade cans of spaghetti in grocery stores, which isn't the best.

However, the potato's texture is most similar to traditional sweet potatoes that you would bake in the oven.

The broccoli and spinach square tastes incredibly fresh when it's boiled. The only thing that threw me off is the texture which is a bit mushy, like mashed potatoes.

Cuban Meal Box

Method of cooking: boiled

Rating:5/10 stars

This box has Tender low-fat chicken breast with basmati rice and bean squares( legumes).

I decided to play up with the shape of the squares on this one.

I chopped each square into two halves (12 total pieces).

Credit: Breanna Robinson

Then I took a pot filled with boiling water and dropped the strips into it, boiling it for three minutes.

Once that's taken out of the pot, I went ahead and added black pepper, a dash of salt, and roasted garlic flakes with a drizzle of olive oil and gave it a light mix to combine the seasonings.

Afterward, I arranged the pieces of chicken and basmati rice into a circle and placed the beans in the centre.

Credit: Breanna Robinson

I'm impressed with the flavours of this meal as it reminds me of my childhood.

The chicken is the same consistency as standard chicken; the beans tasted like black beans.

The rice was soft and sticky and reminded me of actual rice boiled on the stovetop or in a rice cooker.

Classic Meal Box

Method of cooking: microwave

Rating: 3/10 stars

Chicken meals tend to be a staple across kitchen tables worldwide, so it makes sense that this is a meal option.

Just like the Cuban box, the classic meal box contains tender and low-fat chicken breast and basmati rice.

However, there are differences between the Cuban meal box and this one.

This box's chicken is brown in colour, like it's been roasted. The Cuban box's chicken is lighter, which reminded me of standard chicken breast.

This box has a broccoli and spinach square instead of mixed beans.

For preparation, all I did was keep the chicken squares as they were and lightly salt and sprinkle some vegan bbq sauce on top. The chicken squares as they are and lightly salt and spread some BBQ barbecue sauce

But I cut the broccoli and spinach square into four equal parts and each basmati rice pack into nine equal pieces.

After that, I popped it all into the microwave for 30 seconds.

Once out of the microwave, I also added some vegan BBQ sauce on top.

The lightly salted chicken squares and the drizzle of barbecue sauce taste very good. The texture was also on point.

Credit: Breanna Robinson

However, the chicken alone didn't carry this meal to a winning seat.

The rice's texture was firm yet chalky, and it didn't really have much of a taste, similar to water.

The flavor of the broccoli and spinach square has a really fresh and crisp taste, but again it seems that the broccoli and spinach squares' texture hasn't been coming out the best, no matter the choice of preparation.

Mediterranean Meal Box

Method of cooking: microwave

Rating: 1/10 stars

I decided to test my luck again with flavor and put this meal into the microwave.

The meal consists of sea bass, zucchini and asparagus squares.

and instead of vegan barbecue sauce, this pack came with vegan parsley and mayo.

I cut each sea bass square into two equal parts.

The zucchini was cut into thin pieces for a total of 16 microstrips.

The asparagus was also cut into four small slices.

Credit:Breanna Robinson

I then popped it all in the microwave for 30 seconds.

After the time was up, I used the parsley mayo and attempted to drizzle it all over the sea bass, zucchini and asparagus (it doesn't look glamorous).

Credit:Breanna Robinson

Despite being warmed up and coated with the tasty aioli mayo, the food again wasn't the best. The asparagus kind of smelled and tasted like pickles.

The fish's texture reminded me of a sponge and the zucchini tasted like it was doused in water.

Fisherman Meal Box

Method of cooking: conventional oven

Rating: 1/10 stars

This box has salmon, zucchini, and sweet potato squares. And there's a new sauce that's been added to this pack, which is soy-free teriyaki.

For preparation, I set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then I left the salmon and sweet potato squares in the square shape.

The zucchini was cut into eight tiny slivers in an attempt to make them as close to zucchini noodles as I could.

After, I drizzled the soy teriyaki sauce onto the salmon.

Credit:Breanna Robinson

Taking aluminum foil and a baking rack, I placed the food onto a baking tray with aluminum foil and left it marinating in there for five minutes.

Credit:Breanna Robinson

After taking it out of the oven and plating it, I noticed the Salmon smelled like canned salmon or tuna.

I also didn't taste the teriyaki sauce, which was disappointing (I love teriyaki anything!)

Also, the squares didn't look any different in colour. I hadn't noticed that before cooking.

In terms of the texture, it's very similar to regular food items outside of french fries that you put in the oven.

It's soft and has juiciness, and melts in the mouth for the most part.

However, in terms of the texture, the texture is very similar to regular food items outside of french fries that you put in the oven. It's soft and melts in the mouth. Still, it didn't taste the best to me.

The fish, sweet potato and zucchini tasted a bit artificial, unfortunately.

Although the Cuban Meal Box received the highest ranking, I didn't have many favourites.

Still, this is still a cool and fun way to explore different, futuristic ways to eat.

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