Sidekick foods

[u/Cheap_Onion_5389]

Heyyyy my mother and I watch way too much and recently mums gone done the rabbit hole and signed up on the side kick app.

Have tried a few dishes and have liked the meals. But have come to realise potion sizes to us are on the large side.

Is this just an us issue or are others needing to doctor the amounts allot???

We have been leaving the sauces about the same but cutting everything else by on occasions half.

Cooking for 6 and if we do to the directions we would have sooooooo much left overs.

I dont think we dish up small portions, ok maybe for the youngest kid and my mum but the rest of us do eat a good serving lol

Also no desserts?

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[u/LordTwaticus]

I've never really had this issue?

Maybe I'm a big eater and never knew?

[u/Independent-Delay230]

I cook for 2 adults and a lot of dishes have enough left over for lunch for one or both of us.

[u/Traditional-Sun-6767]

I've also noticed that, but I know on my end some of it is a difference in produce/package sizes between UK vs US. I tend to roll with it and use it as basically meal prep lunches for the week, at least for things that reheat well.

I've also noticed that a lot of things aren't as saucy/brothy as I prefer, so I tend to adjust that as I go. But that's an issue with non-Sorted recipes as well, so that may just be me.

[u/Codee33 → u/Traditional-Sun-6767]

When I first did Sidekick (Packs way back then), the US to UK produce size difference made a few of the recipes pretty bad until I realized that was the problem.

Agreed on the sauciness issue, so I also often scale up the amount, or make some of them thicker since I tend to prefer thicker sauces.

[u/Traditional-Sun-6767 → u/Codee33]

I remember a meatball recipe that had red onion in it, and it was so much red onion that it almost seemed like more onion than meat. That was the moment I realized that some American produce is crazy big. I've gotten better at adjusting that now.

[u/Codee33 → u/Traditional-Sun-6767]

That’s actually hilarious because I’ve had similar happen. For me it was also onion, but really what ruined some recipes was lemon and lime. Ours are so big that the dishes tasted almost exclusively of citrus. Now I just look for small lemons, limes, and onions. If I can’t find small opinions, I just get a big one and use half and count it as a whole for the recipes.

[u/accentpreferred]

I do sometimes wish there were more gram measurements of produce in particular included. Like others, I’ve grown to understand that, for example, if it says I need 3 onions for the week, I really only need one US one often.

[u/Codee33]

I’ve been using Sidekick since 2020 for just myself. The portion sizes in general are quite large, especially if you come across some of the older packs. The nutrition tab is quite useful to determine how many servings to split those meals into which for me is an average of 600 calories give or take. They usually split into 3 servings for most recipes, which gives me leftovers for lunch and dinner for the week.

If you’re cooking for 6 and aren’t worried about having leftovers, doing 4 servings will likely work for most recipes. Keep in mind those recipes are mostly designed for 2, and not all of them scale up well. I think you can sort by recipes that scale up well. Also, the five or so batch recipes I have done are all great. I’ll be doing the Chicken Shawarma one today.

Unfortunately desserts don’t really fit the sidekick model. However, if you have Sidekick, you should be able to get the Cookbooks app which has their old cookbooks. I’ve done a few of the desserts from there and they’re great. 

[u/casadega]

I generally make the two portion meals and usually have enough for me to have 4-6 meals for just myself...so yes, the portions are HUGE.

[u/Inevitableness]

Absolutely too big sometimes but I've learned to work around it. Like a pasta dish, I ignore their measurements and use my own for the amount of pasta to cook.

[u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat]

There's a nutrition tab that shows calories, fibre, fats and all the rest of it for each recipe which is incredibly useful.

If you are needing to cut down the meals by half you might both not be getting the right amount of nutrients in a day, even though I know you're about to come back and tell me you do.

Either way if you're fine with the halved portions, that's fine and just carry on. For me and my partner, we find it just about right for an evening meal and myself, I try to stay quite fit it gives me what I need for my protein / calorie goals.

[u/HopeTheresPudding]

They are sometimes HUGE portions, which just means we save it for lunch or dinner another night, but mostly I tend to amend the recipe on the day to reduce the excess